Project Setup

Visual Studio Code

Download and install Visual Studio Code. Standard installation works for this tutorial.

Clone the kit-app-template GitHub Repository

Use a preferred method to download the repo. Here is how clone kit-app-template from within Visual Studio:

  1. Open VSCode.

  2. Open the command palette using Ctrl + Shift + P.

  3. In the palette prompt enter gitcl then select Git: Clone command.

  4. Paste https://github.com/NVIDIA-Omniverse/kit-app-template into the repository URL then select Clone from URL.

  5. Select (or create) the local directory into which you want to clone the project.

  6. Once it has finished cloning it will ask if you want to open the cloned repository, select Open.

  7. Set the terminal to use Command Prompt so the syntax in the Command Cheat-Sheet is supported.

Once the project has been downloaded, make sure it’s open in VSCode.

Note: VSCode may recommend installing VSCode Extensions such as the Python Extension. VSCode Extensions are not the same as Kit SDK Extensions. Feel free to install those for VSCode to improve developer workflows.

Project Overview

Before changing or adding anything let’s review the starting point. This kit-app-template project is a barebone starting point and additional files will be added as tools are used. Here is an outline of the core project:

Directory Item

Purpose

docs

Source files for building documentation.

source

Source files for Applications, Services, and Extensions.

tools

Tools and configurations for making builds and packages.

.editorconfig

EditorConfig file.

.gitattributes

Git configuration.

.gitignore

Git configuration.

LICENSE

License for the repo.

README.md

Project information.

build.bat

Windows build tool.

build.sh

Linux build tool.

premake5.lua

Build configuration - such as what apps to build.

repo.bat

Windows repo tool.

repo.sh

Linux repo tool.

repo.toml

Configuration of repo tool.

Verify Project Starting Point

Let’s make sure the core functionality works before creating new solutions.

  1. Open a terminal in VSCode and run a build - see build command in Command Cheat-Sheet. Internet access to NVIDIA repositories is required as dependencies are downloaded as part of the build process. Subsequent builds will be faster as dependencies no longer need to be downloaded.

  2. Notice the additional directories that are created in the root directory after the build has completed:

Directory

Contents

_build

Debug and release builds of apps. Packages. Built docs.

_compiler

Solution files.

_repo

Links to installed repo tools.

Important

The directories named with an underscore are safe to delete. They are generated by repo and build commands.

  1. Start an app included in the project.

  • Windows: .\_build\windows-x86_64\release\my_name.my_app.bat.

  • Linux: ./_build/linux-x86_64/release/my_name.my_app.sh.

  1. An Application should launch - presenting a viewport, content browser, and a few other panels. This is a basic functional USD viewer Application within the Kit SDK itself.

If there were errors causing the apps not to run then please start over - making sure not to make any changes prior to this section.

Now you are ready to either continue with the tutorial or develop Applications and Extensions on your own.