========================================================================
README for Nanotech Construction Kit 1.9
Copyright (c) 2004-2013 Oliver Kreylos
========================================================================

Overview
========

The Nanotech Construction Kit is an interactive molecular dynamics
simulation using a very simplified interaction model between "structural
units," which can be single atoms or larger complexes of atoms.The
Nanotech Construction Kit is based on the Vrui software development
toolkit (see http://idav.ucdavis.edu/~okreylos/ResDev/Vrui), and runs in
a variety of environments ranging from laptop or desktop computers over
semi-immersive environments such as Geowalls to fully immersive virtual
reality environments such as CAVEs. More information about the Nanotech
Construction Kit can be found at
http://idav.ucdavis.edu/~okreylos/ResDev/NanoTech

Requirements
============

The Nanotech Construction Kit requires Vrui version 3.0 build 001 or
newer.

Installation Guide
==================

It is recommended to download or move the source packages for Vrui and
the Nanotech Construction Kit into a src directory underneath the user's
home directory. Otherwise, references to ~/src in the following
instructions need to be changed.

It is also recommended to skip optional steps 4 and 6 in the following
instructions. The Nanotech Construction Kit does not need to be
installed in order to be used; installation (to a system directory such
as /usr/local) is only recommended if the Nanotech Construction Kit will
be used from multiple user accounts.

0. Install Vrui from ~/src/Vrui-<version>-<build> (see Vrui README file).

1. Change into ~/src directory and unpack the Nanotech Construction Kit
   tarball:
   > cd ~/src
   > tar xfz <download path>/NCK-<version>.tar.gz
   - or -
   > tar xf <download path>/NCK-<version>.tar

2. Change into the Nanotech Construction Kit base directory:
   > cd NCK-<version>

3. If the Vrui version installed in step 0 was not 3.0, or Vrui's
   installation directory was changed from the default of ~/Vrui-3.0,
   adapt the makefile using a text editor. Change the value of
   VRUI_MAKEDIR close to the beginning of the file as follows:
   VRUI_MAKEDIR := <Vrui install dir>/share/make
   Where <Vrui install dir> is the installation directory chosen in
   step 0. Use $(HOME) to refer to the user's home directory instead
   of ~.

4. Optional: Adapt makefile if the Nanotech Construction Kit is to be
   installed in a different location, for example /usr/local. Set
   INSTALLDIR to the desired target location. The Nanotech Construction
   Kit will then be installed in <INSTALLDIR>/bin, and its configuration
   file will be installed in <INSTALLDIR>/etc (where <INSTALLDIR> is the
   value of INSTALLDIR set in the makefile).

5. Build the Nanotech Construction Kit:
   > make
   This creates the NanotechConstructionKit executable in ./bin.

6. Optional: Install the Nanotech Construction Kit in the selected
   target location. This is only necessary if the INSTALLDIR variable in
   the makefile was changed. By default, the Nanotech Construction Kit
   can be run from its base directory. To install:
   > make install
   - or, if the target location is a system directory -
   > sudo make install
   This will copy all executables into <INSTALLDIR>/bin, and the NCK.cfg
   configuration file into <INSTALLDIR>/etc/NCK-<version>.

7. Optional: Add directory containing the NanotechConstructionKit
   executable (in ~/src/NCK-<version>/bin in the default installation,
   in <INSTALLDIR>/bin otherwise) to the user's search path. This allows
   running the Nanotech Construction Kit from any directory. Using csh
   or tcsh:
   > setenv PATH ${PATH}:~/src/NCK-<version>/bin
   - or -
   > setenv PATH ${PATH}:<INSTALLDIR>/bin
   where <INSTALLDIR> is the target location set in the makefile.
   Using bash:
   > export PATH=${PATH}:~/src/NCK-<version>/bin
   - or -
   > export PATH=${PATH}:<INSTALLDIR>/bin
   These lines can also be added to the user's .cshrc or .bashrc files
   to make the additions persist between logins.

Running the Nanotech Construction Kit
=====================================

These instructions assume that the Nanotech Construction Kit was
installed in its base directory, (see steps 4 and 6 above).

1. On MacOS X: Start X11. The Nanotech Construction Kit requires a
   running X server, but, if preferred, it can be started from a MacOS X
   terminal instead of xterm.

2. See Vrui's HTML documentation on Vrui's basic user interface and how
   to use the Nanotech Construction Kit.