Configure C++ Samples With CMake and Build Them in Visual Studio in Windows

This tutorial shows how to configure the Zivid C++ Samples with CMake and then build them with Visual Studio in Windows.

Requirements

Optional requirements

Some of the samples depend on external libraries, in particular:

Note

The following instructions have been tested with these versions of the dependencies:

  • Visual Studio 2019 and higher

  • CMake 3.24 and higher

  • PCL 1.12.1

  • Eigen 3.4.0

  • OpenCV 4.7.0

If you are using other versions, you may encounter issues.

Instructions

Clone C++ Samples

Clone the GitHub Zivid C++ Samples repository. To clone it, launch the Command Prompt by pressing Win + R keys on the keyboard, then type cmd and press Enter.

Navigate to a location where you want to clone the repository, e.g.

cd C:\Users\Public

Then run the following command:

git clone https://github.com/zivid/zivid-cpp-samples

Configure the solution with CMake

Run CMake either through the Command Prompt or CMake GUI.

Create a build directory in the directory of zivid-cpp-samples and configure the solution by running:

mkdir build && cd build
cmake -DUSE_EIGEN3=OFF -DUSE_OPENCV=OFF -DUSE_PCL=OFF ../source

Tip

Make sure cmake is in your system PATH to use the above command. See the below dropdown for how to add CMake to your system PATH.

Add CMake to the system PATH

On your PC, navigate to Control PanelSystem and SecuritySystemAdvanced System SettingsEnvironment Variables. Under System variables, select the Path variable and click Edit.

Screenshot of system information on Windows.

In the Edit environment variable window, click New and add the path to CMake binaries, e.g.

C:\Program Files\CMake\bin

if you have installed CMake in Program Files.

Warning

You may have to sign out of your Windows account and in again for the changes to take place.

Open the generated Visual Studio solution ZividCppSamples.sln in File Explorer to further build the samples.

Open CMake GUI and select the source folder and destination for the build folder.

Screenshot of CMake GUI with configuration for Zivid C++ samples.

Click Configure. Specify your generator for the project and make sure the (optional) platform is x64. Click Finish.

Screenshot of CMake GUI where you specify generator.

Click Configure again.

Screenshot of CMake GUI with dependency errors.

Click OK on the CMake error and disable the variables USE_EIGEN3, USE_OPENCV and USE_PCL to configure the solution without these dependencies.

Screenshot of CMake GUI where you can configure dependencies.

Finally click Configure one last time and click Generate and Open Project to open the Visual Studio solution.

Build the solution

In Visual Studio, change the build configuration from Debug to Release. Build the solution by pressing Ctrl + Shift + B.

Screenshot of Visual Studio build events for C++ samples.

Run the sample program

Navigate to the Release folder and run a sample program either by double clicking the exe in File Explorer or using the Command Prompt, e.g.

.\CaptureVis3D.exe
Screenshot of CaptureVis3D sample.

Running samples that require Sample Data

Some of the samples require additional data to run, like point clouds, file cameras, transformations, etc. Go to Sample Data for instructions on how to download and install these.

Configuring the samples with optional dependencies

Some of the samples depend on Point Cloud Library, Eigen, OpenCV and/or Halcon. If you want to run samples with one or more of these dependencies, follow the instructions in the below dropdown.

Optional dependencies

Install the required dependencies based on the sample programs you want to run; see the table below.

Sample program

PCL

Eigen

OpenCV

Halcon

ReadPCLVis3D

YES

CaptureWritePCLVis3D

YES

CaptureHDRVisNormals

YES

StitchByTransformation

YES

StitchByTransformationFromZDF

YES

MaskPointCloud

YES

YES

ROIBoxViaCheckerboard

YES

UtilizeHandEyeCalibration

YES

PoseConversions

YES

ROIBoxViaArucoMarker

YES

YES

CaptureUndistort2D

YES

CreateDepthMap

YES

ProjectAndFindMarker

YES

ReprojectPoints

YES

ReadAndProjectImage

YES

GammaCorrection

YES

AllocateMemoryForPointCloudData

YES

TransformPointCloudViaCheckerboard

YES

TransformPointCloudViaArucoMarker

YES

CaptureHalconViaGenICam

YES

CaptureHalconViaZivid

YES

Download the latest stable release of Eigen from http://eigen.tuxfamily.org/ and extract the folder to your desired destination. When configuring the CMake project, include Eigen to configure the samples that depend on it.

Navigate to the build directory you created in zivid-cpp-samples and run

cmake --fresh -DEIGEN3_INCLUDE_DIR=<path> -DUSE_OPENCV=OFF -DUSE_PCL=OFF ../source

where <path> is the full path to where you installed Eigen, e.g. C:/Program Files/Eigen.

In CMake GUI, click Add Entry to add the path to Eigen. Add EIGEN3_INCLUDE_DIR and point the value to where you extracted the folder.

Screenshot of CMake GUI where you can enter Eigen 3 include directory.

Ensure that the box USE_EIGEN3 is checked and click Configure. Then click Generate and Open Project to open the Visual Studio solution.

Download and install prebuilt PCL binaries by choosing the .exe at https://github.com/PointCloudLibrary/pcl/releases. Check the option to install 3rd Party Libraries.

Screenshot of PCL installation wizard on Windows.

Some settings must be included in the PATH system variable before you can configure the Zivid PCL code samples. On your PC, navigate to Control PanelSystem and SecuritySystemAdvanced System SettingsEnvironment Variables. Under System variables, select the Path variable and click Edit.

Screenshot of system information on Windows.

In the Edit environment variable window, click New and add the paths to the PCL binaries and OpenNI2 (3rd party library), e.g.

C:\Program Files\PCL 1.12.1\bin
C:\Program Files\OpenNI2\Tools

if you have installed PCL 1.12.1 and OpenNI2 in Program Files. You may have to sign out of your Windows account and in again for the changes to take place.

Warning

You may have to manually link to some of the third-party PCL libraries, like VTK. If you encounter errors, add the path to the binaries of the library in the PATH system variable. E.g. for VTK, you would add C:/Program Files/PCL 1.12.1/3rdParty/VTK/bin if you installed PCL 1.12.1 in Program Files.

When configuring the CMake project, the paths to PCL should already be configured.

Navigate to the build directory you created in zivid-cpp-samples and run

cmake --fresh -DUSE_PCL=ON -DUSE_EIGEN3=OFF -DUSE_OPENCV=OFF ../source

In CMake GUI, ensure that the box USE_PCL is checked and click Configure.

../../../_images/cmake_gui_screenshot_add_pcl.png

Click Generate and Open Project to open the Visual Studio solution.

Download and install prebuilt OpenCV binaries from https://opencv.org/releases/. Extract them to your desired destination, e.g.

C:\Users\Public

Some settings must be included in the PATH system variable before you can configure the Zivid OpenCV code samples. On your PC, navigate to Control PanelSystem and SecuritySystemAdvanced System SettingsEnvironment Variables. Under System variables, select the Path variable and click Edit.

Screenshot of system information on Windows.

In the Edit environment variable window, click New and add the path to the OpenCV binaries, e.g.

C:\Program Files\opencv\build\x64\vc16\bin

if you have installed OpenCV 4.7.0 and extracted it to C:/Program Files/opencv.

Warning

You may have to sign out of your Windows account and in again for the changes to take place.

When configuring the CMake project, include OpenCV to configure the samples that depend on it.

Navigate to the build directory you created in zivid-cpp-samples and run

cmake --fresh -DOpenCV_DIR=<path> -DUSE_EIGEN3=OFF -DUSE_PCL=OFF ../source

where <path> is the full path to the OpenCV build folder, e.g. C:/Program Files/opencv/build.

In CMake GUI, click Add Entry to add the path to OpenCV. Add OpenCV_DIR and point the value to the OpenCV build folder.

Screenshot of CMake GUI where you can enter OpenCV include directory.

Ensure that the box USE_OPENCV is checked and click Configure. Then click Generate and Open Project to open the Visual Studio solution.

You need Halcon installed on your PC to run the Halcon C++ samples. Go to Install Zivid + HALCON for Windows for further instructions.

After you have installed Halcon, configure CMake to use Halcon samples.

Navigate to the build directory you created in zivid-cpp-samples and run

cmake --fresh -DUSE_HALCON=ON -DUSE_EIGEN3=OFF -DUSE_OPENCV=OFF -DUSE_PCL=OFF ../source

Ensure that the box USE_HALCON is checked and click Configure.

../../../_images/cmake_gui_screenshot_add_halcon.png

Then click Generate and Open Project to open the Visual Studio solution.

If you want to configure multiple dependencies at once, you can simply add multiple dependencies at the same time in CMake. For example, if you want to use all samples that require Eigen, PCL and OpenCV, you can run

cmake --fresh -DEIGEN3_INCLUDE_DIR=<path-to-eigen> -DUSE_PCL=ON -DOpenCV_DIR=<path-to-opencv> ../source

where <path-to-eigen> and <path-to-opencv> are the paths to your Eigen and OpenCV folders.

Debug the sample program

To debug a sample you must add C:/Program Files/Zivid/bin_debug to your PATH environment variable. Follow the instructions in the below dropdown to do this.

Debugging a sample program

On your PC, navigate to Control PanelSystem and SecuritySystemAdvanced System SettingsEnvironment Variables.

Screenshot of system information on Windows.

Under System variables, select Path variable and click Edit.

Screenshot of system information on Windows.

In the Environment variables window, click New (top-right corner of the window, in the section for user variables) and add the following value:

C:\Program Files\Zivid\bin_debug
Screenshot which shows how to add the :code:`C:\Program Files\Zivid\bin_debug` path to the PATH variable.

Note

If you want to debug a program that depends on an input file you must change Working Directory to ${TargetDir}.

GIF which shows how to set working directory for debug in Visual Studio.

Change the build configuration from Debug to Release. Then click F5 to build and run with debug.