OPAL - Open Physics Absraction Layer
http://opal.sourceforge.net


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Source Release Package contents:
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samples - directory containing example applications that show how to use OPAL
scripts - build scripts for various build systems (e.g., Visual Studio)
src - directory containing source code for OPAL and external utilities
tools - miscellaneous utilities (e.g. exporter scripts for 3rd-party content generation software)
license-BSD.txt - BSD Open Source license
license-LGPL.txt - LGPL Open Source license
readme.txt - you're reading it
SConstruct - SCons build system


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Dependencies:
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1. A physics engine: at least one physics engine must be installed (see the OPAL website for a list of supported physics engines)


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Generic build instructions:
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Use the provided SConstruct (on any platform) to build a shared library for OPAL.  A target physics engine is required (e.g. "scons ODE").  Type "scons -h" to get a description of targets and build options.  The "install" target can be used to copy the headers and compiled library to some user-defined location.

For example, to build the OPAL library with ODE support, type:

	scons ODE

This should generate opal-ode.so or opal-ode.dll, depending on the platform.  Note that it builds the optimized version by default.  Note that both ODE and OPAL must be built with the same floating point precision - float or double.

To build the debug version with double precision reals (instead of the default, which uses floats), type:

	scons ODE debug=true double=true

You can specify additional include and library paths like this:

	scons ODE extra_include_path=/path/to/include extra_lib_path=/path/to/lib

Finally, to install the OPAL headers and library, do this:

	scons ODE install prefix=/path/to/install/dir

This will create "include" and "lib" directories if they don't exist in the given prefix.  The "install" will automatically make sure the built library is up-to-date.  You can just type "scons ODE install prefix=/path/to/install/dir" to have SCons build and install everything.

Be aware that any paths used here should be full paths, not relative ones.


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Visual Studio build instructions:
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Use the included Visual Studio project files to build a shared library (win32 .dll file and .lib import library file containing all the dll symbols) for OPAL.  After building the library, copy the headers and .lib file into your include and library path, respectively.  Put the .dll into the same directory as your executable or into the places where Windows looks for dlls (e.g. c:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32).


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Using OPAL in your application:
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Include opal.h in your application and link against the OPAL library.  If your OPAL library is built with double precision reals, define OPAL_USE_DOUBLE in your application.
