BrainVoyager v23.0

BrainVoyager Installation

To install BrainVoyager, run the installation wizard for the respective platform by starting the provided installer executable. You can download the freely available EDU version of BrainVoyager to run all its capabilities on a large set of example datasets. For analyzing your own data, a license key or a floating network license for BrainVoyager is required. A single license allows you to install and use BrainVoyager on Windows, Linux or macOS. Since BrainVoyager 20, the program is only provided as a 64-bit executable. BrainVoyager is a graphics-intensive program exploiting modern GPUs for both 3D graphics as well as for acceleration of compute-intensive calculations. Ensure that the latest graphics drivers are installed, which should be the case if the operating system is regularly updated. In case you have multiple graphics cards, make sure that the better performing one is used for BrainVoyager. Some Windows laptops and desktop computer possess, for example, a lower-performing integrated Intel graphics card, and a high-performance (discrete, stand-alone) graphics card from NVIDIA or AMD. While BrainVoyager runs fine with recent integrated Intel graphics cards, it is advised to use the high-performance graphics card to run BrainVoyager in such constellations. This is usually automatically done in case of macOS but on Windows, a special tool from the graphics card provider need to be used to specify that BrainVoyager.exe should use the high-performance graphics card (e.g. the NVIDIA Control Panel, which may be accessible directly when right-clicking the BrainVoyager.exe file). For checking, BrainVoyager reports which graphics card is chosen and the version of the chosen 3D graphics provider (OpenGL, Vulkan, Direct3D on Windows, Metal on macOS). The respective information is available in the Log pane and session log files and it is also temporarily shown when starting a 3D Viewer.

Windows

To install BrainVoyager on Windows 11 (or Windows 10), follow these installation instructions:

Important: Uninstall any previous version of BrainVoyager before running the new installer of the latest version. To uninstall, close any running instance of BrainVoyager. Launch the Windows "Settings" panel and select "Apps" to get the list of installed programs; alternatively, type "Add or remove programs" in the global "Search" bar. Select "BrainVoyager" in the appearing list of installed programs and then click the "Remove" button in the local context menu. This will start the BrainVoyager Uninstaller which removes the old program version from your hard disk. None of your own data files will be affected by this operation. As an alternative, you can also go to the "Program Files\BrainVoyager" folder (usually on the 'C:\' drive and start the "Uninstaller" executable.
Download. Download the latest version from the web site: http://www.brainvoyager.com/downloads/install_bv_latest_win.html. Then download the file "setup_bv_v[major].[minor]_win-x64.exe". Note that the "[major]" and "[minor]" sub-strings are placeholders for the actual program version numbers, e.g. with [major]=23 and [minor]=0, the resulting installer file name will be setup_bv_v23.0_win-x64.exe.
Installation. Double click the downloaded setup file (as default it will be stored in your "Downloads" directory) and follow the instructions of the appearing Installation Wizard.

By default, BrainVoyager is installed in "C:\Program Files\BrainVoyager", which is the location for 64-bit software on 64-bit Windows systems. Example JavaScript scripts, Python scripts and essential C++ plugins are installed in the subfolders "Scripts", "PythonScripts", "PythonPlugins" and "Plugins" in the user's "Documents\BrainVoyager\Extensions" directory. If you use Windows in another language than English, the localized name of the "Documents" folder is correctly identified.

Launch BrainVoyager from the taskbar. Once installation is complete, you will see a BrainVoyager icon on your Desktop and in the Start menu, which can be used to launch BrainVoyager. When BrainVoyager is running, you can also pin its icon to the taskbar by right-clicking it and by then selecting the Pin to taskbar item in the appearing context menu.

Enabling Python

BrainVoyager for Windows supports an embedded Python interpreter for scripting and tool development. Since the Windows operating system does not come with a pre-installed Python it needs to be installed on your computer, for details see topic Installing and Enabling Python.

Enabling Matlab / COM Support

BrainVoyager can be scripted from Matlab, for details see the "ScriptingBrainVoyagerFromMatlab_BV[major].[monor].pdf" file that will be available in the "GettingStartedGuides" directory inside the "C:\Program Files\BrainVoyager" folder after installation. To access BrainVoyager from Matlab (or other COM-based access such as the Windows Scripting Host), BrainVoyager must be registered as a COM server in the operating system. This can be done by running BrainVoyager from a command shell window with the parameter "-regserver". To simplify setup, the command shell file "RegisterAsCOMServer.cmd" is installed in the BrainVoyager folder that can be run by double clicking. For permanent setting, it is, however, recommended to run this command with administrative rights, i.e. by right-clicking the file and then selecting "Run as administrator" in the context menu. After registering BrainVoyager as a COM server, the software can be used from Matlab as described in the Matlab scripting guide.

macOS

To install BrainVoyager on macOS 11.1 or newer (macOS 13.4 or newer recommended), follow these installation instructions:

In case you have an older version of BrainVoyager, close any running instance prior to installation. We recommend to deinstall the older version of BrainVoyager by moving the "BrainVoyager" app entry in the "/Applications" folder to the Trash.
Download. Download the latest version from the web site http://www.brainvoyager.com/downloads/install_bv_latest_mac.html. by clicking the link "BrainVoyager_Installer_v[major][minor]_[platform].pkg". The "[platform]" substring is either 'arm64', which identifies the installer for the new Macs with Apple Silicon processors, or it is 'x86_64', which identifies the installer for older Macs with Intel processors. The "[major]" and "[minor]" substrings are placeholders for the actual program version numbers, e.g. with [major]=23, [minor]=0, and [platform]="arm64", the resulting installer file name will be BrainVoyager_Installer_v23.0_arm64.pkg. As default, the package file will be stored in your "Downloads" folder.
Installation. To start the Installation Wizard, double click the downloaded package file. Since the package is both signed and notarized by Apple, the installer should start without problem. In case that "Gatekeeper" prevents running the package, Option-click the package icon and click "Open" in the context menu followed by a click on "Open" in another Gatekeeper dialog. After launching the program, follow the instructions of the appearing Installation Wizard. Apple recommends that programs are installed in the "/Applications" folder requiring administrative privileges. To obtain administrator privileges, the Installation Wizard asks for the password of an administrator account. The user account you created when you set up macOS is an administrator account. If you are currently logged in as this user or as another user with administrative rights, simply re-enter the same user name and password that you have used during the standard log in procedure. In case you received.

By default, BrainVoyager is installed in "/Applications/BrainVoyager". Example JavaScript scripts, Python scripts and essential C++ plugins are installed in the subfolders "Scripts", "PythonScripts", "PythonPlugins" and "Plugins" of the users "Documents/BrainVoyager/Extensions" folder. BrainVoyager is now ready to be launched.

Launch BrainVoyager from the Dock. For convenient access, it is advised to put BrainVoyager in the Dock. If BrainVoyager is running (by starting it from the Applications directory), its icon is shown temporarily in the Dock until the program is closed. To keep the icon there also when BrainVoyager is not running, Option-click its icon, then select Options in the appearing context menu, and finally select Keep in Dock in the appearing sub-menu.

Enabling Python

BrainVoyager for macOS supports an embedded Python interpreter for scripting and development. While macOS comes with Python, it uses an older Python version and it is thus necessary to install the supported 3.8 and/or 3.10 version of Python in order to use Python with BrainVoyager 23. For details see topic Installing and Enabling Python.

Linux

To install BrainVoyager on Linux, follow these installation instructions:

In case you have an older version of BrainVoyager, close any running instance prior to installation. We highly recommend to deinstall the older version of BrainVoyager by running the "Uninstaller", which is located in the "BrainVoyager" application folder (which is as default installed in your home direcotry). Make sure that you use a distribution (indicated by the "[distro]" string) that matches (or is compatible with) your Linux version, i.e. you do not need to have exactly the same version that was used for the compilation of BrainVoyager. If BrainVoyager has been, for example, compiled with Ubuntu 20.04, also more recent versions of Ubuntu as well as other distributions should work.
It is recommended to install the program in the user's home directory so that the program can personalize the installation by installing an icon on the user's desktop and in order to install scripts and plugins in the user's "Documents" folder. This allows a user with standard privileges to modify scripts and plugins.
Download. Download the latest version from the web site: http://www.brainvoyager.com/downloads/install_bv_latest_linux.html by clicking the link "bv_v[major][minor]_lnx64-[distro]_installer.run". Note that the "[major]" and "[minor]" (and eventually also "[sub-minor]") sub-strings are placeholders for the actual program version numbers. Also the "[distro]" substring is a placeholder for the Linux version that was used to compile BrainVoyager. If, for example, the [distro]=u20.04, [major]=23 and [minor]=0, the resulting installer file name will be: bv_v23.0_lnx64-u20.04_installer.run". As default, the installer file will be stored in your "~/Downloads" folder.
Installation. Make sure that the downloaded installer file has read and executable permissions. On most modern Linux systems, this can be done by right clicking the file, selecting "Properties" (or similar) and then setting the appropriate executable permission. Alternatively you can issue the following shell command:

# chmod 755 bv_v[major].[minor]_lnx64-[distro]_installer.run

You can now start the installation by clicking (or double-clicking) on the ".run" file from your Desktop environment or by launching the installer directly from the command line:

# ./bv_v[major][minor]_lnx64-[distro]_installer.run

After launching the installer, follow the instructions of the Installation Wizard.

By default, BrainVoyager is installed in the users home directory "/home/[user_name]/BrainVoyager". An icon is placed on the desktop in case that a GNOME or KDE desktop user interface is used. You may start the program from a terminal window or by using its icon on the desktop. Example JavaScript scripts, Python scripts and essential C++ plugins are installed in the subfolders "Scripts", "PythonScripts", "PythonPlugins" and "Plugins" in the user's "Documents" folder (i.e. "/home/[user_name]/Documents"). BrainVoyager is now ready to be launched.

Launch BrainVoyager from the Desktop and the Dash. While the Installation Wizard puts an icon on the Desktop, modern Linux distributions such as Ubuntu do not automatically allow a user to launch the program. In order to let a (double-) click on the icon launch BrainVoyager, you need once to right-click the icon on the Desktop and select "Allow Launching" (or "Trust program" or similar). When BrainVoyager is running, its icon is also shown in the Dash. In order to keep the icon in the dash for convenient launching in the future, you can right-click the icon and select the Add to Favorites item in the appearing context menu.

Enabling Python

Since version 21.0, BrainVoyager for Linux supports an embedded Python interpreter for scripting and development. While Linux usually comes with a certain Python version (depending on the distribution), you need to install the supported 3.8 or 3.10 version to use Python with BrainVoyager 23.0. For details see next topic Installing and Enabling Python.