Helper functions for displaying and debugging data in Rviz via published markers.
This package includes:
- Basic geometric markers for Rviz
Developed by Dave Coleman at the Correll Robotics Lab, University of Colorado Boulder with outside contributors.
sudo apt-get install ros-indigo-rviz-visual-tools
Clone this repository into a catkin workspace, then use the rosdep install tool to automatically download its dependencies. Depending on your current version of ROS, use:
rosdep install --from-paths src --ignore-src --rosdistro indigo
To see random shapes generated in Rviz:
roslaunch rviz_visual_tools visual_tools_test.launch
See VisualTools Class Reference
We'll assume you will be using these helper functions within a class.
Add to your includes:
#include <rviz_visual_tools/visual_tools.h>
Add to your class's member variables:
// For visualizing things in rviz
rviz_visual_tools::VisualToolsPtr visual_tools_;
In your class' constructor add:
visual_tools_.reset(new rviz_visual_tools::VisualTools("base_frame","/rviz_visual_markers"));
Change the first parameter to the name of your robot's base frame, and the second parameter to whatever name you'd like to use for the corresponding Rviz marker ROS topic.
There are several other settings you can adjust, which I might get around to documenting in the future:
visual_tools_->setMuted(false);
visual_tools_->setLifetime(20.0);
visual_tools_->setFloorToBaseHeight(floor_to_base_height);
visual_tools_->setAlpha(alpha);
visual_tools_->setGlobalScale(scale);
visual_tools_->setBaseFrame(frame_name);
Now in your code you can easily debug your code using visual markers in Rviz
Start rviz and create a new marker using the 'Add' button at the bottom right. Choose the marker topic to be the same as the topic you specified in the constructor.
In the following snippet we create a pose at xyz (0.1, 0.1, 0.1) and rotate the pose down 45 degrees along the Y axis. Then we publish the pose as a arrow for visualziation in Rviz. Make sure your Rviz fixed frame is the same as the one chosen in the code.
// Create pose
Eigen::Affine3d pose;
pose = Eigen::AngleAxisd(M_PI/4, Eigen::Vector3d::UnitY()); // rotate along X axis by 45 degrees
pose.translation() = Eigen::Vector3d( 0.1, 0.1, 0.1 ); // translate x,y,z
// Publish arrow vector of pose
ROS_INFO_STREAM_NAMED("test","Publishing Arrow");
visual_tools_->publishArrow(pose, rviz_visual_tools::RED, rviz_visual_tools::LARGE);
See visual_tools.h for more details and documentation on the following functions:
- publishSphere
- publishArrow
- publishRectangle
- publishLine
- publishBlock
- publishText
- publishTest
And more...
Reset function
deleteAllMarkers- tells Rviz to clear out all current markers from being displayed. Only withs in ROS Indigo and newer.
Conversion functions
- convertPose
- convertPoint32ToPose
- convertPoseToPoint
- convertPoint
- convertPoint32
Convenience functions
- generateRandomPose
- dRand
- fRand
- iRand
- getCenterPoint
- getVectorBetweenPoints
This package helps you quickly choose colors - feel free to send PRs with more colors as needed
- rviz_visual_tools::RED
- rviz_visual_tools::GREEN
- rviz_visual_tools::BLUE
- rviz_visual_tools::GREY
- rviz_visual_tools::WHITE
- rviz_visual_tools::ORANGE
- rviz_visual_tools::BLACK
- rviz_visual_tools::YELLOW
- rviz_visual_tools::XXSMALL
- rviz_visual_tools::XSMALL
- rviz_visual_tools::SMALL
- rviz_visual_tools::REGULAR
- rviz_visual_tools::LARGE
- rviz_visual_tools::XLARGE
All markers will persist for the duration set by setLifetime, defaulting to 30 seconds. You can reset this earlier by calling
resetMarkerCounts();
This will cause all new markers to overwrite older ones.
You can also delete all markers (new in ROS Indigo) by calling
deleteAllMarkers();
Useful notes for anyone wanting to dig in deeper:
- All poses are published with respect to the world frame e.g. /world, /odom, or maybe /base
- All publish() ROS topics should be followed by a
ros::spinOnce();but no sleep - Do not want to load any features/publishers until they are actually needed since this library contains so many components
Feel free to send PRs for new helper functions, fixes, etc. - I'll happily discuss and merge them. I do not, however, want to send much time helping people use this because I am a busy grad student. Use at your own risk.