Muscle Optimizer installation instructions

The easiest way to use the Muscle Parameter Optimization software on Windows is to get an archive with pre-compiled files from https://simtk.org/home/opt_muscle_par. You need to have OpenSim 3.3 installed in your system. Make sure that you download an archive that is compatible with your OpenSim installation (i.e., 32 or 64 bit). If you want to use the standalone application on Linux, you need to compile from sources yourself; you can get the released source code from https://simtk.org/home/opt_muscle_par or the latest version from the GitHub page https://github.com/MuscleOptimizer/MuscleOptimizer .

Note

If you are only interested in the MatLab package, please refer directly to the MatLab toolbox section.

Preliminary step

If you wish to use the OpenSim GUI plugin or the standalone application, follow these steps:

  • Unzip the provided archive
  • Copy the muscleOptimizeTool.dll file from the bin folder to a directory listed in the PATH environment variable of your machine (you might copy it to the plugins subfolder in your OpenSim installation folder, and add it to the PATH as OpenSim developers suggest)

Opensim GUI plugin (Windows only)

To use the OpenSim GUI plugin:

  • Start OpenSim
  • Open the Plugins Manager (Tools -> Plugins)
Tools-Plugins menu
  • Go to the Downloaded tab and click the Add plugins... button
Downloaded tab - Add plugins button
  • Locate the nbm file
File explorer for NBM file
  • Click the Install button
Bottom-left Install button
  • Click the Next button
Bottom-right Next button
  • Read the license agreement, mark the “I accept the terms ...” checkbox, then click Install button
Accept license agreement
  • Click Continue to install the plugin even if it is not digitally signed
Click Continue
  • Wait for installation to complete; click the Finish button, the close the Plugins window
Bottom-right Finish button
  • You should now find the Map Muscles Operating Range... item in the Tools menu, below Scale Model...

Please refer to GUI plugin for OpenSim 3.3 for instructions on how to use the plugin.

Standalone application

If you want to use the standalone application, you can open a command prompt and move to the bin directory that you extracted from the package archive. Alternatively, you can copy the muscleOptimize.exe file from the bin folder to a directory that is listed in the PATH environment variable for your machine.

Please refer to Muscle Optimizer standalone application for instructions on how to use the standalone application.