SOFA, Simulation Open-Framework Architecture, version 1.0 RC 1 (c) 2006-2011 INRIA, USTL, UJF, CNRS, MGH

Authors: See Authors.txt

SOFA is an Open Source framework primarily targeted at real-time simulation, with an emphasis on medical simulation. It is mainly intended for the research community to help foster newer algorithms, but can also be used as an efficient prototyping tool. SOFA's advanced software architecture allows: (1) the creation of complex and evolving simulations by combining new algorithms with existing algorithms; (2) the modification of key parameters of the simulation such as deformable behavior, surface representation, solvers, constraints, collision algorithm, etc. by simply editing an XML file; (3) the synthesis of complex models from simpler ones using a scene-graph description; (4) the efficient simulation of the dynamics of interacting objects using abstract equation solvers; and (5) the comparison of various algorithms available in SOFA.

LICENSES:

The SOFA distribution is composed of three parts:

• SOFA FRAMEWORK: this is essential the core of SOFA
• SOFA MODULES: represent the functionalities available in SOFA
• SOFA APPLICATIONS: they are built using the SOFA framework and modules.

SOFA is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the following licenses.

The SOFA FRAMEWORK can be redistributed and/or modified under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

The SOFA MODULES can be redistributed and/or modified under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This SOFA APPLICATIONS can be redistributed and/or modified under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU Lesser General Public License and GNU General Public License for more details.

Contact information: contact@sofa-framework.org

INSTALLATION

NOTE: for up-to-date instructions, please refer to the web site: http://www.sofa-framework.org/installation

Before building Sofa, copy sofa-default.prf to sofa-local.prf and customize it to your local configuration.

• First of all, get the correct version of windows dependencies from SOFA web page, and unzip it in Sofa directory. Then...

• MSVC 8 (Visual 2005) : Launch Project VC8.bat.

• MSVC 9 (Visual 2008) and MSVC 10 (Visual 2010) : Launch Project VC9.bat.

• console : Open a command prompt with environment variables pointing to Visual Studio. If you already have qmake installed and configured simply launch qmake. If not launch project.bat. Then launch nmake to build all projects.

After creating the projects, verify that project runSofa is the activated project, and that Release mode is used instead of Debug.

• QtCreator : Open the Sofa.pro project

• console : Run qmake, then make

 Download the mac dependencies package from SOFA web page,
 and unzip it in Sofa directory.
 Run Project MacOS.sh
 Then run make to build all projects.
 The generated Xcode projects can  be used to easily edit the code
 but with current version of qmake then can not be used to compile
 it correctly.
 It is also possible (and recommended) to use QtCreator instead.