Android build quick start guide

[hebdemnobad]

Okay I just got confused since you have an ogre folder in your ogre folder =D

It looks fine though. Did you try rebuilding from scratch?

Yes, I downloaded ogre source 1.9 last night, copied the AndroidDependencies folder from the Android Ogre SDK into the same folder as the downloaded source, and ran

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cmake -G"NMake Makefiles" -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=..\cmake\toolchain\android.toolchain.cmake -DOGRE_DEPENDENCIES_DIR=..\AndroidDependencies -DANDROID_ABI=armeabi -DANDROID_NATIVE_API_LEVEL=9 ..

I have a separate folder containing Ogre 1.9rc source so when something happens after the executiion of

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cmake -G"NMake Makefiles" -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=..\cmake\toolchain\android.toolchain.cmake -DOGRE_DEPENDENCIES_DIR=..\AndroidDependencies -DANDROID_ABI=armeabi -DANDROID_NATIVE_API_LEVEL=9 ..

I can then start over.

[hebdemnobad]

A question wolfmanfx, is it possible to
nmake Sample_SkeletalAnimation? or any other of the samples?
in which directory should I execute nmake Sample_SkeletalAnimation?

-h

[Emerich]

In your build folder you can do

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nmake help

and you should get:

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c:\master\svn\ogre\ogre\androidbuild>nmake help

Microsoft (R) Program Maintenance Utility Version 10.00.30319.01
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

The following are some of the valid targets for this Makefile:
... all (the default if no target is provided)
... clean
... depend
... OgreJNIDummy
... edit_cache
... install
... install/local
... install/strip
... list_install_components
... package
... package_source
... rebuild_cache
... OgreMain
... RenderSystem_GLES2
... Plugin_OctreeSceneManager
... Plugin_ParticleFX
... OgreRTShaderSystem
... OgreOverlay
... Sample_BezierPatch
... Sample_CameraTrack
... Sample_Character
... Sample_Compositor
... Sample_DualQuaternion
... Sample_DynTex
... Sample_FacialAnimation
... Sample_Grass
... Sample_Instancing
... Sample_Lighting
... Sample_MeshLod
... Sample_NewInstancing
... Sample_Ocean
... Sample_ParticleFX
... Sample_ShaderSystem
... Sample_ShaderSystemTexturedFog
... Sample_ShaderSystemMultiLight
... Sample_Shadows
... Sample_SkeletalAnimation
... Sample_SkyBox
... Sample_SkyDome
... Sample_SkyPlane
... Sample_Smoke
... Sample_SphereMapping
... Sample_Tesselation
... Sample_TextureFX
... Sample_TextureArray
... Sample_Transparency
... Sample_VolumeTex
... Sample_Water
... Sample_BSP
... Sample_CelShading
... Sample_DeferredShading
... Sample_CubeMapping
... Sample_Dot3Bump
... Sample_Fresnel
... Sample_Isosurf
... Sample_ParticleGS
... Sample_SSAO
... SampleBrowserDummy
... dummyJNI.o
... dummyJNI.i
... dummyJNI.s

so you can do Sample_SkeletalAnimation
That'll build the library - nothing you can execute and look at unfortunately

[hebdemnobad]

In your build folder you can do

Code: Select all

nmake help

and you should get:

Code: Select all

c:\master\svn\ogre\ogre\androidbuild>nmake help

Microsoft (R) Program Maintenance Utility Version 10.00.30319.01
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

The following are some of the valid targets for this Makefile:
... all (the default if no target is provided)
... clean
... depend
... OgreJNIDummy
... edit_cache
... install
... install/local
... install/strip
... list_install_components
... package
... package_source
... rebuild_cache
... OgreMain
... RenderSystem_GLES2
... Plugin_OctreeSceneManager
... Plugin_ParticleFX
... OgreRTShaderSystem
... OgreOverlay
... Sample_BezierPatch
... Sample_CameraTrack
... Sample_Character
... Sample_Compositor
... Sample_DualQuaternion
... Sample_DynTex
... Sample_FacialAnimation
... Sample_Grass
... Sample_Instancing
... Sample_Lighting
... Sample_MeshLod
... Sample_NewInstancing
... Sample_Ocean
... Sample_ParticleFX
... Sample_ShaderSystem
... Sample_ShaderSystemTexturedFog
... Sample_ShaderSystemMultiLight
... Sample_Shadows
... Sample_SkeletalAnimation
... Sample_SkyBox
... Sample_SkyDome
... Sample_SkyPlane
... Sample_Smoke
... Sample_SphereMapping
... Sample_Tesselation
... Sample_TextureFX
... Sample_TextureArray
... Sample_Transparency
... Sample_VolumeTex
... Sample_Water
... Sample_BSP
... Sample_CelShading
... Sample_DeferredShading
... Sample_CubeMapping
... Sample_Dot3Bump
... Sample_Fresnel
... Sample_Isosurf
... Sample_ParticleGS
... Sample_SSAO
... SampleBrowserDummy
... dummyJNI.o
... dummyJNI.i
... dummyJNI.s

so you can do Sample_SkeletalAnimation
That'll build the library - nothing you can execute and look at unfortunately

thanks for the reply Emerich, so SampleBrowserDummy is the only ndk target I can get to run on the android?

[Emerich]

I think the OgreJNIDummy should work, too.
EDIT: I never tried that, unfortunately.

[hebdemnobad]

Emerich or anyone else....should the "AndroidDependencies" folder in my ogre root folder be a copy of the "Dependencies" folder of the Android Ogre SDK or a copy of the "AndroidDependencies" folder of the Android Ogre SDK.

Thanks!

Just realized my ANDROID_SDK variable wasn't set to the full parth of the Android SDK...I hope that is the cause of my woes.

-h

[Emerich]

There is just a dependencies folder in the AndroidSDK for me
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ogre/fi ... z/download

[hebdemnobad]

There is just a dependencies folder in the AndroidSDK for me
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ogre/fi ... z/download

Thanks again!

I see....I must have been lost with all the different source/sdk versions. I see that the dependencies in the extracted Ogre Android SDK are all c++ header files in the 'include' folder, and .a files in the "lib" folder. So would it be correct to say that the "lib" folder contains the compiled dependencies, and the "include"file contains the uncompiled dependencies? Ang given that the "lib" file contains .a files, and that is why step 6 in the wiki is therefore unnecessary?

[Emerich]

There is just a dependencies folder in the AndroidSDK for me
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ogre/fi ... z/download

Thanks again!

I see....I must have been lost with all the different source/sdk versions. I see that the dependencies in the extracted Ogre Android SDK are all c++ header files in the 'include' folder, and .a files in the "lib" folder. So would it be correct to say that the "lib" folder contains the compiled dependencies, and the "include"file contains the uncompiled dependencies? Ang given that the "lib" file contains .a files, and that is why step 6 in the wiki is therefore unnecessary?

the .a files are the libraries that have the compiled code. Now if you want to use that code you (and your compiler) need to know the structure of the stuff in the libraries --- that's what you need the headers for.

uncompiled stuff would be with *.cpp files

[hebdemnobad]

I see thanks. When I such succeed I will put that in my quickstart guide for ignorant artists/coders such as myself. Just setting up a development environment is like making a rube goldberg machine without knowing how the parts work....from wikipedia (building ogre with cmake uses alot of the chain reaction element):

A Rube Goldberg machine, contraption, invention, device, or apparatus is a deliberately over-engineered or overdone machine that performs a very simple task in a very complex fashion, usually including a chain reaction. The expression is named after American cartoonist and inventor Rube Goldberg (1883–1970).

[Emerich]

I see thanks. When I such succeed I will put that in my quickstart guide for ignorant coders such as myself.

It takes a while to get used to the mess that is c++ but it's quite worth it. You can do a lot with it.

Don't get discouraged =)

[hebdemnobad]

I'm an obsessive problem solver, so I won't give up. If other people can succeed, I can. My immediate goal would be to create a simple .mesh file viewer with gl es 1 and 2 shader capabilities in a windowed, non-full screen context on an android device. That will go beyond the sample project to something that I assume would have a surface view and conventional android menu playing nice together. (I'm brushing up on java, which I never really learned.)

There is nothing out there that does this asaik, at least not with open source assets (.meshes, .skeletons, .materials, and shader files).

-h

[Emerich]

I'm an obsessive problem solver, so I won't give up. If other people can succeed, I can. My immediate goal would be to create a simple .mesh file viewer with gl es 1 and 2 shader capabilities in a windowed, non-full screen context on an android device. That will go beyond the sample project to something that I assume would have a surface view and conventional android menu playing nice together. (I'm brushing up on java, which I never really learned.)

There is nothing out there that does this asaik, at least not with open source assets (.meshes, .skeletons, .materials, and shader files).

-h

In that case, I think the JNI thing is what you should use. I think if you actually want some Java and Ogre just in a window, then the JNI approach might work better.

You don't even need to compile Ogre for that - you can simply use the libraries and take a look at the JNI example.

Especially if you have a TEGRA device, the Nvidia Nsight Tegra Visual Studio Edition is a nice tool for that.

If you prefer Eclipse, you can actually use more Tutorials on how to work native code on Android devices.

[hebdemnobad]

Once I get that sample browser working yes I think using the Jni is the way to go.

[hebdemnobad]

Success! The ogrejni example works as well (albeit it shows a red screen).

It may have been due to the fact that the android sdk installs to two directories, and windows wasn't finding the path to the sdk (the android sdk extracts to 2 folders named eclipse and sdk.) It works on my droid razr with the powervr sgx540 gpu, fwiw.


I will write my own version of the quick start guide and post it to this thread before proceeding to actually understand how c++based ogre and java speak to one another and seeking guidance on building a fileviewer (something like ogremeshy/lexiview/etc. but minus all the options for the moment).


Thank you everyone for your help!!!!!!!!!!!

A pretty accessible tutorial for getting c and java to talk to each other is posted to: https://code.google.com/p/awesomeguy/wi ... Awesomeguy

-h

[hebdemnobad]

ok, here is my unofficial quick start guide. Thanks to everyone who posted to this thread and to Emerich who did some hand holding.

Anyone is welcome to make corrections additions. it's so complicated that it's hard to remember every step that malfunctioned, but I did restart the process to come up with this guide [it worked with a droid razr, so I count vouch for other devices, but since I got the phone for free the gpu must not be the best out there]:
********************************************************
Hebdemnobad's Android Quick Start Guide


In under two hours, if you get everything right.
Which if you are like me, will turn into two weeks.

An unscientific quick start guide to building, compiling, and deploying the ogre Sample Browser on an Android Device, using Windows 7,
Ogre1.9rc source code, the Android Ogre SDK, Cmake Version 2.8 , MinGW version 2.7, and visual studio express 2010

Although I have coded varioss scripts (javascript, vbscript, actionscript, atmoscript, blinkscript, and scol) for around 14years in art projects (on the web and for installation art), I am not a trained programmer. I am just shy of being completely ignorant of what a 'make' file is.

Prerequisites:

You know what environment variables on Windows 7 are and you now how to add and edit them.
You know how to change directories with a visual Studio Command Prompt.
You know how to download and extract archive files
ANY directory you create and name should have NO spaces in it!


1. Download 'OgreSDK_Android_v1-9-0RC1.7z' from http://sourceforge.net/projects/ogre/fi ... z/download and extract wherever you want.

We won't be using the whole thing, just one of the subfolders in the archive. I myself do not know how to use the Ogre Android SDK to do anything, but I know what to do in order to get that samplebrowser onto you android.

2. Create a directory called Clean_Ogre_1_9, at C:\Clean_Ogre_1_9. You may have to copy the contents of this folder more than once if you mess somethign up. It will save downloading time.

3. Create a directory called Ogre_1_9, at C:\Ogre_1_9.

4. Download tortoise hg, the 2.8.2 64 bit for windows version, from http://tortoisehg.bitbucket.org/download/. This is a program that allows you to download loads and loads of files from a site that contains source code files. With my limited understanding, it's like ftp'ing a bunch of files and folders using an ftp client, except you are linking to a site that contains a source code repository (lots of folders and files in them) of source code.

5. Download the Ogre 1.9 source code. It is currently posted to http://bitbucket.org/sinbad/ogre/. How do you download the source code in this instance? Go to the next step.

6. Open up a command prompt and change directories to C:\Clean_Ogre_1_9. Then execute the following command:
hg clone http://bitbucket.org/sinbad/ogre/ -u v1-9

This command will invoke the hg tortoise program which will download all ofthe Ogre 1.9rc source files to C:\Clean_Ogre_1_9\ogre. It will take a while, maybe 20-40 minutes with depending on your internet connection. You'll see the download progress on the command prompt window. Do something productive and don't sit at your computer. It took 30-60 minutes for me.

7.Copy the contents of C:\Clean_Ogre_1_9\ogre to C:\Ogre_1_9\ogre you will be building the sample browser in the C:\Ogre_1_9 directory\ogre, with C:\Clean_Ogre_1_9 in case you mess things up.

8. Here is a tricky step.....open up the extracted Ogre Android SDK folder you extracted the .7z file to. Find the Dependencies folder in the extracted Ogre Android SDK folder and paste it to C:\Ogre_1_9 directory\ogre. Rename it to "AndroidDependencies".


9. Download and install Cmake 2.8.11.2 to C:\Cmake_2_8

10.Download and install MinGW 4.7.2 You have to go beyond the next>next>finish method and select an option to download the very latest version. Some more info may be here:http://www.ogre3d.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=74588


11. Download and install Visual Studio Express 2010 and install it wherever you want. You will need this application in order to run one of the steps below.

12.Download and extract the Android SDK to:
C:\androidsdk_and_eclipse
WARNING: the Android SDK folder extracts to TWO sub-folders, eclipse and SDK. you want your path variable pointed to C:\androidsdk_and_eclipse\SDK, NOT C:\androidsdk_and_eclipse. Windows will not locate the proper android sdk files if you point our path variable addition just to C:\androidsdk_and_eclipse. This cost me quite a bit of time!!!!

Start up SDK Manager.exe and download and install API 10 (Android 2.3.3)

13. Download and install the Java JDK 1.7. 13 to C:\Program Files\Java. If you don't have the JDK installed, the android eclipse gui won't work and perhaps other bad things will happen. And Android is programmed in java, so it won't hurt your development machine to have it on hand.

14. Download the ant tool. This is a program that lets you build android apps from the windows command line. Why it is on a website named 'tweedo' and not on the android developer's site, I don't know.

http://tweedo.com/mirror/apache/ant/bin ... -1.9.1-bin and extract it to: C:\android\ant.

15. Download and install the android ndk. This application compiles c files into a format that android will understand. Install it to C:\android\ndk

14.Here is what I added to the PATH environment variable due to installing all of these applications. WARNING: Sometimes you need to add the path to an application's 'bin' folder or you will grow a bit older figuring this all out than you would otherwise spend doing other things:


C:\mingw\bin; C:\androidsdk_and_eclipse\SDK;C:\androidsdk_and_eclipse\SDK\tools;C:\androidsdk_and_eclipse\SDK\platform-tools;C:\android\ndk;C:\android\ant\bin;C:\Cmake_2_8\bin;C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.7.0_25;C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.7.0_25\bin

15. Here are other user and system variables that I set up. They may not help but they don't hurt.


User Variables for an account with Administrator privileges:

Variable name: ANDROID_NDK
Variable value: C:\android\ndk


Variable name: ANDROID_SDK
Variable value: C:\androidsdk_and_eclipse\SDK

Variable name: JAVA_HOME
Variable value: C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.7.0_25


Variable name: OGRE_HOME
Variable value: C:\Ogre_1_9\ogre

System Variables:

Variable name: ANDROID_NDK
Variable value: C:\android\ndk


Variable name: ANDROID_SDK
Variable value: C:\androidsdk_and_eclipse\SDK

Variable name: CLASSPATH
Variable value: .;C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre7\lib\ext\QTJava.zip

Variable name: JAVA_HOME
Variable value: C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.7.0_25



Variable name: OGRE_HOME
Variable value: C:\Ogre_1_9\ogre

Variable name: PATH
Variable value: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\System32\Wbem;%SYSTEMROOT%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;C:\Program Files\Intel\WiFi\bin\;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Intel\WirelessCommon\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Shared;C:\Program Files (x86)\QuickTime\QTSystem\;C:\mingw\bin; C:\androidsdk_and_eclipse\SDK;C:\androidsdk_and_eclipse\SDK\tools;C:\androidsdk_and_eclipse\SDK\platform-tools;C:\android\ndk;C:\android\ant\bin;C:\Cmake_2_8\bin;C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.7.0_25;C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.7.0_25\bin

[obviously if you don't have certain apps installed, your PATH variable will look different, but be sure you have set all the path values for the software you installed in this guide are part of the PATH variable.

17. Create the folder android_build in C:\Ogre_1_9\ogre.

18. Ok, now we start to do things. Start up the visual studio express 2010 command prompt (vs command prompt) and cd to: C:\Ogre_1_9\ogre\android_build

Enter the following at the vs command prompt at C:\Ogre_1_9\ogre\android_build

cmake -G"NMake Makefiles" -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=..\cmake\toolchain\android.toolchain.cmake -DOGRE_DEPENDENCIES_DIR=..\AndroidDependencies -DANDROID_ABI=armeabi -DANDROID_NATIVE_API_LEVEL=9 ..

After a couple of minutes (on a core i3 laptop), visual studio should have done its work.

19. now, at the vs command prompt at C:\Ogre_1_9\ogre\android_build, enter:
nmake

Go out for dinner or milk your cows or work out or play with kids or something else. If. you have a core i3, visual studio express 2010 should take about an hour to do its work. I have found that nmake on one occasion threw fatal errors and stopped executing. I just typed in nmake again and namke began working where it left off. This command is enough to get you to the next step in getting that samplebrowser onto your android.

20.at the vs command prompt at C:\Ogre_1_9\ogre\android_build\SampleBrowserNDK, execute:

ndk-build all

21. connect your android gadget via its usb cable to your computer. at the vs command prompt at C:\Ogre_1_9\ogre\android_build\SampleBrowserNDK, execute: ant debug install


Wait a couple of minutes and the sample browser will be installed to your phone/tablet!

Have I missed a step? Let me know! Are there unnecessary steps? Probably, but I don't want to uninstall any apps on my computer and cause this rube goldberg setup to self destruct.
-h

[Mikachu]

@hebdemnobad : thanks for sharing.

I think what's the most missing when starting an android project with ogre is not compiling and running the samplebrowser : it's rather creating a minimal app by reading the samplebrowser code.
Last time I tried that, it took me at least 2 days, because the Ogre samples are a pretty big set, and it's becoming hard to guess what's the minimal cmake+cpp code needed to display an Ogre head on the phone.

[Wolfmanfx]

I created OGRE JNI in mind but i see a lot people getting stuck there too What i see that people except a more complete example like an mesh viewer or something like that.

But maybe you guys can give me some hints how do you except that to work maybe you have already experience with other engines and the have better workflows - i am ready to adapt
As you know for me everything is straight forward so i am factory blind.

[hebdemnobad]

My vote (imho):

Yes Wolfmanfx, a mesh viewer!!!!

A file viewer that uses the existing Android interface (the three dot action bar) to load .mesh/.skeleton/.material/image/.glsl or .cg files (Wolfmanx I would volunteer to put opengl es 2 friendly .material and .cg/.glsl files on the wiki) from the downloads folder or a subfolder thereof on a phone. There could be a "load" menu item that would unload a loaded .mesh and load in another. So the ogre content would be in a window and not take over the screen. And your code would show us mortals of how we can get the android java api to talk to ogre (such as loading and unloading meshes) and vice versa.

To take care of size issues, you could mandate that people export the .mesh from blender at such and such a size, if resizing is a problem for the app to handle and give people the option of using an open source tool to get content in so as to minimize sizing worries.

Two directional lights.

A camera with orbital behavior.

That could be a barebones version that would allow an artist/designer/sports educator to get an animated mesh onto and android and then say "hey, this is what I was talking about". "This is what my sculpture looks lke" "This is how you throw a muay thai roundhouse kick as opposed to a tae kwon do roundhouse kick", etc.

It would be a stripped down version of what ogremeshy does.

There could be other features (an first person camera and simple physics to walk through architectural models or game mods), but this version is something I think people who create 3d things would actually use.

I am a theater designer/director/sculptor/installation artist and I would!

It would be great if there were an ios version of this as well, but that is for another thread.

-h

[Mikachu]

I created OGRE JNI in mind but i see a lot people getting stuck there too What i see that people except a more complete example like an mesh viewer or something like that.

To me, that's quite the opposite...

I'd like to see some self-contained cmake based project with just the minimum to just startup Ogre, read and inject user input, and read assets from apk.
So that when starting a new android project with Ogre, people would just have to copy-paste it and start coding, rather than guessing which part of the samples must be grabbed.
(actually, the same could be applied to the rest of Ogre, except that the wiki tutorials already address it)

The current Ogre app for android is good to do the same things as the SampleBrowser, ie :
- demonstrate ogre functionalities.
- if something is wrong with your app, quickly determine whether it's an hardware, ogre or app issue.

... but it's not just good as a starting point (and I think many newcomers might get afraid by its complexity)

[Wolfmanfx]

@Please check the android SDK there are two self contained apps which do not rely on anything.

[Mikachu]

@Please check the android SDK there are two self contained apps which do not rely on anything.

Never noticed it, since I use Ogre from source...

But it looks exactely like what I need... thanks!

[Wolfmanfx]

OgreJNI is contained in the ogre source

[mzoltan25]

it seems rather cumbersome for me, and the ant doesnt work out and sheet like this.

I want something clean like an eclipse (ide or what) project files and then opening this clicking build button.. etc etc. and then it works. Is there such a thing?

[Emerich]

it seems rather cumbersome for me, and the ant doesnt work out and sheet like this.

I want something clean like an eclipse (ide or what) project files and then opening this clicking build button.. etc etc. and then it works. Is there such a thing?

As most of this thread points out, not quite.

I posted a project however that might work. You need Visual studio and the NSight Tegra Visual Studio Edition package however.

All this CMAKE stuff you see in this thread is about compiling the whole jazz.