A UI for building OpenSim models
OpenSim Creator (osc
) is a standalone UI for building and editing
OpenSim models. It's available
as a freestanding all-in-one installer for Windows 10,
MacOS Ventura, and Ubuntu 20 (or newer versions).
Architecturally, osc
is a C++ codebase that is directly integrated against
the OpenSim core C++ API. It otherwise only
uses lightweight open-source libraries that can easily be built from source (e.g. SDL, ImGui, and stb)
to implement the UI on all target platforms. This makes osc
fairly easy to build, integrate, and package.
osc
started development in 2021 in the Biomechanical Engineering
department at TU Delft. It is currently funded by the
Chan Zuckerberg Initiative's "Essential Open Source Software for
Science" grant (Chan Zuckerberg Initiative DAF, 2020-218896 (5022)).
Project Sponsors | |
Biomechanical Engineering at TU Delft |
Chan Zuckerberg Initiative |
You can download a binary release from the π₯ releases page. OpenSim Creator is also regularly built from source using GitHub Actions, so if you want a bleeding-edge--but unreleased--build of OpenSim Creator check the actions page (must be logged into GitHub to see artifact links).
exe
release.exe
, continue past any security warningsnext
, next
, finish
installation wizardOpenSimCreator
by typing OpenSimCreator
in your start menu, or browse to C:\Program Files\OpenSimCreator\
.dmg
releasedmg
file to mount itosc
icon into your Applications
directory.Applications
directory in Finder
osc
application, click open
, continue past any security
warnings to run osc
for the first time
Command+Space
,
osc
, Enter
)deb
release.deb
package and install it through your package manager UI.apt-get install -yf ~/Downloads/osc-X.X.X_amd64.deb
(or similar).osc
or OpenSim Creator
shortcuts should be available from your desktop, or you can browse
to /opt/osc
OpenSim Creator doesn't have a central written software publication that you can cite (yet π). However, if you need to directly cite OpenSim Creator (e.g. because you think it's relevant that you built a model with it), the closest thing you can use is our DOI-ed Zenodo releases (metadata available in this repo: CITATION.cff
/codemeta.json
):
Kewley, A., Beesel, J., & Seth, A. (2024). OpenSim Creator (0.5.12). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11086325
If you need a general citation for the simulation/modelling technique, you can directly cite OpenSim via this paper:
Seth A, Hicks JL, Uchida TK, Habib A, Dembia CL, et al. (2018) OpenSim: Simulating musculoskeletal dynamics and neuromuscular control to study human and animal movement. PLOS Computational Biology 14(7): e1006223. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1006223
If you would like to contribute to OpenSim Creator then thank you π₯°: it's people like you that make open-source awesome! See CONTRIBUTING.md for more details.
Note: The build instructions here are for general users who just want to build OSC.
Because everyone's C++ build environment is slightly different, there are no catch-all build instructions that will work for everyone. Instead, we recommend reading + running the automated build scripts, or reading some of the basic tips-and-tricks for Visual Studio or QtCreator (below).
git
:
PATH
. Usually, the installer asks if you want this. If it doesn't ask, then you may need to add it manually (google: "Modify windows PATH", add your git
install: C:\Program Files\Git\bin
)Shift+Right-Click
-> Open Powershell window here
) and run git
Visual Studio 17 2022
):
cmake
:
PATH
. Usually, the installer asks if you want this. If it doesn't ask, then you may need to add it manually (google: "Modify windows PATH", add your cmake
install: C:\Program Files\CMake\bin
)Shift+Right-Click
-> Open Powershell window here
) and run cmake
NSIS
:
python
and pip
:
python
and pip
are added to the PATH
(the installer usually prompts this)Shift+Right-Click
-> Open Powershell window here
) and run python --help
and pip --help
Shift+Right-Click
-> Open Powershell window here
)opensim-creator
: git clone https://github.com/ComputationalBiomechanicsLab/opensim-creator
cd
into the source dir: cd opensim-creator
python .\scripts\build_windows.py
(warning: can take a long time)osc-build
directory should contain the built installerbrew
:
git
:
brew
: brew install git
clang
via brew, or newer XCodes):
clang
from brew (e.g. brew install clang
)cmake
:
brew
: brew install cmake
python
and pip
(optional: you only need this if you want to build documentation):
brew
: brew install python
opensim-creator
: git clone https://github.com/ComputationalBiomechanicsLab/opensim-creator
cd
into the source dir: cd opensim-creator
CC
and CXX
environment variables
point to compilers that are compatible with C++20. E.g. export CXX=$(brew --prefix llvm@15)/bin/clang++
scripts/build_mac.sh
(warning: can take a long time)osc-build
directory should contain the built installergit
:
git
via your package manager (e.g. apt-get install git
)g++
/clang++
via your package manager (e.g. apt-get install g++
)apt-get install clang-11
). You can configure which compiler is used
to build OpenSim Creator by setting the CC
and CXX
environment variables. E.g.
CC=clang-11 CXX=clang++-11 ./scripts/build_debian-buster.sh
sudo apt-get install libstdc++-10-dev
cmake
:
cmake
via your package manager (e.g. apt-get install cmake
)python
and pip
(optional: you only need this if you want to build documentation):
python3
and pip3
via your package manager (e.g. apt-get install python3 pip3
)opensim-creator
: git clone https://github.com/ComputationalBiomechanicsLab/opensim-creator --recursive
cd
into the source dir: cd opensim-creator
CC
and CXX
environment variables point to
compilers that are compatible with C++20. E.g. export CC=clang-12
, export CXX=clang++-12
scripts/build_debian-buster.sh
osc-build
directory should contain the built installerThese are some generic tips that might be handy when setting up your own development environment.
opensim-creator
as a folder projectCMakeLists.txt
file to edit settings or build the project
-DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=$(projectDir)/osc-dependencies-install
)Switch between solutions and available views
button in the Solution Explorer
hierarchy tab to switch to the CMake Targets View
osc
CMake target and Set As Startup Project
, so that pressing F5
will then build+run osc.exe
Folder View
after doing this: the CMake view is crap for developing oscosc
from Visual Studio
Test Explorer
tab, which should list all of the googletest
tests in the projectopensim-creator
source directory as a folderosc-build
already exists (side-effect of running the buildscript). You may need to "import existing kit/build" and then select osc-build
, thoughopensim-creator/
) and build/kit (opensim-creator/osc-build
), it should be good to go