AlliGator Installation

System Requirements

This software will only run on Microsoft Windows 10 64 bit. Some of the functions used by the software support parallelism, therefore a multiprocessor and/or multicore computer is recommended (this statement is not as dated as it sounds, as virtual machines offer the choice of core number). Since time-gated image datasets tend to be large, and many analysis steps involve processing all time-gate images, it is preferable to have as much RAM as possible available. 16 GB or more are recommended.

Download the installer(s)

3 pieces of software need to be present on your computer for AlliGator to run properly:

  • AlliGator

  • LabVIEW Run-time Engine (RTE)

  • Vision Development Module (VDM) RTE

Follow the instructions below to make sure you install the correct versions of each. Do not hesitate to post a support request on the AlliGator Support Google Group to ask for help or advice. You only need to install the LabVIEW and VDM RTE once.

AlliGator Installer

Find and download the latest installer zip archive in the installer/latest folder of the AlliGator GitHub repository.

Installers for previous versions can be found in the installer folder and can be run to overwrite a newer version containing a bug or to replicate published analysis performed with an older version.

Note that older AlliGator versions may require older LabVIEW and VDM RTE, as explained in the AlliGator and LabVIEW versions section below.

LabVIEW and Vision Development Module RTE

The AlliGator installer only installs the software and its dependent files, but won’t result in a functional executable unless you have the LabVIEW 2021 SP1 64 bit Run-Time Engine (RTE) installed on your machine, as well as the Vision Development Module (VDM) 2021 Run-time Engine.

The LabVIEW RTE installer is available for free from National Instruments at <https://www.ni.com/en/support/downloads/software-products/download.labview-runtime.html#443841>

Although the VDM RTE is free to download at <https://www.ni.com/en/support/downloads/software-products/download.vision-development-module-runtime.html#409837>, it requires a license to be used (asked for during installation). As explained here a trial license can be requested from Natioanl Instruments/Emerson, but it will expire after a one week trial period. If you have a license for a different version of VDM, it will work. As of 2/2024, an academic license costs $407.40 ($582 for non-academic users).

Installation Instructions

Once the LabVIEW RTE and then the VDM RTE are installed (this only needs to be done once), run the install.exe file in the AlliGator installer zip file (there is no need to unzip the installer). The default installation folder is in the logged Windows user’s personal folder, therefore no Administrator right is needed.

There is no need to uninstall a previous version to install a new one (which can be done from within AlliGator using the Check for Update item of the Help menu).

AlliGator and LabVIEW Versions

AlliGator is developed using the graphical programming language LabVIEW and uses the Vision Development Module (VDM) toolkit for some image handling and analysis functions. The software therefore requires the LabVIEW runtime engine (RTE) and the VDM RTE corresponding to the version it was developed with.

Note that for AlliGator versions anterior to 0.80, version 1.8.18 of the HDF5 library needs to be installed separately, as explained in section HDF5 library installation below.

Over the years, different LabVIEW versions have been used and therefore, different versions of AlliGator require different versions of the LabVIEW and VDM RTE, as explained below.

Several versions of the RTE can be installed concurrently on the same machine, but since they are hefty, it is possible to uninstall the unused versions to save space.

Uninstalling AlliGator does not uninstall the corresponding RTE version, therefore it is only necessary to install the required RTE once.

Note that if you have the correct LabVIEW development environment installed on your machine, there is no need to install the RTE again, as it will already be available.

HDF5 library installation

In order to be able to save and load HDF5 files introduced in version 0.16, HDF5 library version 1.8.18 needs to be installed for AlliGator versions anterior to version 0.80. AlliGator 0.80 and above include the HDF5 library (version 2.15.0.149) in the installer, therefore this step can be ignored.

The free HDF5 library installer archive can be found here: <https://support.hdfgroup.org/ftp/HDF5/releases/hdf5-1.8/hdf5-1.8.18/bin/windows/hdf5-1.8.18-win64-vs2013-shared.zip>