Build your operator using CMake

Creating an operator with CMake is a two-step process. The first call to cmake generates a Makefile or a Visual Studio project. The second call to cmake builds your operator using the Makefile or project, and creates a Bifrost pack for your operator.

To build your operator and its Bifrost pack:

1. On Windows, open a Visual Studio 2019 command window. On macOS and Linux, open a terminal window. Make sure that the cmake command is in your path. On Linux, make sure that gcc is also in your path.

2. Set the BIFROST_LOCATION environment variable to point to your Bifrost installation.

   Platform	Bifrost location
   Windows	C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Bifrost\<Maya_version>\<Bifrost_version>\bifrost\
   macOS	/Applications/Autodesk/bifrost/<Maya_version>/<Bifrost_version>/bifrost/
   Linux	/usr/autodesk/bifrost/<Maya_version>/<Bifrost_version>/bifrost/

   You can also pass the location of the Bifrost installation to cmake on the command line. The location passed to cmake from the command line will take precedence over the environment variable.

   Note:

   On Windows, the path can contain spaces, but not quotation marks of any kind.

3. Change directory to your project's src directory and run the following command to create a Visual Studio project or a Makefile:

    cmake  -S <operator_directory> -B <build_location>

   To create an Xcode project, run:

    cmake  -S  <operator_directory>  -B <build_location> -GXcode

   The build files will be created in the build_location directory you passed to cmake.

   cmake will use defaults to generate the Visual Studio project or Makefile. These can be changed on the cmake command line.

   Parameter	Default	Command line option to change the default
   C++ standard	your compiler's default	-DCMAKE_CXX_STANDARD=17
   Bifrost installation location	BIFROST_LOCATION environment variable	-DBIFROST_LOCATION=<path_to_Bifrost_installation>
   Activate warnings	Default is OFF	-DBIFROST_WARNINGS_AS_ERRORS=<ON or OFF>
   Pack install directory	Build directory	-DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=<target_directory>

   On macOS with Apple Silicon chips, the target architecture will be arm64 by default. Similarly, on macOS with Intel chips, the target architecture will be Intel x86_64 by default. You can choose to build for both architectures using the CMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES option:

    cmake  -S  <operator_directory>  -B build_output -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=bifrost_packs -DCMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES=x86_64;arm64

   If you need to rebuild, delete the build directory first.

4. To build the operator and create its Bifrost pack, run:

    cmake --build <build_location> --target install

   Use the same build location as you used in your previous command.

   Note:

   If you are building on Windows, or if you are building using an Xcode project, you will need to specify that you are building a release version:

   cmake --build <build_location> --target install --config Release

   If you are building directly from within Visual Studio or Xcode, modify your project to use the install target with Release configuration.

   This will generate a Bifrost pack named <project_name>-<project_version> as specified in the CMakeLists.txt file.

   If you specified a directory for CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX in the previous call to cmake, the Bifrost pack will be installed in that directory. If you did not specify CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX, the pack will be installed in the build directory

   If you need to rebuild, delete the build directory and restart from the previous step.

5. To use the nodes in your Bifrost pack, ensure that your Bifrost pack is in a location that is accessible to the application that will be using it, and add the full path to the Bifrost pack's <project_name>Config.json, including the name of the file, to the BIFROST_LIB_CONFIG_FILES environment variable. The <project_name>Config.json file is located at the top level of the Bifrost pack directory.

   For example:

    BIFROST_LIB_CONFIG_FILES=$HOME/MyBifrostPacks/MyOperator-1.0.0/MyOperatorPackConfig.json

   BIFROST_LIB_CONFIG_FILES can point to multiple json files. Separate each path with a semicolon (;) on Windows, or a colon (:) on macOS or Linux.

   If you will be using your nodes with the Bifrost Extension for Maya, you can also set this environment variable in the Maya.env file.