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== '''Installing VTK on Mac OS X 10.4.x for the purposes of Cocoa''' ==
As VTK is cross-platform, building on Mac OS X is much the same as on any other supported platform. This page only discusses some OS X-specific topics related to VTK 5.10 and later. For information on antique versions of VTK, refer to the version of this page in the history from 2013-07-21 or earlier.
This document outlines how to build and install VTK 5 on Mac OS X 10.4.x with Xcode 2.2 or later.


Additionally, it discusses SimpleCocoaVTK, a sample Cocoa application written by Sean McBride and Mike Jackson that uses VTK. It can be downloaded from http://www.rogue-research.com/vtk/SimpleCocoaVTK.html.  This document explains how to get VTK installed so that the SimpleCocoaVTK Xcode project will function.  SimpleCocoaVTK is an example, it is not required to use VTK.
== '''Supported Versions''' ==
VTK 6.x supports Intel and PowerPC, 32 and 64 bit, and requires OS X 10.5 or later.


== '''Installing VTK on Mac OS X 10.5.x (Leopard) ''' ==
VTK 5.x supports Intel and PowerPC, 32 and 64 bit, and requires OS X 10.4 or later.
Follow the instructions for 10.4.x but change the version from 10.4 to 10.5 in the appropriate places.


For Leopard, you should use VTK version 5.4.2 or later.
On OS X 10.5, you should use at least VTK 5.4.2. On OS X 10.6, at least VTK 5.6.  On OS X 10.7 and later, VTK 6.x is recommended.


== '''Installing VTK on Mac OS X 10.6.x (Snow Leopard) ''' ==
== '''Windowing API''' ==


It is possible to use VTK 5.4 on Snow Leopard but some things, specifically support for Tk, will not compile.   For best result, you should either get the latest VTK from the cvs repository, or use VTK 5.6 when it is released.
On OS X, there are two windowing APIs: Carbon and Cocoa.  Older versions of VTK defaulted to Carbon, but newer versions default to Cocoa. Carbon support is deprecated by both Apple and VTK, and should not be used for new development. To choose, set one of the following to ON:


== '''CMake''' ==
  VTK_USE_CARBON:BOOL=ON
The first step is to install CMake.  CMake is a cross platform make and is required to build VTK.  You can download the most recent stable build from http://www.cmake.org/HTML/Download.html. As of this writing I used [http://www.cmake.org/files/v2.4/cmake-2.4.6-Darwin-universal.dmg version 2.4.6].  Mount the downloaded dmg file as you would for any other install.  Run the installer from the disk image and when it is done CMake will be installed in /usr/bin/.  This step has been greatly simplified thanks to the installer.
  VTK_USE_COCOA:BOOL=ON
 
== '''VTK''' ==
Now secure a copy of VTK. You can download the most recent stable build from http://www.vtk.org/get-software.php#latest.  As of this writing I used [http://www.vtk.org/files/release/5.0/vtk-5.0.2.tar.gz version 5.0.2].  Double click the downloaded file and expand the folder on your desktop.  Rename the folder just ‘VTK’.
 
We will need a folder to put the VTK build in, I use a folder in my home directory name Development.  Create a folder where you want VTK to reside.
 
cd ~/Development
 
Now drag the VTK folder into Development.
 
In ~/Development create a new directory.  I named mine VTKBuild.
 
mkdir VTKBuild
 
Move into that folder.
 
cd VTKBuild
 
Issue the cmake command.
 
cmake ../VTK


A lot of code will scroll by.  When it is done you will find a file named CMakeCache.txt in your VTKBuild folder.  Edit that file in your favorite text editor. You need to edit it to make VTK build for Cocoa instead of Carbon.  Find the following lines in the text file and change them to look like the following.  (You're turning OFFs to ONs and vice versa.)
== '''Deployment Target and SDK''' ==


  VTK_USE_CARBON:BOOL=OFF
The 'deployment target' and 'SDK' are concepts that should be familiar to OS X developers. In brief, the 'deployment target' specifies the oldest version of OS X that you which to support at runtime; it should always be set. Ex:
VTK_USE_COCOA:BOOL=ON


Next, you want to set two more variables. (They may or may not already be present in the file.  If they are not, just add them after the above two.)  CMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES decides which CPU architectures you want to build VTK for.  Possible values are: ppc, ppc64, i386, and x86_64.  Typically, you would set this to "ppc;i386" to create a [http://developer.apple.com/macosx/adoptinguniversalbinaries.html Universal Binary].  (Warning: VTK 5.0.2 will build as Universal, but there are bugs in the object code for the opposite CPU.  That is, if you build VTK on a ppc, the i386 code will be buggy, and vice versa.)  CMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT decides which Mac OS SDK to use; you specify the full path.  The Mac OS SDK determines the Mac OS APIs available to VTK, for example, if you use the 10.3.9 SDK, then no APIs introduced in 10.4 will be available.  VTK requires the 10.2.8 SDK or later.
  CMAKE_OSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET:STRING=10.7


I recommend you set these variables like so:
The 'SDK' specifies which version of OS headers and libraries you want to build against.  Usually, you want to built against the newest SDK, which is what CMake defaults to.  But you can override it:


CMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES:STRING=ppc;i386
  CMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT:STRING=/path/to/SDK
  CMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT:STRING=/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.4u.sdk/


Finally, change the flag CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX from
== '''Universal Binaries''' ==


CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local
VTK can be built as a universal binary, that is, as libraries that have executable code for several CPU types. Even if you want to build for only one CPU type, you should always specify them explicitly, ex:


to
CMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES:STRING=i386;x86_64


CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=~/Development/VTKBuild
Possible values are: ppc, ppc64, i386, and x86_64.


Save the file.
== '''Cocoa Memory Management Models''' ==


Make sure you are in ~/Development/VTKBuild and issue the command
Cocoa has three memory management models, chronologically by date of introduction:


cmake ../VTK
* manual reference counting (MRC)
* garbage collection (GC)
* automatic reference counting (ARC)


again. When it is complete, do another one for good measure since Drew McCormick seems to think it's good practice (and it only takes a second).
VTK supports MRC and GC. MRC is the default. GC was deprecated by Apple in OS X 10.8, but to use it set:


The next step is to actually compile VTK.
VTK_REQUIRED_OBJCXX_FLAGS:STRING=-fobjc-gc


First, we must set the MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET environment variable.  Possible values are 10.2, 10.3, or 10.4.  This determines the oldest version of Mac OS you wish to support.  If you use bash (the default shell in Mac OS X 10.4) issue the command
ARC support will eventually be available, but if your host application is ARC you can build VTK as MRC and still link to it.


export MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=10.4
== '''VTK_USE_SYSTEM options''' ==


Finally, make sure you are still in ~/Development/VTKBuild then issue the make command.
VTK has several VTK_USE_SYSTEM_* options, allowing you to link against the OS's built-in versions of popular third party libraries.  The advantage of doing so is that it reduces your compile time and binary size.  Only a few are built-in to OS X, which you can make VTK use by setting:


  make
  VTK_USE_SYSTEM_ZLIB:BOOL=ON
VTK_USE_SYSTEM_EXPAT=ON
VTK_USE_SYSTEM_LIBXML2=ON


VTK is now being built and a lot of material will scroll by the screen.  Hopefully there will be no errors.  On my virgin MacBook Pro with Xcode 2.4 installed it all worked the first time.
== '''Use Application Bundles''' ==


Note that if you are building with Java Wrappings ON you might get an error during compilation. This is due to a bug in CMake 2.4.7 and earlier. The best solution is to use CMake from CVS. Alternatively, you could edit the file Rendering/CMakeFiles/vtkRenderingJava.dir/link.txt and add at the end of the line "-framework JavaVM" (without the quotes).
On OS X, there are (at least) two kinds of executables:
* Application Bundles
* plain UNIX executables
To be able to display a graphical interface (that is, display windows that allow mouse and keyboard interaction), OS X requires you to use an application bundle. If a plain UNIX executable tries, it will mostly work, but there will be various bugs, such as keyboard and mouse events not working properly.
Many, but not all, of the VTK examples are built as plain UNIX executables, and thus have these problems. This is [http://vtk.org/Bug/view.php?id=2025 bug 2025].
When you build your own VTK application, it is best to make it in the form of an application bundle. Simply add the following to your CMakeLists.txt file:


Now issue the following command:
IF(APPLE)
  SET(EXECUTABLE_FLAG MACOSX_BUNDLE)
ENDIF(APPLE)


make install
If for some reason you cannot build as an application bundle, see [http://vtk.org/Bug/view.php?id=2025 bug 2025] for possible workarounds.
 
The make install command will copy all the .h header files for VTK into a single directory, the ~/Development/VTKBuild/include/vtk-5.1 directory, the one defined by CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX. We do this because the SimpleCocoaVTK Xcode project needs to have all the headers in one folder and installing VTK spreads the headers in a number of different directories.  This make install gathers them all up and puts them into one folder.  (Just copies though, the originals are still in the right place).


== '''SimpleCocoaVTK''' ==
== '''SimpleCocoaVTK''' ==
To make Xcode aware of VTK we need to add two source trees, as outlined in the SimpleCocoaVTK documentation.
Open the SimpleCocoaVTK project in Xcode.  Then go to Xcode -> Preferences and look for the source tree icon along the top bar.  In my Xcode it is the third icon from the right and looks like a traffic sign.  Click the icon and a table display will come up.  Click the + icon twice and add two rows to the table.
For the first row, set the setting name and display name to 'vtk-lib' (without the single quotes) and set the path to '/Users/rglover/Development/VTKBuild/bin' (without the single quotes).  Notice I have my username in there (rglover), replace it with your own.
For the second row, set the setting name and display name to 'vtk-include' (without the single quotes) and set the path to '/Users/rglover/Development/VTKBuild/include/VTK-5.1' (without the single quotes). 
Case is important here so make sure it is correct.
With the SimpleCocoaVTK Xcode project open go to the 'Build' menu and choose 'Clean All Targets'.
A final point, make sure ZeroLink is off.  To check this click the targets icon (looks like a bulls eye) in the left hand menu.  Drop down the bulls eye until you see the SimpleCocoaVTK target (the standard A icon made of pencil/pen/ruler).  Click SimpleCocoaVTK to select it and hit the info button (blue i icon in the top menu).  Click the Build tab and make sure that the configuration drop down says 'All Configurations' and the collection drop down says 'All Settings'.
In the search box type 'zerolink'.  The list will shorten to a manageable size and you will see ZeroLink there.  Click the checkbox button until it is empty (not a checkmark or a negative sign, just empty). 
Close information and 'Clean All Targets' again. 
Now build.


Fingers crossed, you should see the app build with no errors and begin to run. For more questions go [http://www.mac-how.net/ mac how to]
SimpleCocoaVTK is a sample Cocoa application written by Sean McBride and Mike Jackson that uses VTK.  It illustrates how to use the VTK libraries within an Xcode-based OS X application. SimpleCocoaVTK is an example, it is not required to use VTK.


Note that the 'Debug' configuration is built using the 'native architecture' (ppc on ppc, intel on intel), and that the 'Release' configuration is built for both ppc and i386.  If you did not build VTK itself as Universal, the 'Release' configuration will not link.
Originally standalone, SimpleCocoaVTK is now part of VTK itself in the [http://vtk.org/gitweb?p=VTK.git;a=tree;f=Examples/GUI/Cocoa Examples/GUI/Cocoa] folder.  See the documentation there for how to use it.


{{VTK/Template/Footer}}
{{VTK/Template/Footer}}

Latest revision as of 19:04, 27 July 2015

As VTK is cross-platform, building on Mac OS X is much the same as on any other supported platform. This page only discusses some OS X-specific topics related to VTK 5.10 and later. For information on antique versions of VTK, refer to the version of this page in the history from 2013-07-21 or earlier.

Supported Versions

VTK 6.x supports Intel and PowerPC, 32 and 64 bit, and requires OS X 10.5 or later.

VTK 5.x supports Intel and PowerPC, 32 and 64 bit, and requires OS X 10.4 or later.

On OS X 10.5, you should use at least VTK 5.4.2. On OS X 10.6, at least VTK 5.6. On OS X 10.7 and later, VTK 6.x is recommended.

Windowing API

On OS X, there are two windowing APIs: Carbon and Cocoa. Older versions of VTK defaulted to Carbon, but newer versions default to Cocoa. Carbon support is deprecated by both Apple and VTK, and should not be used for new development. To choose, set one of the following to ON: 

VTK_USE_CARBON:BOOL=ON
VTK_USE_COCOA:BOOL=ON

Deployment Target and SDK

The 'deployment target' and 'SDK' are concepts that should be familiar to OS X developers. In brief, the 'deployment target' specifies the oldest version of OS X that you which to support at runtime; it should always be set. Ex: 

CMAKE_OSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET:STRING=10.7

The 'SDK' specifies which version of OS headers and libraries you want to build against. Usually, you want to built against the newest SDK, which is what CMake defaults to. But you can override it: 

CMAKE_OSX_SYSROOT:STRING=/path/to/SDK

Universal Binaries

VTK can be built as a universal binary, that is, as libraries that have executable code for several CPU types. Even if you want to build for only one CPU type, you should always specify them explicitly, ex: 

CMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES:STRING=i386;x86_64

Possible values are: ppc, ppc64, i386, and x86_64.

Cocoa Memory Management Models

Cocoa has three memory management models, chronologically by date of introduction:

  • manual reference counting (MRC)
  • garbage collection (GC)
  • automatic reference counting (ARC)

VTK supports MRC and GC. MRC is the default. GC was deprecated by Apple in OS X 10.8, but to use it set: 

VTK_REQUIRED_OBJCXX_FLAGS:STRING=-fobjc-gc

ARC support will eventually be available, but if your host application is ARC you can build VTK as MRC and still link to it.

VTK_USE_SYSTEM options

VTK has several VTK_USE_SYSTEM_* options, allowing you to link against the OS's built-in versions of popular third party libraries. The advantage of doing so is that it reduces your compile time and binary size. Only a few are built-in to OS X, which you can make VTK use by setting: 

VTK_USE_SYSTEM_ZLIB:BOOL=ON
VTK_USE_SYSTEM_EXPAT=ON
VTK_USE_SYSTEM_LIBXML2=ON

Use Application Bundles

On OS X, there are (at least) two kinds of executables:

  • Application Bundles
  • plain UNIX executables

To be able to display a graphical interface (that is, display windows that allow mouse and keyboard interaction), OS X requires you to use an application bundle. If a plain UNIX executable tries, it will mostly work, but there will be various bugs, such as keyboard and mouse events not working properly. Many, but not all, of the VTK examples are built as plain UNIX executables, and thus have these problems. This is bug 2025. When you build your own VTK application, it is best to make it in the form of an application bundle. Simply add the following to your CMakeLists.txt file: 

IF(APPLE)
  SET(EXECUTABLE_FLAG MACOSX_BUNDLE)
ENDIF(APPLE)

If for some reason you cannot build as an application bundle, see bug 2025 for possible workarounds.

SimpleCocoaVTK

SimpleCocoaVTK is a sample Cocoa application written by Sean McBride and Mike Jackson that uses VTK. It illustrates how to use the VTK libraries within an Xcode-based OS X application. SimpleCocoaVTK is an example, it is not required to use VTK.

Originally standalone, SimpleCocoaVTK is now part of VTK itself in the Examples/GUI/Cocoa folder. See the documentation there for how to use it.


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