Installation Guide

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.

• 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
isaaclab\Scripts\activate

# create a virtual environment named isaaclab with python3.10
python3.10 -m venv isaaclab
# activate the virtual environment
source isaaclab/bin/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 necessary for running Isaac Lab:

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

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 Sim

Cloning Isaac Lab

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

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

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

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

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

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.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

# 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

The above command should launch the simulator and display a window with a black ground plane. 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.