Isaac Gym Installation Guide for Ubuntu
System Requirements
- Operating System: Ubuntu 20.04 or 22.04 LTS (64-bit)
- GPU: NVIDIA RTX/GeForce/Quadro with 8GB+ VRAM (RTX series recommended)
- Driver: NVIDIA Driver R525 or newer
- RAM: 32GB minimum (64GB recommended)
- Storage: 20GB available SSD space
- CPU: Intel Core i7/AMD Ryzen 7 or better
Isaac Gym Installation
Prerequisites for Isaac Gym
# Install required system packages
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y \
git \
python3-dev \
python3-pip \
libopenmpi-dev \
libosmesa6-dev \
libgl1-mesa-glx \
libglfw3-dev \
libglew-dev \
patchelf
Method 1: Install Isaac Gym Preview
Step 1: Download the Isaac Gym package
- Go to the NVIDIA Isaac Gym page: https://developer.nvidia.com/isaac-gym
- Sign in with your NVIDIA account
- Download the Isaac Gym Preview package for Linux
Step 2: Extract and Install
# Extract the downloaded package (replace with actual filename)
tar -xvf isaacgym_preview_x_package.tar.gz
# Navigate to the extracted directory
cd isaacgym
# Create a Python virtual environment
python3 -m venv gym_env
source gym_env/bin/activate
# Install the package
pip install -e .
# Install additional dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt
Step 3: Verify Installation
# Go to the examples directory
cd examples
# Run a sample environment
python3 1080_balls_of_solitude.py
Method 2: Install IsaacGymEnvs
IsaacGymEnvs provides reference RL examples using Isaac Gym.
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/NVIDIA-Omniverse/IsaacGymEnvs.git
cd IsaacGymEnvs
# Create a Python virtual environment
python3 -m venv isaacgym_env
source isaacgym_env/bin/activate
# Install the requirements
pip install -r requirements.txt
# Install the package
pip install -e .
Running IsaacGymEnvs Examples
# Test with the Cartpole example
python isaacgymenvs/train.py task=Cartpole
# Test with the Ant example
python isaacgymenvs/train.py task=Ant
Troubleshooting Isaac Gym
Python/CUDA Issues
# If you encounter CUDA initialization errors
pip install torch==1.13.1+cu116 torchvision==0.14.1+cu116 torchaudio==0.13.1 --extra-index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cu116
# For other Python dependency issues
pip install -r requirements.txt --upgrade
Display Issues
# If you get "cannot open display" errors
export DISPLAY=:0
xhost +local:
# If you have rendering issues
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu
Common Troubleshooting
GPU Driver Issues
# Check installed driver version
nvidia-smi
# Install latest driver if needed
sudo apt update
sudo apt install nvidia-driver-535 # or newest available version
sudo reboot
Display/Graphics Issues
# Fix common X server issues
xhost +local:docker
# If getting "Cannot open display" error
export DISPLAY=:0
One-Line Installation Command
Isaac Gym Dependencies Setup
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y git python3-dev python3-pip libopenmpi-dev libosmesa6-dev libgl1-mesa-glx libglfw3-dev libglew-dev patchelf && python3 -m venv isaacgym_env && source isaacgym_env/bin/activate && pip install torch==1.13.1+cu116 torchvision==0.14.1+cu116 --extra-index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cu116
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