K-3D GNU/Linux & Unix builds

  1. if you don't have it already, get the GTK+ distribution for your platform from www.gtk.org. most modern GNU/Linux distributions include the Gnome Desktop, which uses GTK+. note, though, that you don't have to use Gnome to use GTK+ (or K-3D).
    
    	
  2. a copy of NetPBM Tools is highly recommended. K-3D requires these tools in order to read & write various bitmap image formats. Once the tools are copied to your system, ensure that you can run them by hand from the command-line.
  3. you'll need an implementation of OpenGL. for most GNU/Linux installations, this means that you'll need a recent (version 3.1 or greater required) installation of the Mesa graphics library ... you can get it at www.mesa3d.org. you should verify that your Mesa distribution includes header files for developers, and that the headers and libraries are all installed correctly. the K-3D makefiles will look for your OpenGL headers in either /usr/include, usr/local/include, or /usr/X11R6/include.
    
    	
  4. K-3D sends its output to rendering engines using the Pixar Renderman Interface, so you can use K-3D with any RI-compliant rendering engine. I highly recommend the BMRT rendering engine (version 2.5 or greater required) available from www.bmrt.org ... remember that if you use K-3D (and thus BMRT) for commercial endeavors, you'll need to pay a (very reasonable) licensing fee to the good folks at Blue Moon Rendering Tools. the BMRT distribution comes as a gzipped tar file. expand the archive in a convenient location (I recommend /usr/local), and add the BMRT bin directory to your PATH:
    $ export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/BMRT2.5/bin
    if you are uncomfortable using non-free software such as BMRT, please consider helping other free-software rendering engines become Renderman Interface compatible ... an RI pipeline to POVRay would be nice, and the GMAN project could undoubtedly use your help.
    
    	
  5. get the K-3D distribution from the downloads page. if you downloaded the nightly snapshot archive, expand it. I recommend placing the distribution into your home directory (~). once installed, cd into the distribution's projects/ directory:
    $ cd ~/projects
  6. configure the K-3D distribution:
    $ ./configure
    if the configuration script complains that it can't find a library that you know is installed on your system, try looking in the projects/scripts directory at the appropriate -config script to see if the library is in a non-standard location on your system, and then either: (preferred) reinstall the library to a standard location or modify the script. if you feel that the script is in error, please send me a copy of your revisions and I'll look into incorporating them.
    
    	
  7. build the normal K-3D distribution:
    $ make
  8. if desired, build experimental (unstable) features:
    $ make experimentaldependencies
    $ make experimental
  9. run K-3D:
    $ make test

if you have any questions or difficulties, please contact the K-3D Mailing List for a rapid response.