4. Python Environment Installation

It is possible to run Isaac Sim natively from Python rather than as a standalone executable. This provides more low-level control over how to initialize, step and manage an Omniverse application.

4.1. Default Python Environment

Isaac Sim provides a built in Python 3.7 environment that packages can use, similar to a system level Python install. It is recommended to use this Python environment when running the Python scripts.

Run the following from the Isaac Sim root folder to start a Python script in this environment:

./python.sh path/to/script.py

Note

  • You can open a terminal directly to the Isaac Sim root folder from the Isaac Sim App Selector.

  • If you need to install additional packages via pip you can run:

    ./python.sh -m pip install name_of_package_here
    

See also

See the Python Environment manual for details about how python.sh works.

4.2. Jupyter Notebook Setup

Jupyter Notebooks that use Isaac Sim can be executed using:

./jupyter_notebook.sh path/to/notebook.ipynb

Note

  • The first time you run jupyter_notebook.sh, it will install the Jupyter Notebook package into the Isaac Sim Python environment, this may take several minutes.

See also

See the Jupyter Notebooks documentation for details about how it works.

4.3. Visual Studio Code Support

The Isaac Sim package provides a .vscode workspace with a pre-configured environment that provides:

  • Launch configurations for running in standalone Python mode, or the interactive GUI

  • Environment for Python auto-complete

You can open this workspace by opening the main Isaac Sim package folder in Visual Studio Code (VSCode).

Note

Using Visual Studio Code when going through tutorials and examples is recommended.

See also

See the Visual Studio Code (VSCode) Support documentation for details about the VSCode workspace.

4.4. Advanced: Running In Docker

Start the Docker container following the instructions in Container Deployment up to step 8.

Once the Isaac Sim container is running, you can run a Python script or Jupiter Notebook from the sections above.

Note

  • You can install additional packages via pip:

./python.sh -m pip install name_of_package_here
  • See Save Docker Image for how to commit the image and make the Python setup installation persistent.

4.5. Advanced: Running with Anaconda

Create a new environment with the following command:

conda env create -f environment.yml
conda activate isaac-sim

If you have an existing conda env, ensure that the packages in environment.yml are installed. Alternatively you can delete and re-create your conda environment using:

conda remove --name isaac-sim --all
conda env create -f environment.yml
conda activate isaac-sim

Finally, we need to setup some environment variables so that Isaac Sim python packages are located correctly. On Linux, you can do this with:

source setup_conda_env.sh

You can then run samples as follows in the isaac-sim conda env:

python path/to/script.py

Note

If using the isaac-sim Anaconda environment you must use python instead of python.sh to run the samples.