MeshLib C++ Setup Guide

This guide provides detailed instructions for setting up MeshLib for C++ development across Windows, Linux, and macOS. It covers all prerequisites as well as specific setup steps for each platform.

Windows

Prerequisites

1. Git

   • Install Git to manage repositories and submodules, which is also required to install vcpkg.

     Download Git

2. Visual Studio 2019 or 2022

   • Download and install either Visual Studio 2019 or 2022. During installation, make sure to:

     • Select the "Desktop development with C++" workload.
     • Include support for the C++ programming language.
     • Ensure the English language pack is installed (required for vcpkg).

     Download Visual Studio

3. CUDA Toolkit

   • For Visual Studio 2019: Install CUDA v11.4
   • For Visual Studio 2022: Install CUDA v12.0

   Choose the appropriate version based on your Visual Studio installation.

4. vcpkg

   • To install vcpkg, follow these steps:

     1. Open a command prompt (CMD) or PowerShell window.

     2. Navigate to a directory where you want to install vcpkg:

        cd C:\path\to\your\desired\directory
        

     3. Clone the vcpkg repository:

        git clone <https://github.com/microsoft/vcpkg.git>
        

     4. Navigate to the vcpkg directory:

        cd vcpkg
        git checkout 2024.07.12
        

     5. Run the bootstrap script to build the vcpkg executable:

        .\bootstrap-vcpkg.bat
        

     6. Integrate vcpkg with Visual Studio (requires Administrator access):

        .\vcpkg integrate install
        

   Learn more about vcpkg

Installing the local build

Note: The following steps will require approximately 40 GB of disk space.

1. Clone the MeshLib Repository:

   git clone <https://github.com/MeshInspector/MeshLib.git>
   cd MeshLib
   git submodule update --init --recursive
   

2. (Optional) Speed Up with AWS CLI

   • Optionally, install AWS CLI v2 to speed up the process before using the MeshLib Installation Script. Restart your terminal after installation.

3. Install MeshLib Third-Party Dependencies

   • Execute the following commands to run the MeshLib third-party installation script:

     cd vcpkg
     ../MeshLib/thirdparty/install.bat
     

   • This script automates the installation of necessary third-party dependencies.

4. Build and Run:

   • Open MeshLib/source/MeshLib.sln in Visual Studio.
   • Build the solution and run the application.

Installing the release build

1. Download and Extract the Built Version

• Visit the MeshLib GitHub Releases.

• Download the latest Windows built version archive (E.g. MeshLibDist_v3.0.0.40.zip).

• Extract it to a directory, e.g., C:\meshlib-built\.

  Directory Structure After Extraction

  install/
    ├── include/       # Header files
    ├── lib/           # Static and shared libraries
    ├── bin/           # Executables