If you would like to look at the source code, or even add to the functionality already provided in AnimatLab then you can get the code here. Free C++ source code for doing neural and biomechanical simulations are provided. The installer for the latest version of the AnimatLab software developer kit (SDK) can be obtained below. This installer has the code for both the vortex physics plug-in and the new bullet physics plug-in that is currently in beta version. Bullet is a free, open-source physics engine that will be available in the released version of AnimatLab starting in version 2.0.9.

The AnimatLab editor currently only runs on a windows computer environment, but I have converted over the simulator to run on both Windows and Linux.You should have Vista or greater operating system for the windows, or Ubuntu 12.04 for Linux. It should run on other Linux variants, but I have not tested that yet. You can find instructions for installing the SDK for Linux on the Linux SDK Page. A machine with a good graphics accelerator is strongly recommended. NOTE: To use the SDK you MUST have Visual studio 2010 and a command line version of GIT. I use TortoiseGIT. You will need to have this installed prior to trying to install the SDK. It uses the GIT command to pull down the latest code. Before installing TortoiseGIT you will also need to install the GIT for windows. While installing that please make sure that in step 4 you change the default "Use Git Bash only" option to instead point to "Run Git from the Windows command prompt." (Fig. 1 below) If you do not do this then the installer will not be able to pull the repository correctly. The installer only has code and binaries that are not part of the repository in it. I have moved all my source code repositories to GitHub. You can find the code online at github.com/NeuroRoboticTech.

Fig. 1: GIT for Windows step 4. Make sure you change it to run from windows command line.

I have had to split the installer up into separate modules for size issues.There is now a main SDK installer that pulls down the code from GIT, and there are other installers for 3rdParty libraries that the source code depends on. This includes Boost, Bullet, OsgBullet, and OsgWorks. You can find all of this source code online and configure it all to build on your own without using these installers if you want. However, it is a real pain in the butt to get them all setup and working correctly. That is why I am providing installers that already have VS 2010 solutions and binaries that are setup to work with the AnimatLab SDK. When installing them you need to point all of the installs to go to the same directory. (For example, C:\AnimatLabSDK). You can install the code anywhere on your computer. All file references in the SDK are relative, but the installs all have to be into the same root directory for those relative paths to be setup correctly. Once you have installed all the components please follow the instructions below to get the SDK to compile. 

The simulation source code is pretty much documented with doxygen comments. The GUI code though has few comments in it yet. I will be posting doxygen documentation here as soon as I can, and I will try and get comments and documentation up for the SDK as soon as possible.

Please see the "SDK tutorials" in order to understand how the code is laid out and how to compile and use the source code. These tutorials are still focused on version 1 of the software, but things are basically very similar as far as code layout goes. The biggest change in the layout is the new naming convention for libraries. All c++ simulation libraries end with Sim, all VB/C# GUI libraries end with GUI. Another change is that any 3rd party library is moved up to the AnimatLabSDK\3rdParty folder.

Here are the steps you will need to follow to get up and debugging.

1. You can find the solution file in AnimatLabSDK/AnimatLabPublicSource/AnimatLabCode.sln. You should be able to load that solution and then do a rebuild all with no errors.
2. Next you will probably need to setup the debugging options because those do not carry over to new computers. Make sure the AnimatLabGUI project is set as the startup project, right click it and go to properties.
3. Select the "Debug" tab and change it to "Start external program."
4. Choose the "AnimatLab2.exe" from the bin folder as the application.
5. Compile the code, and then switch to "Debug_Double" configuration and make sure that bullet is compiled with this as well.
6. You should now be able to run and debug the application.

 If you have any problems with installing or using AnimatLab SDK then please check the postings on the developers group of the forums section. If you do not see anything already there on your problem then please add it and we will try and respond.