Quick Installation

./isaaclab.sh -i installs everything needed to run with Newton Physics out of the box.

# Install uv
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

# Clone Isaac Lab
git clone https://github.com/isaac-sim/IsaacLab.git
cd IsaacLab

# Create environment and install
uv venv .venv --python 3.12
source .venv/bin/activate
./isaaclab.sh -i

# Run training (Newton backend, 16 envs)
./isaaclab.sh -p scripts/reinforcement_learning/rsl_rl/train.py \
  --task=Isaac-Cartpole-Direct-v0 \
  --num_envs=16 --max_iterations=10 \
  presets=newton --visualizer newton

Running Tasks

The presets= Hydra override selects the physics backend and renderer at runtime:

# Newton (Kit-less)
./isaaclab.sh -p scripts/reinforcement_learning/rsl_rl/train.py \
  --task Isaac-Cartpole-Direct-v0 \
  --num_envs 4096 \
  presets=newton \
  --visualizer newton

# PhysX (Kit — requires Isaac Sim)
./isaaclab.sh -p scripts/reinforcement_learning/rsl_rl/train.py \
  --task Isaac-Cartpole-Direct-v0 \
  --num_envs 4096 \
  presets=physx

# Newton with a specific visualizer
./isaaclab.sh -p scripts/reinforcement_learning/rsl_rl/train.py \
  --task Isaac-Cartpole-Direct-v0 \
  --num_envs 4096 \
  presets=newton \
  --visualizer viser

Kit-less visualizer options: newton, rerun, viser. Multiple can be combined: --visualizer newton,rerun.

See also

• Hydra Configuration System — Hydra presets and configuration overrides

• Visualization — Visualizer backends and configuration

• Configuring RTX Rendering Settings — Rendering mode presets and settings

• Local Installation — Full installation guide with all methods

Available Presets

Presets are combined with commas: presets=newton,newton_renderer,depth.

presets=newton,newton_renderer,rgb  # presets=physics,renderer,render mode
presets=newton,newton_renderer,depth
presets=physx,isaacsim_rtx_renderer,rgb
presets=physx,isaacsim_rtx_renderer,depth
presets=physx,isaacsim_rtx_renderer,albedo
presets=physx,isaacsim_rtx_renderer,simple_shading_constant_diffuse
presets=physx,isaacsim_rtx_renderer,simple_shading_diffuse_mdl
presets=physx,isaacsim_rtx_renderer,simple_shading_full_mdl
presets=newton,ovrtx_renderer,rgb
presets=newton,ovrtx_renderer,depth
presets=newton,ovrtx_renderer,albedo
presets=newton,ovrtx_renderer,simple_shading_constant_diffuse
presets=newton,ovrtx_renderer,simple_shading_diffuse_mdl
presets=newton,ovrtx_renderer,simple_shading_full_mdl