Linux Installation and Troubleshooting

Installation

1. Download and extract the SynthEyes release tarball.
2. Either:
   1. Run the included install.sh setup script using sudo to install SynthEyes system-wide. This script copies SynthEyes to the standard directory under /opt/BorisFX, sets up a desktop shortcut which should appear in your desktop environment’s list of applications, and creates the licensing directory if it does not exist. This also makes SynthEyes available to associate with .sni files when opened from the file browser.
   2. If you do not wish to run the install script, SynthEyes can be run directly from the unpacked installation directory (which you can move into a suitable location, such as /opt). This will not put SynthEyes into your desktop environment’s applications list, so you will need to set up a .desktop file yourself if you want it to appear. You will also need to make sure that the /usr/genarts/rlm directory exists and is writable in order to install a SynthEyes license.

Getting started

1. Run SynthEyes from the desktop environment or the command line, as preferred.
2. Read and accept the license agreement that will pop up.
3. If you have an activation code, click Help → Activate License. Alternatively, you may install an RLM license file manually, following instructions provided by BorisFX Support. Without any license, SynthEyes will operate in demo mode.
4. Start tracking!

Troubleshooting

SynthEyes does not start

If the SynthEyes main window does not appear, try running SynthEyes from the command-line, e.g. /opt/BorisFX/SynthEyes2026/SynthEyes.sh, and look for any console error messages. If the error indicates a missing library, such as GTK, you will need to install the relevant package which contains this library (the precise package name will vary between distributions).

If the console error does not obviously indicate a missing package, please capture the output in a text file and contact BorisFX Support.

License activation fails

Make sure that the /usr/genarts/rlm directory exists, and is writable by the user account which is activating SynthEyes. This directory is set up automatically if you ran the install.sh script.

The interface is too small

See the section High-DPI Monitors in the user manual for instructions on how to double the interface size for high DPI monitors. It is also possible adjust the UI font family and size, although this does not scale other interface elements.

SynthEyes cannot open movie files

SynthEyes on Linux is not able to load common movie formats such as AVI, MP4 etc. It is able to open image sequences, Apple ProRes (.mov), ARRI RAW (.ari), Blackmagic (.braw) and R3D (.R3D), since support for these formats is directly integrated into SynthEyes itself. It is also able to write ProRes movies.

ALT-dragging does not work

Some window managers use ALT + Left Drag to move an entire window, rather than interacting with the window contents. If you wish to use ALT-dragging in the SynthEyes perspective view, you may need to configure your window manager not to use this shortcut. This is also a problem for other 3D apps like Maya and Blender, so solutions can usually be found online.

SynthEyes fails to open other apps (e.g. to read PDF manuals)

SynthEyes uses the /usr/bin/gio command to find the associated application to open a document such as a PDF. If opening an external app fails, check that /usr/bin/gio is installed and runnable.

Localization

• The keyboard accelerator map is interpreted using a US layout. Many of the accelerators are based on the positions of the keys, and it would be undesirable if they moved.
• SynthEyes requires US-style number formatting. If SynthEyes doesn't start and complains about layouts, try export LC_NUMERIC="en_US.UTF-8" before running SynthEyes. This is included already when you start SynthEyes via the icon or the included SynthEyes.sh.

Advanced settings

• Due to differing window manager conventions regarding docks, menubars, etc, the Linux version doesn't have a good way to be able to determine what the usable portion of the monitor is, which is necessary for placing windows properly and saving and opening files for interchange with other systems. Instead, there's a magic environment variable, SynMargin, that contains a comma-separated list of four numbers: a left, top, right, and bottom margin. SynthEyes will show the correct settings for this environment variable on the status line if you start SynthEyes unmaximized then maximize the SynthEyes window. (It's sticky, so you can unmaximize, close, then reopen SynthEyes.) The value is also logged into the syntheyes_error_log.txt file in your user data folder. You can uncomment and set this variable in your SynthEyes.sh wrapper. These margins are applied for all monitors on the system.
• Using NVidia drivers? SynthEyes.sh contains __GL_SYNC_TO_VBLANK=0 so that playback performance doesn't degrade due to driver vertical frame syncs when there are multiple OpenGL windows onscreen. This setting does create a small chance of tearing (most likely on lower-end graphics cards), so take your choice. May not be needed on some compositing window managers. If you see objectionable tearing, you might try the x-config option "TripleBuffer" --- see the NVidia README/Installation guides. For non-NVidia systems, you should look for similar options in your system's documentation.
• Additional NVidia note: you can try the __GL_THREADED_OPTIMIZATIONS setting to see if it increases perspective-view redraw performance on your machine, though in our experience it does not.