Install PyChrono

There are two options for installing PyChrono on your computer, A) or B). The first is the reccommended way. The second is for users that need to build the full library starting from the C++ source.

A) Install precompiled Python modules

We provide precompiled PyChrono modules that can be installed in Python in a single step. Do this:

  1. Be sure that you have installed the Anaconda Python distribution. (If you already have Python installed, you can still install Anaconda or MiniConda).
  2. Do conda install -c projectchrono pychrono. Alternatively, use the Anaconda Navigator GUI, picking pychrono from the projectchrono channell.
The Conda installer takes care of installing all dependencies in your Python environment, it is shipped with Anaconda by default.
Note that by default Conda installs the 'main' packages from the Anaconda repository, that may be lagging behind. If you want to install the latest 'develop' PyChrono, go to the Anaconda package repository and pick the one that you need, or do conda install -c projectchrono/label/develop pychrono

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B) Build Python modules from the C++ API

Advanced users that use the entire Chrono::Engine C++ API can build PyChrono from scratch. This is the preferred way to have the most updated PyChrono, but it is more complicated. Do this:

  1. install the Chrono API with C++ source code and build it,
  2. install Python (only Python version 3.2 or greater is supported). Or, if you have hard disk space, better install a full stack like Anaconda
  3. build the PyChrono module, following these instructions

Tips

We strongly encourage using Anaconda rather than the plain Python interpreter because Anaconda ships with many scientific packages like Numpy installed by default. Another popular Python distribution is Enthough that already includes the two packages.
We suggest you to use a specialized IDE editor that nicely handles the Python language (syntax highlighting, intellisense, etc.). The default IDE installed with most Python distribution is IDLE: it is suficient only for simple stuff, so we suggest to use a more powerful editor. Our best pick is Spyder, the IDE that comes together with the Anaconda Python distribution. Other free options could be or Visual Studio Code or the Python add-on for VisualStudio.
If you build PyChrono from the C++ source, i.e. method B), you need to set the PYTHONPATH environment variable so that it points to the directory where you built the binaries. This is not needed if you installed PyChrono with method A), because the Conda installer takes care of the PYTHONPATH.