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ros_viz_tools

This package is a visualization tool for easier Rviz marker plotting.

Dependencies

  • Tested on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS & ROS kinetic
  • tf2_geometry_msgs

Quick Start

Build this package under your catkin workspace, run demo node and Rviz (frame: ros_viz_tools, topic: demo_marker) for a quick look:

roslaunch ros_viz_tools demo_node.launch

demo

Currently support:

  • Cube list
  • Sphere list
  • Line Strip
  • Line List
  • Cylinder
  • Cube
  • Sphere
  • Arrow
  • Text
  • Frame (Axes-type Pose)

Usage

Set catkin package dependencies in your CMakeLists.txt and package.xml,

# CMakeLists.txt
find_package(catkin REQUIRED COMPONENTS
  ...
  ros_viz_tools
)
<!-- package.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<package format="2">
  ...  
  <depend>ros_viz_tools</depend>
  ...
</package>

Include the header file in your codes,

#include "ros_viz_tools/ros_viz_tools.h"

Markers

Initialize a RosVizTools instance named markers,

ros::NodeHandle n;
std::string topic = "demo_marker";
ros_viz_tools::RosVizTools markers(n, topic);

Create a new marker and append it to markers. Let's take cube list marker for example.

// set marker frame id, namespace and id
std::string frame_id = "ros_viz_tools";
std::string ns = "cube_list";
int id = 0;

You can initialize a new marker by two approaches:

// intialize new marker by calling static member function in RosVizTools directly (recommended)
visualization_msgs::Marker marker = ros_viz_tools::RosVizTools::newCubeList(0.5, ns, id, ros_viz_tools::WHITE, frame_id);
// or by accessing the function through the instance
visualization_msgs::Marker marker = markers.newCubeList(0.5, ns, id, ros_viz_tools::WHITE, frame_id);

If the new marker involves a list (cube list, sphere list, line list or line strip), you also need to set a point list.

// modify marker, cube list, for example, also needs a point list.
for (int i = 0; i < 10; ++i) {
    geometry_msgs::Point p;
    p.x = i;
    p.y = pow(p.x, 2.0);
    p.z = 1.0;
    marker.points.push_back(p);
    std_msgs::ColorRGBA color = ros_viz_tools::newColorRGBA(randRGB(e), randRGB(e), randRGB(e));
    marker.colors.push_back(color);
}

Append new marker to RosVizTools instance markers:

// append to markers
markers.append(marker);

At the end, call publish() function.

markers.publish();

Then you can open Rviz and see the markers published in the frame ros_viz_tools and topic demo_marker. Don't forget clear your markers at the beginning of every loop:

markers.clear();

You can see demo_node.cpp for better understanding of the usage for each marker type.

Colors

To support colorful marker plotting, ros_viz_tools also defines functions and class for easier color settings. Now there are two approaches supported for generating colors:

  • function newColorRGBA (also with some pre-defined colors in color.h) or
  • class ColorMap (See demo_node.cpp for examples)

License

This repository licensed under the MIT License.