Building Ogre3D 1.9 Statically in Mac OS X (Yosemite)         Building Ogre3D v1.9 Statically in Mac OS X (Yosemite)

The purpose of this guide is to help developers that have been working in other platforms (i.e., Linux, Windows) using mainly C++ and are not familiar with XCode nor ObjectiveC, but have a lot of desire to work with Ogre3D in Mac OS X. Additionally it would help other developers that wish to work with QtCreator and CMake.


Prerequisites

  • You need to have a basic C++ background.
  • Basic knowledge about how to use a terminal in Mac OS X (create folders, list directory contents, run commands, etc.).
  • An Internet connection (this sounds obvious, but it’s better to clarify :-) ).
  • Have the following software installed (there are no specific restrictions regarding the versions used, but it's better to use the latest):
    • Xcode.
    • Mercurial.
    • QtCreator.
    • CMake.
  • When this tutorial refers to the terminal, it's refering to the Mac OS X Terminal.
  • When entering a command in the terminal, this tutorial refers to the current path location with the following notation:
$> cd /folder1/folder2
/folder1/folder2 $> pwd
/folder1/folder2

Building Ogre

First, create a folder where the whole Ogre3D project will live:

$> sudo mkdir -p /opt/dev

You can create this folder in another location if you wish. This is not a blocker. The important thing is that you keep in mind where the folder was created to use it from now on.

Downloading Ogre3D’s Dependencies

Create the folder where the dependencies will reside:

/opt/dev/ $> mkdir dependencies

Go to the following link and download ogre3D’s dependencies:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/ogre/files/ogre-dependencies-mac/1.9/OgreDependencies_OSX_libc%2B%2B_20130610.zip/download

Unzip the file you downloaded. This will contain a folder called Dependencies. Copy the content of that folder to the following location:

/opt/dev/dependencies

You should have something like this:
Finder screenshot about ogre3d dependencies downloaded
These dependencies include:

  • Boost: It’s a set of open source libraries that extend the functionality of C++.
  • Freeimage: it’s an Open Source library project for developers who would like to support popular graphics image formats like PNG, BMP, JPEG, TIFF and others as needed by today's multimedia applications.
  • Freetype: It’s is a freely available software library to render fonts.
  • OIS: It’s a code library for constructing a human-computer interface with input devices such as a keyboard, mouse or game controller.
  • zlib: It’s a software library used for data compression.
  • zziplib: it offers the ability to easily extract data from files archived in a single zip file.

The previous downloaded dependencies are static libraries (end up with the extension .a). Normally in other platforms when you build a library for 32 and 64 bits you end up with two different library files (one for 32 and other for 64). Here in Mac OS X, you can build for 32 AND 64 bits and you end up with a single file. That single file is what is called a “flat” binary or a “universal” binary. In order to check if a library is for 32 bits or 64 bits or both, just run the following command in a terminal:

/opt/dev/dependencies/lib/Release $> lipo -info libOIS.a
Architectures in the fat file: libOIS.a are: x86_64 i386

Downloading and Building Ogre3D

it’s always better to use the latest stable version from the project’s repository. To do that you should use Mercurial (Mercurial is a distributed version control system). To validate if Mercurial is installed correctly, in a terminal write:

$> hg
Mercurial Distributed SCM

basic commands:

 add           add the specified files on the next commit
 annotate      show changeset information by line for each file
 clone         make a copy of an existing repository
 commit        commit the specified files or all outstanding changes
 diff          diff repository (or selected files)
 export        dump the header and diffs for one or more changesets
 forget        forget the specified files on the next commit
 init          create a new repository in the given directory
 log           show revision history of entire repository or files
 merge         merge working directory with another revision
 pull          pull changes from the specified source
 push          push changes to the specified destination
 remove        remove the specified files on the next commit
 serve         start stand-alone webserver
 status        show changed files in the working directory
 summary       summarize working directory state
 update        update working directory (or switch revisions)

use "hg help" for the full list of commands or "hg -v" for details

To download the Ogre3D's code, write in a terminal:

$> cd /opt/dev
/opt/dev/ $> hg clone https://bitbucket.org/sinbad/ogre ogre3d-1.9.0

The last part of the previous command (ogre3d-1.9.0) will be the name of the folder where the source code will be downloaded. The download process will take something like 20 minutes (although it depends of your Internet connection).
If everything went okay, the folder should be around 460 MB:

opt/dev/$> du -sh /opt/dev/ogre3d-1.9.0/
461M	/opt/dev/ogre3d-1.9.0/

Now it's time to build Ogre3D statically (before running the cmake command, validate that your paths are consistent. After that, just build):

/opt/dev/ogre3d-1.9.0 $> mkdir build
/opt/dev/ogre3d-1.9.0 $> cd !$
/opt/dev/ogre3d-1.9.0/build $> cmake -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS="${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -v -stdlib=libc++ -std=c++11" -D BOOST_ROOT=/opt/dev/dependencies/include/boost -D BOOST_INCLUDEDIR=/opt/dev/dependencies/include/boost -D BOOST_LIBRARYDIR=/opt/dev/dependencies/lib -D OGRE_DEPENDENCIES_DIR=/opt/dev/dependencies -D OGRE_STATIC=1 -D OGRE_BUILD_SAMPLES=1 -G Xcode ..

Here is the explanation for every parameter:

Parameter Description
CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS="${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -v -stdlib=libc++ -std=c++11” Defines support for C++11.
BOOST_ROOT=/opt/dev/dependencies/include/boost Defines the location of the Boost base folder.
BOOST_INCLUDEDIR=/opt/dev/dependencies/include/boost Defines the location of the Boost’s include folder.
BOOST_LIBRARYDIR=/opt/dev/dependencies/lib Defines the location of the Boost’s library folder.
OGRE_DEPENDENCIES_DIR=/opt/dev/dependencies Defines the location of the Ogre3D’s dependencies folder.
OGRE_STATIC=1 Defines that Ogre3D will be built statically.
OGRE_BUILD_SAMPLES=1 Defines that the Ogre3D’s samples will be built.
-G Xcode Specify a makefile generator (Xcode in this case).
.. The couple of dots indicate the location of the CMakeLists.txt file (which is the file that cmake needs to create all the make files).

After building Ogre3D's makefiles with CMake, look for the OGRE.xcodeproj file:

/opt/dev/ogre3d-1.9.0/build $> ls -l OGRE.*
OGRE.build:
total 0
drwxr-xr-x  5 USER  wheel  170 Dec  8 19:14 Debug
drwxr-xr-x  6 USER  wheel  204 Dec  8 19:22 Release

OGRE.xcodeproj:
total 5400
-rw-r--r--  1 USER  wheel  2763182 Dec  8 19:05 project.pbxproj
drwxr-xr-x  4 USER  wheel      136 Dec  8 19:14 project.xcworkspace
drwxr-xr-x  3 USER  wheel      102 Dec  8 19:14 xcuserdata

The OGRE.xcodeproj file is the Xcode project configuration file for the Ogre3D’s construction. Go to Finder and double click over that file. This will open Xcode.

Note: This tutorial will use Xcode only to build Ogre3D. Afterwards you’re not going to use it anymore.

This is what you’re going to see when Xcode opens with the Ogre3D project:
First screen when you open the Ogre3D's Xcode project file
Go to ProductSchemeEdit Scheme.. and change the Build Configuration to Release:
Xcode build all release configuration
Select the install scheme and change the Build Configuration to Release:
Xcode install release configuration
Select again the ALL_BUILD scheme:
xcode build all configuration release
Close the dialog by clicking the Close button. Now in order to start the building process, in the main menu select ProductBuild or press Command + B.
To view the building log, select ViewNavigatorsShow Report Navigator. The building progress can be viewed in the blue progress bar in the Xcode’s top center window area:
xcode_progress_bar
The whole building process is going to take something like 20 minutes in a computer with Processor: 1.3 GHz Intel Core i5 and Memory: 4 GB 1600 MHz DDR3.
When the building process has finished, select ProductSchemeinstall. Then ProductBuild.
After installing Ogre3D, you should have the following folder:

/opt/dev/ogre3d-1.9.0/build/ $> cd sdk
/opt/dev/ogre3d-1.9.0/build/sdk $> ls -l
total 0
drwxr-xr-x  23 USER  wheel  782 Dec 11 19:09 CMake
drwxr-xr-x  13 USER  wheel  442 Dec 11 19:09 Docs
drwxr-xr-x  13 USER  wheel  442 Dec 11 19:09 Media
drwxr-xr-x   3 USER  wheel  102 Dec 11 19:09 bin
drwxr-xr-x  12 USER  wheel  408 Dec 11 19:09 include
drwxr-xr-x  26 USER  wheel  884 Dec 11 19:09 lib

Running the Ogre3D’s Samples

Now that the building process has finished you can run the Ogre3D’s samples. Open the following file in Finder:

/opt/dev/ogre3d-1.9.0/build/bin/Release/SampleBrowser.app

You should be able to see the sample browser application called SampleBrowser.app. Additionally, you can see the sample browser’s log file in the following path:

/Users/YOURUSERNAME/Library/Application Support/Ogre/Xalafu/ogre.log

Using QtCreator

Now that Ogre3D is finally compiled, let’s take a look at the IDE that we’re going to use during this tutorial: QtCreator. This IDE includes the following features:

  • Cross-platform.
  • Also used for projects non-related to Qt (Qt is a cross-platform application framework).
  • Visual Debugger.
  • Support for CMake.
  • Excellent Vim plugin.
  • Good integration with tools: Git, Subversion, Mercurial.
 Note
For this tutorial you don't need to download the whole Qt SDK, only the QtCreator application.

Before using QtCreator for the first time, you need to create a Build Kits in QtCreator (assuming that you just have installed QtCreator and don’t have any Build Kits configured). Open QtCreator's preferences or simply hit Command + . On the left panel select the Build and Run option:
QtCreator's Build kit configuration 1
Select the Add button (on the upper-right side). A sub-dialog will be shown, fill the Kits name information:
QtCreator build configuration 2

Creating a Project (that will use CMake)

From the File menu select the option New File or Project…. You will see a dialog like this:
Project Creation no-qtporject
Select the option Non-Qt Project from the Projects list and subsequently select the Plain C++ Project (CMake Build) option. Afterwards click the Choose… button (located at the bottom-right side of the dialog). Afterwards set the project’s name and location:
QtCreator setting projects name
The information used for this tutorial in the previous dialog (the folder ogreprojects was created beforehand):

Name: tutorial1
Create in: /opt/dev/ogreprojects

Then click the Continue button. In the following dialog select a version control if you are going to use one. This tutorial won't use any:
QtCreatot Version control configuration
Then click the Done button. You now need to define the Build Location folder in the following dialog:
Qtcreator build Cmake folder configuration

The information used for this tutorial in the previous dialog:
/opt/dev/ogreprojects/tutorial1/build

Click the Continue button. In the following dialog you will run the project’s cmake configuration file. Click the Run CMake button and you should see something like this:
QtCreator cmake run results

 Note
Validate that you’re not getting any RED warnings in the previous output dialog.
Now hit the Done button and you will see the template code that QtCreator has created for you:

Qtcreator first code
From the Build menu select the Build All option. The Compile Output window (located at the bottom) will tell you the building information. If everything went okay, from the Build menu select the Run option. You should see the programs output in the Application output (located at the bottom) window:
QtCreator output window

Integrating Ogre3D in your Project

Now that you have a basic C++ project running, the idea is to integrate the Ogre3D libraries inside the project.
Your project has two files:

  • CMakeLists.txt (project configuration file)
  • main.cpp (source code file)

Here is the current code for both:
CMakeLists.txt:

project(tutorial1)
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8)
aux_source_directory(. SRC_LIST)
add_executable(${PROJECT_NAME} ${SRC_LIST})

main.cpp:

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

int main()
{
    cout << "Hello World" << endl;
    return 0;
}

Before changing anything in those files, let's reorganize the project files:

/opt/dev/ogreprojects/tutorial1 $> ls -l
total 40
-rw-r--r--  1 USER  wheel    329 Dec 10 21:10 CMakeLists.txt
drwxr-xr-x  9 USER  wheel    306 Dec 10 21:10 build
drwxr-xr-x  3 USER  wheel    102 Dec 10 21:09 main.cpp

/opt/dev/ogreprojects/tutorial1 $> mkdir src
/opt/dev/ogreprojects/tutorial1 $> mv main.cpp src/

Now, after performing some changes in the CMakeLists.txt file, this is how it looks like:

 Note
CMake is case insensitive
PROJECT(tutorial1)

CMAKE_MINIMUM_REQUIRED(VERSION 2.8)
SET(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -stdlib=libc++ -std=c++11")

MESSAGE(STATUS ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/src)

FILE(GLOB_RECURSE SRCS "${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/*.cpp")
FILE(GLOB_RECURSE HDRS "${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/*.h")

ADD_EXECUTABLE(${PROJECT_NAME} ${SRCS} ${HDRS})
  • Line 4: This helps to activate the C++11 support.
  • Line 6: Printing the Project source dir path, only for informative purposes.
  • Line 8-9: This is the CMake way to include the source code files in your project. From now on every source code should go inside the src folder. CMake will search recursively inside this folder.
  • Line 11: This is the CMake way to say: "Create an executable using the project's source code...and name the executable file just like the project's name".
 Note
Whenever you perform a change in the CMakeLists.txt file, you should re-run the CMake command.

Run the CMake command, you should see something like this:

-- /opt/dev/ogreprojects/tutorial1
-- Configuring done
-- Generating done
-- Build files have been written to: /opt/dev/ogreprojects/tutorial1/build

Build and run your project. You shouldn't get any errors.

Binaries and App Bundles

In the terminal do:

$> cd /opt/dev/ogreprojects/tutorial1/build
/opt/dev/ogreprojects/tutorial1/build $> ls -l
total 144
 0 drwxr-xr-x   9 USER  wheel    306 Dec 10 21:29 .
 0 drwxr-xr-x   7 USER  wheel    238 Dec 10 21:30 ..
16 -rw-r--r--@  1 USER  wheel   6148 Dec 10 21:30 .DS_Store
56 -rw-r--r--   1 USER  wheel  26419 Dec  9 20:11 CMakeCache.txt
 0 drwxr-xr-x  13 USER  wheel    442 Dec 10 21:30 CMakeFiles
16 -rw-r--r--   1 USER  wheel   5044 Dec 10 21:29 Makefile
 8 -rw-r--r--   1 USER  wheel   1441 Dec  9 20:11 cmake_install.cmake
32 -rwxr-xr-x   1 USER  wheel  15228 Dec 10 21:10 tutorial1
16 -rw-r--r--   1 USER  wheel   5350 Dec 10 21:29 tutorial1.cbp

Do you see the file called tutorial1?, that is the project's executable (or binary). In order to execute it, in the terminal run:

/opt/dev/ogreprojects/tutorial1/build $> ./tutorial1
Hello World

The project has now an executable and you're able to run it. But things need to change a little bit in order to adapt in the Mac OS X's way of handling executables. In the Mac OS X platform you usually use what is called an Application Bundle (a.k.a app bundle). An app Bundle is a (special) directory that allows related resources such as an application's executable and its graphics to be grouped together, appearing as a single file to the user.
In order for the project to create an app bundle instead of a plain binary, we need to change something in the CMakeLists.txt file. Change the line 11 in your CMakeLists.txt file for this one:

ADD_EXECUTABLE(${PROJECT_NAME} MACOSX_BUNDLE ${SRCS} ${HDRS})

The only difference is the addition of the MACOSX_BUNDLE flag to the ADD_EXECUTABLE command. Now run the CMake command, then Build and Run. In your build folder you should now see a new file called tutorial1.app:

/opt/dev/ogreprojects/tutorial1/build $> ls -l
total 144
 0 drwxr-xr-x   9 USER  wheel    306 Dec 10 21:29 .
 0 drwxr-xr-x   7 USER  wheel    238 Dec 10 21:30 ..
16 -rw-r--r--@  1 USER  wheel   6148 Dec 10 21:30 .DS_Store
56 -rw-r--r--   1 USER  wheel  26419 Dec  9 20:11 CMakeCache.txt
 0 drwxr-xr-x  13 USER  wheel    442 Dec 10 21:30 CMakeFiles
16 -rw-r--r--   1 USER  wheel   5044 Dec 10 21:29 Makefile
 8 -rw-r--r--   1 USER  wheel   1441 Dec  9 20:11 cmake_install.cmake
32 -rwxr-xr-x   1 USER  wheel  15228 Dec 10 21:10 tutorial1
 0 drwxr-xr-x   3 USER  wheel    102 Dec 10 21:47 tutorial1.app
16 -rw-r--r--   1 USER  wheel   5350 Dec 10 21:29 tutorial1.cbp

If you try to run the app bundle just like we run the binary previously, you will get the following error:

/opt/dev/ogreprojects/tutorial1/build $> ./tutorial1.app
-bash: ./tutorial1.app/: is a directory

If you want to run the binary from the terminal, you need to treat the app bundle as a directory (in fact it's a directory):

/opt/dev/ogreprojects/tutorial1/build $> cd tutorial1.app/
/opt/dev/ogreprojects/tutorial1/build/tutorial1.app $> pwd
/opt/dev/ogreprojects/tutorial1/build/tutorial1.app
/opt/dev/ogreprojects/tutorial1/build/tutorial1.app $> ls -l
total 0
drwxr-xr-x  4 USER  wheel  136 Dec 10 21:47 Contents
/opt/dev/ogreprojects/tutorial1/build/tutorial1.app $> cd Contents/; ls -l
total 8
-rw-r--r--  1 USER  wheel  986 Dec 10 21:47 Info.plist
drwxr-xr-x  3 USER  wheel  102 Dec 10 21:47 MacOS
/opt/dev/ogreprojects/tutorial1/build/tutorial1.app/Contents $> cd MacOS/; ls -l
total 32
-rwxr-xr-x  1 USER  wheel  15228 Dec 10 21:47 tutorial1
/opt/dev/ogreprojects/tutorial1/build/tutorial1.app/Contents/MacOS $> ./tutorial1
Hello World
 Note
Don't worry about doing all these steps in order to run your binary every time. Wether it's a binary or an app bundle, QtCreator will take care of this and will launch your application when you select the Run command from the Build menu.

Including Libraries in your Project

Currently this is the status of the main.cpp file:

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

int main()
{
    cout << "Hello World" << endl;
    return 0;
}

Let's add a Ogre::String in order to print something else:

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

int main()
{
    Ogre::String variable = "My first string using Ogre3D";
    cout << "Hello World: " << variable << endl;
    return 0;
}

If you try to build the previous code, you will get an error:

/opt/dev/ogreprojects/tutorial1/src/main.cpp:9:5: error: use of undeclared identifier 'Ogre'
    Ogre::String variable = "My frist string using Ogre3D";
    ^
1 error generated.

This means that the compiler is not able to find the Ogre::String declaration in your code. In order to fix that we need to add the libraries of Ogre3D into the project.
This is the new CMakeLists.txt file:

PROJECT(tutorial1)

CMAKE_MINIMUM_REQUIRED(VERSION 2.8)
SET(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -stdlib=libc++ -std=c++11")

INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES(/opt/dev/ogre3d-1.9.0/build/sdk/include/OGRE)
LINK_DIRECTORIES(/opt/dev/ogre3d-1.9.0/build/sdk/lib)

FILE(GLOB_RECURSE SRCS "${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/*.cpp")
FILE(GLOB_RECURSE HDRS "${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/*.h")

ADD_EXECUTABLE(${PROJECT_NAME} MACOSX_BUNDLE ${SRCS} ${HDRS})

TARGET_LINK_LIBRARIES(
${PROJECT_NAME}
/opt/dev/ogre3d-1.9.0/build/sdk/lib/libOgreMainStatic.a
)

Changes:

  • The following line was deleted because is no longer necessary:
MESSAGE(STATUS ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/src)
  • Line 6: This line sets the location to the Ogre3D's include source code folder (this is the location where the compiler will find the definition of the Ogre::String).
  • Line 7: Sets the location of the Ogre3D's libraries for the Linker (after the compilation process is done, the output is not yet a binary, it's what is called an object file. After the object file is generated by the compilation process, a special program called the Linker "links" the libraries used by the source code to the compilation's output. After that process you end up with a binary file).
  • Line 14: This line allows you to link a target (the project we are creating) to the given libraries (in this case the libOgreMainStatic.a library).

If you want, you can polish a little bit more the CMakeLists.txt file:

PROJECT(tutorial1)

CMAKE_MINIMUM_REQUIRED(VERSION 2.8)
SET(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -stdlib=libc++ -std=c++11")

SET(OGRE_BASE_FOLDER "/opt/dev/ogre3d-1.9.0/")
SET(OGRE_INCLUDE_FOLDER "/opt/dev/ogre3d-1.9.0/build/sdk/include/OGRE")
SET(OGRE_LIB_FOLDER "/opt/dev/ogre3d-1.9.0/build/sdk/lib")

INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES(${OGRE_INCLUDE_FOLDER})
LINK_DIRECTORIES(${OGRE_LIB_FOLDER})

FILE(GLOB_RECURSE SRCS "${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/*.cpp")
FILE(GLOB_RECURSE HDRS "${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/*.h")

ADD_EXECUTABLE(${PROJECT_NAME} MACOSX_BUNDLE ${SRCS} ${HDRS})

TARGET_LINK_LIBRARIES(
${PROJECT_NAME}
${OGRE_LIB_FOLDER}/libOgreMainStatic.a
)

Now go the main.cpp and add this line after the inclusion of the iostream library :

#include <OgreString.h>

You should have a main.cpp file like this:

#include <iostream>
#include <OgreString.h>

using namespace std;

bool start();

int main()
{
    Ogre::String variable = "My first string using Ogre3D";
    cout << "Hello World: " << variable << endl;
    return 0;
}

When you included the previous line (#include ‹OgreString.h›), the QtCreator IDE should be able to find the definition of the Ogre::String. To validate if it's true, the Ogre::string type should be colored in a purple tone:
QTcreator Purple Variable
Now run the CMake command, then Build and Run. Everything should be working fine:
QtCreator applicaiton output

 Note
From the previous image you can tell that QtCreator is using the app bundle.

Ok. This first part ends here. In order to create a window and render something in it, continue to the following part: Using Ogre3D 1.9 Statically