This guide will help you get started using Cinder on Windows. Start by downloading Cinder itself from the site's Download Page if you haven't already. Choose the Visual C++ 2012 version if you don't already have Visual C++ installed.
Cinder is designed for Visual Studio 2010 and Visual Studio 2012, and works with both the
commercial versions and the freely available Express editions. If you don't already have one of those versions installed,
we'll walk you through setting up the free 2012 edition.
The first step is of course to download Visual C++ itself - you want the succinctly named Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows Desktop, available here. Next, lauch the installer. You can leave the settings at their defaults and simply click the Install button.
If you are using one of our packaged releases, you should be all set. If you're working from github you'll want to follow the build instructions in our Cinder + Git guide.
Let's try opening and building one of the samples. From Windows Explorer, navigate to the cinder\samples\QuickTimeBasic\vc11 folder and open quickTimeSample.sln.
Under the Debug menu select Start Debugging and click Yes when prompted to build the project. The QuickTime sample will launch and present you with an Open dialog. Select a QuickTime movie on your hard drive, and you should see something about like this:
TinderBox is Cinder's GUI tool for creating new projects quickly and easily. A guide to creating projects using TinderBox is available here.