Updating an Existing AR Sandbox

[Oliver Kreylos]

Say you already have an AR Sandbox that’s humming along like a well-tuned Swiss watch, but you want to update to new software versions to get the yummy new features. How do you do that without having to start over from scratch?

In the worst case (as in when moving from SARndbox-1.5-001 to SARndbox-1.6), you have to update three software packages: Vrui, Kinect, and SARndbox itself.

Of those three, Vrui and Kinect can be updated in-place without any data loss, and SARndbox will install into a new directory, and you can copy over your settings. Still, start by backing up everything, just in case:

$ cd ~
$ tar cfz Vrui-3.1-old.tar.gz Vrui-3.1/
$ cd src
$ tar cfz SARndbox-old.tar.gz SARndbox-<current version number>/

(I’m assuming default installation locations throughout.)

This creates two tarballs (Vrui-3.1-old.tar.gz and SARndbox-old.tar.gz), which you keep in a safe place.

To update Vrui from any 3.1 version to 3.1-004:

$ cd ~/src
$ wget -O - http://idav.ucdavis.edu/~okreylos/ResDev/Vrui/Vrui-3.1-004.tar.gz | tar xfz -

This downloads and unpacks Vrui-3.1-004, into a new directory ~/src/Vrui-3.1-004.

$ cd ~/src/Vrui-3.1-004
$ time make -j8
$ make install

This installs the new Vrui over the previous 3.1 installation in ~/Vrui-3.1, but retaining all custom configuration files.

Then download, unpack, make, and install Kinect-2.8-002, if you don’t already have it:

$ cd ~/src
$ wget -O - http://idav.ucdavis.edu/~okreylos/ResDev/Kinect/Kinect-2.8-002.tar.gz | tar xfz -
$ cd Kinect-2.8-002
$ time make -j8
$ make install

If you do already have Kinect-2.8-002, clean it out and re-make instead of downloading again:

$ cd ~/src/Kinect-2.8-002
$ make squeakyclean
$ time make -j8
$ make install

Then download, unpack, and make SARndbox-1.6:

$ cd ~/src
$ wget -O - http://idav.ucdavis.edu/~okreylos/ResDev/SARndbox/SARndbox-1.6.tar.gz | tar xfz -
$ cd SARndbox-1.6
$ time make -j8

Finally, copy over your old configuration:

$ cp ~/src/SARndbox-<previous version>/etc/SARndbox-<previous version>/* etc/SARndbox-1.6
$ cp ~/src/SARndbox-<previous version>/share/SARndbox-<previous version>/* share/SARndbox-1.6

Then you run SARndbox as before, and everything should look exactly as before. If not, time to unpack those backups.

[INTPTT]

Thanks Oliver! Jensen (on the forum here) performed our update today. Appears to be working great! Also able to map the pause topo better than the script we had previously. Now to find the best way to script the GUI changes for the water flow/viscosity… need to change it with the different shaders for the full effect! (I’d love to pause the flow when changing to ice or make the snow fall off instead of flow, for example.)

Appreciate all the work you continue to do with this forum and the software. I can say for certain you’ve made hundreds of kids super happy up in this neck of the woods, and every adult pretty much says some form of “Oh that’s really cool!”

You should setup a donation box of some kind (PayPal or whatever.) Never know…

[ndscs.lscet]

Is this the same process for upgrading to 2.2? I followed the instructions and when I run 2.2 there is no elevation colors and the water simulation doesn’t work, any ideas?

[Oliver Kreylos]

Add -uhm (“use height map”) to the command line to enable color mapping. This should also enable rain, but if it doesn’t, explicitly specify a rain elevation range via -rer , for example, -rer 20 100.

[Anonymous]

hi Oliver, how can I update from SARndbox-2.2 to 2.3, can you please describe the procedure? is it this one?

$ cd ~/src
$ wget -O – http://idav.ucdavis.edu/~okreylos/ResDev/SARndbox/SARndbox-2.3.tar.gz | tar xfz –
$ cd SARndbox-2.3
$ time make -j8
Finally, copy over your old configuration:

$ cp ~/src/SARndbox-<previous version>/etc/SARndbox-2.2/* etc/SARndbox-2.3
$ cp ~/src/SARndbox-<previous version>/share/SARndbox-2.2/* share/SARndbox-2.3

[Oliver Kreylos]

Basically, yes. All your configuration stuff is in …/etc/SARndbox-<version>, so you only have to copy over the share directory if you put custom shaders in there, such as lava shaders. But if you did that, you need to copy the entire share hierarchy, not just the share/SARndbox-<previous version> directory itself:
cp -R ~/src/SARndbox-<previous version>/share/SARndbox-<previous version> share/

[kslocum]

Trying to update from 1.6 to 2.3 and I’m getting the following hiccup:

When I run $ cd ~/src I get “no such file or directory exists”

Any thoughts on this?

[Oliver Kreylos]

If you followed the installation instructions for SARndbox-1.6 back then, you should have a ~/src directory with the three packages (Vrui, Kinect, SARndbox) in it. Please double-check.

If not, just start over from scratch with the newest software versions and the full installation instructions. If you didn’t make custom changes you won’t lose anything important, as it’s probably time for a full re-calibration anyway.

[mkaszuba]

Just to clarify, the versions of the software mentioned in the Complete Setup Guide are still the current editions? If not, can someone please post how to update those versions? Is it just a matter of installing the updated apps “overtop” of the older ones?

[noopara]

It would be most helpful if the new “Complete Installation Instructions” also had a detailed section on the procedure to update the software from various old versions up to the one before the latest. I am running Vrui-4.2-006, SARndbox-2.3 and Kinect-3.2 and am not quite sure how to upgrade to the latest versions. As mkaszuba asked, is it a matter of installing “overtop” the older versions? Does the Vrui Development Tookit need to be upgraded as well?

• This reply was modified 2 years, 4 months ago by noopara.

[teamxoso8]

Add -uhm (“use height map”) to the command line to enable color mapping. This should also enable rain, but if it doesn’t, explicitly specify a rain elevation range via -rer , for example, -rer 20 100.

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