The following sections give step-by-step instructions for downloading, building, and installing the 8.00 version of G3D on OS X and Linux.

The short version of these instructions is simple:

1. Unzip G3D-8.00-src.zip
2. Type buildg3d --install /usr/local update to build the library
3. Set your G3D9DATA environment variable to the /usr/local/G3D/data directory
4. See /usr/local/G3D/samples/starter/ for a simple application framework

Full Unix (Linux and OS X) installation instructions

1. Execute the following commands at the terminal prompt on your local machine to download, build, and install G3D:

   pushd /tmp
   curl http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/g3d/G3D-8.00-src.zip?download > G3D-8.00-src.zip
   unzip G3D-8.00-src.zip
   pushd G3D
   chmod u+x buildg3d
   sudo ./buildg3d --install /usr/local update
   popd
   rm -rf G3D
   popd
   

2. You probably want to bookmark the local G3D documentation at /usr/local/G3D/html/index.html. Sample projects and data files can be found at /usr/local/G3D/data and /usr/local/G3D/demos.

3. G3D comes with a build tool called iCompile that automatically compiles and links programs using g++ on Linux and OS X. This is a replacement for Makefiles. If you choose to use it and installed G3D to a path that is not already in your INCLUDE and LIBRARY variables, then you need to edit your ~/.icompile file to work with G3D. See the iCompile Manual for details. A sample .icompile file that assumes you built in your home directory and never installed to the system is:

   
   [GLOBAL]
   defaultinclude:  /Users/morgan/Projects/g3d/G3D9/build/include:;/usr/include;/usr/X11R6/include;/usr/local/include;/usr/local/include/SDL11;/usr/include/SDL;/Volumes/Home/Projects/G3D/build/linux-i386-g++-4.0/include
   defaultlibrary:  /Users/morgan/Projects/g3d/G3D9/build/lib:;;/usr/lib;/usr/X11R6/lib;/usr/local/lib;/Volumes/Home/Projects/G3D/build/linux-i386-g++-4.0/lib
   defaultcompiler: 
   defaultexclude:  
   beep:            True
   tempdir:         tmp
   builddir:        build
   
   [DEBUG]
   
   [RELEASE]