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

• Zivid Software

• Visual Studio

• Git

• Zivid C++ Samples

• CMake - version 3.24 or higher

Optional requirements

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

• Point Cloud Library

• Eigen

• OpenCV

• Halcon

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.

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.

Command Prompt

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

cd source
mkdir build && cd build
cmake -A x64 -DUSE_EIGEN3=OFF -DUSE_OPENCV=OFF -DUSE_PCL=OFF ..

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 Panel → System and Security → System → Advanced System Settings → Environment Variables. Under System variables, select the Path variable and click Edit.

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.

CMake GUI

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

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

Click Configure again.

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

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

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	OpenCV_Contrib	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

Eigen

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.

Command Prompt

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

cmake -A x64 --fresh -DEIGEN3_INCLUDE_DIR=<path> -DUSE_OPENCV=OFF -DUSE_PCL=OFF ..

where <path> is the full path to the Eigen folder, e.g. C:/Users/Public/eigen.

CMake GUI

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.

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

PCL

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.

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 Panel → System and Security → System → Advanced System Settings → Environment Variables. Under System variables, select the Path variable and click Edit.

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 1.13.1\bin
C:\Program Files\OpenNI2\Tools

if you have installed PCL 1.13.1 and OpenNI2 in Program Files.

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, the paths to PCL should already be configured.

Command Prompt

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

cmake -A x64 --fresh -DUSE_PCL=ON -DUSE_EIGEN3=OFF -DUSE_OPENCV=OFF ..

CMake GUI

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

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

OpenCV

Warning

The code samples that depend on OpenCV have been tested for OpenCV 4.6.0. Newer versions of OpenCV may not be compatible with the code samples.

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

C:\Users\Public

Warning

The prebuilt OpenCV binaries are not alone sufficient for the code samples that depend on OpenCV_Contrib. These samples require building OpenCV with extra modules. Follow the instructions in the below dropdown for this.

Building OpenCV with extra modules

If you want to use the code samples that depend on OpenCV Contrib modules like ArUco marker detection, you need to build OpenCV from scratch with these modules. The general instructions for doing this are given in https://github.com/opencv/opencv_contrib, but also repeated here.

Clone the opencv_contrib repository in your desired location, e.g.

cd C:\Users\Public
git clone https://github.com/opencv/opencv_contrib

Then configure CMake for OpenCV by Command Prompt or CMake GUI.

Command Prompt

Navigate to your OpenCV build folder and configure CMake by

cd <path-to-opencv-build>
cmake -A x64 -DOPENCV_EXTRA_MODULES_PATH=<path-to-extra-modules> ..\sources

where <path-to-opencv-build> is the path to the OpenCV build directory, e.g., C:/Users/Public/opencv/build and <path-to-extra-modules> is the path to the OpenCV Contrib modules, e.g., C:/Users/Public/opencv_contrib/modules.

Open the Visual Studio solution OpenCV.sln.

CMake GUI

Open CMake GUI and select the path for the source and build folders for OpenCV.

Click Add Entry and add OPENCV_EXTRA_MODULES_PATH with the path to it.

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

In Visual Studio, build OpenCV by pressing Ctrl + Shift + B (this may take a long time). After building OpenCV with extra modules you can continue with the steps below.

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 Panel → System and Security → System → Advanced System Settings → Environment Variables. Under System variables, select the Path variable and click Edit.

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

C:\Users\Public\opencv\build\x64\vc16\bin

if you have installed OpenCV 4.8.0 and extracted it to C:/Users/Public.

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.

Command Prompt

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

cmake -A x64 --fresh -DOpenCV_DIR=<path> -DUSE_EIGEN3=OFF -DUSE_PCL=OFF ..

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

If you have built OpenCV with extra modules from OpenCV Contrib, remember to also set USE_ARUCO by

cmake -A x64 --fresh -DOpenCV_DIR=<path> -DUSE_ARUCO=ON -DUSE_EIGEN3=OFF -DUSE_PCL=OFF ..

CMake GUI

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

Ensure that the box USE_OPENCV is checked and click Configure. If you have built OpenCV with extra modules from OpenCV Contrib, remember to also check USE_ARUCO. Then click Generate and Open Project to open the Visual Studio solution.

Halcon

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.

Command Prompt

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

cmake -A x64 --fresh -DUSE_HALCON=ON -DUSE_EIGEN3=OFF -DUSE_OPENCV=OFF -DUSE_PCL=OFF ..

CMake GUI

Ensure that the box USE_HALCON is checked and click Configure.

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 -A x64 --fresh -DEIGEN3_INCLUDE_DIR=<path-to-eigen> -DUSE_PCL=ON -DOpenCV_DIR=<path-to-opencv>

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 Panel → System and Security → System → Advanced System Settings → Environment Variables.

Under System variables, select Path variable and click Edit.

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

Note

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

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