Installation using Isaac Sim pip

Installation using Isaac Sim pip#

Note

If you use Conda, we recommend using Miniconda.

Installing Isaac Sim#

From Isaac Sim 4.0 release, it is possible to install Isaac Sim using pip. This approach is experimental and may have compatibility issues with some Linux distributions. If you encounter any issues, please report them to the Isaac Sim Forums.

Attention

Installing Isaac Sim with pip requires GLIBC 2.34+ version compatibility. To check the GLIBC version on your system, use command ldd --version.

This may pose compatibility issues with some Linux distributions. For instance, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS has GLIBC 2.31 by default. If you encounter compatibility issues, we recommend following the Isaac Sim Binaries Installation approach.

Attention

On Windows with CUDA 12, the GPU driver version 552.86 is required.

  • To use the pip installation approach for Isaac Sim, we recommend first creating a virtual environment. Ensure that the python version of the virtual environment is Python 3.10.

    conda create -n isaaclab python=3.10
conda activate isaaclab

    # create a virtual environment named isaaclab with python3.10
python3.10 -m venv isaaclab
# activate the virtual environment
source isaaclab/bin/activate

    # create a virtual environment named isaaclab with python3.10
python3.10 -m venv isaaclab
# activate the virtual environment
isaaclab\Scripts\activate

  • Next, install a CUDA-enabled PyTorch 2.4.0 build based on the CUDA version available on your system. This step is optional for Linux, but required for Windows to ensure a CUDA-compatible version of PyTorch is installed.

    pip install torch==2.4.0 --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cu118

    pip install torch==2.4.0 --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cu121

  • Before installing Isaac Sim, ensure the latest pip version is installed. To update pip, run

    pip install --upgrade pip

  • Then, install the Isaac Sim packages

    pip install isaacsim==4.2.0.2 isaacsim-extscache-physics==4.2.0.2 isaacsim-extscache-kit==4.2.0.2 isaacsim-extscache-kit-sdk==4.2.0.2 --extra-index-url https://pypi.nvidia.com

  • To install a minimal set of packages for running Isaac Lab only, the following command can be used. Note that you cannot run isaacsim with this.

    pip install isaacsim-rl isaacsim-replicator isaacsim-extscache-physics isaacsim-extscache-kit-sdk isaacsim-extscache-kit isaacsim-app --extra-index-url https://pypi.nvidia.com

Verifying the Isaac Sim installation#

  • Make sure that your virtual environment is activated (if applicable)

  • Check that the simulator runs as expected:

    # note: you can pass the argument "--help" to see all arguments possible.
isaacsim

    By default, this will launch an empty mini Kit window.

  • To run with a specific experience file, run:

    # experience files can be absolute path, or relative path searched in isaacsim/apps or omni/apps
isaacsim omni.isaac.sim.python.kit

Attention

When running Isaac Sim for the first time, all dependent extensions will be pulled from the registry. This process can take upwards of 10 minutes and is required on the first run of each experience file. Once the extensions are pulled, consecutive runs using the same experience file will use the cached extensions.

In addition, the first run will prompt users to accept the Nvidia Omniverse License Agreement. To accept the EULA, reply Yes when prompted with the below message:

By installing or using Isaac Sim, I agree to the terms of NVIDIA OMNIVERSE LICENSE AGREEMENT (EULA)
in https://docs.omniverse.nvidia.com/isaacsim/latest/common/NVIDIA_Omniverse_License_Agreement.html

Do you accept the EULA? (Yes/No): Yes

If the simulator does not run or crashes while following the above instructions, it means that something is incorrectly configured. To debug and troubleshoot, please check Isaac Sim documentation and the forums.

Installing Isaac Lab#

Cloning Isaac Lab#

Note

We recommend making a fork of the Isaac Lab repository to contribute to the project but this is not mandatory to use the framework. If you make a fork, please replace isaac-sim with your username in the following instructions.

Clone the Isaac Lab repository into your workspace:

git clone git@github.com:isaac-sim/IsaacLab.git

git clone https://github.com/isaac-sim/IsaacLab.git

Note

We provide a helper executable isaaclab.sh that provides utilities to manage extensions:

./isaaclab.sh --help

usage: isaaclab.sh [-h] [-i] [-f] [-p] [-s] [-t] [-o] [-v] [-d] [-c] -- Utility to manage Isaac Lab.

optional arguments:
   -h, --help           Display the help content.
   -i, --install [LIB]  Install the extensions inside Isaac Lab and learning frameworks (rl_games, rsl_rl, sb3, skrl) as extra dependencies. Default is 'all'.
   -f, --format         Run pre-commit to format the code and check lints.
   -p, --python         Run the python executable provided by Isaac Sim or virtual environment (if active).
   -s, --sim            Run the simulator executable (isaac-sim.sh) provided by Isaac Sim.
   -t, --test           Run all python unittest tests.
   -o, --docker         Run the docker container helper script (docker/container.sh).
   -v, --vscode         Generate the VSCode settings file from template.
   -d, --docs           Build the documentation from source using sphinx.
   -c, --conda [NAME]   Create the conda environment for Isaac Lab. Default name is 'isaaclab'.

isaaclab.bat --help

usage: isaaclab.bat [-h] [-i] [-f] [-p] [-s] [-v] [-d] [-c] -- Utility to manage Isaac Lab.

optional arguments:
   -h, --help           Display the help content.
   -i, --install [LIB]  Install the extensions inside Isaac Lab and learning frameworks (rl_games, rsl_rl, sb3, skrl) as extra dependencies. Default is 'all'.
   -f, --format         Run pre-commit to format the code and check lints.
   -p, --python         Run the python executable provided by Isaac Sim or virtual environment (if active).
   -s, --sim            Run the simulator executable (isaac-sim.bat) provided by Isaac Sim.
   -t, --test           Run all python unittest tests.
   -v, --vscode         Generate the VSCode settings file from template.
   -d, --docs           Build the documentation from source using sphinx.
   -c, --conda [NAME]   Create the conda environment for Isaac Lab. Default name is 'isaaclab'.

Installation#

  • Install dependencies using apt (on Ubuntu):

    sudo apt install cmake build-essential

  • Run the install command that iterates over all the extensions in source/extensions directory and installs them using pip (with --editable flag):

./isaaclab.sh --install # or "./isaaclab.sh -i"

isaaclab.bat --install :: or "isaaclab.bat -i"

Note

By default, this will install all the learning frameworks. If you want to install only a specific framework, you can pass the name of the framework as an argument. For example, to install only the rl_games framework, you can run

./isaaclab.sh --install rl_games  # or "./isaaclab.sh -i rl_games"

isaaclab.bat --install rl_games :: or "isaaclab.bat -i rl_games"

The valid options are rl_games, rsl_rl, sb3, skrl, robomimic, none.

Verifying the Isaac Lab installation#

To verify that the installation was successful, run the following command from the top of the repository:

# Option 1: Using the isaaclab.sh executable
# note: this works for both the bundled python and the virtual environment
./isaaclab.sh -p source/standalone/tutorials/00_sim/create_empty.py

# Option 2: Using python in your virtual environment
python source/standalone/tutorials/00_sim/create_empty.py

:: Option 1: Using the isaaclab.bat executable
:: note: this works for both the bundled python and the virtual environment
isaaclab.bat -p source\standalone\tutorials\00_sim\create_empty.py

:: Option 2: Using python in your virtual environment
python source\standalone\tutorials\00_sim\create_empty.py

The above command should launch the simulator and display a window with a black viewport as shown below. You can exit the script by pressing Ctrl+C on your terminal. On Windows machines, please terminate the process from Command Prompt using Ctrl+Break or Ctrl+fn+B.

Simulator with a black window.

If you see this, then the installation was successful! 🎉