The ros2_utils_tool package provides a complete UI-based tool for the everyday-usage of ROS2 with additional CLI support. As of now, the tool provides the following functionalities:
| Tool | Description | UI support | CLI support |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bag to Video | Export a ROS bag video topic to a video | X | X |
| Video to Bag | Port a video file to a ROS bag | X | X |
| Bag to PCDs | Export a ROS bag point cloud topic to a set of pcd files | X | X |
| PCDs to Bag | Port a set of PCD files to a ROS bag | X | X |
| Bag to Images | Export a ROS bag video topic to an image sequence | X | X |
| Edit Bag | Rename, remove or crop topics in a ROS bag | X | |
| Merge Bags | Merge selected topics of two bags in a new ROS bag | X | X |
| Dummy Bag | Create a ROS bag with dummy data | X | X |
| UI-based Bag Info | UI-supported bag info vis | X | (X) (ros2 bag info) |
| Video as ROS Topic | Publish a video file as a ROS image_msg topic | X | X |
| Image Sequence as ROS Topic | Publish a file with images as ROS image_msg Topic | X | X |
NOTE: The package is still under active development, so more tools might be added later in the future. Additionally, already existing features might expand and change constantly.
The following packages are required:
- ROS2, both version humble and jazzy are supported.
- OpenCV for writing video files.
- cv_bridge for converting ROS sensor images to cv matrices and vice versa.
- PCL for creating point clouds and converting them from and to ROS messages.
- Qt6/Qt5 for all UI as well as some convenience functionalities.
- The application uses Qt6 by default. If no Qt6 installation is found on the system, Qt5 is used instead.
- Due to Qt5 going end-of-life on May 26th 2025, support for it will be dropped soon.
- catch2_ROS for Catch2-based unit tests with ROS2.
- (Optional) uncrustify for code formatting.
The following command installs all additional dependencies at once:
Humble:
sudo apt install libopencv-dev ros-humble-cv-bridge libpcl-dev qt6-base-dev qtbase5-dev ros-humble-catch-ros2
Jazzy:
sudo apt install libopencv-dev ros-jazzy-cv-bridge libpcl-dev qt6-base-dev qtbase5-dev ros-jazzy-catch-ros2
Alternatively, use rosdep to install all dependencies.
- Navigate to your ROS2 workspace's src direction:
cd path/to/your/workspace/src
- Clone this repository:
git clone https://github.com/MaxFleur/ros2_utils_tool.git
- Navigate back to your workspace:
cd path/to/your/workspace/
- Build the project and source it:
colcon build
source install/setup.bash
Full UI:
ros2 run ros2_utils_tool tool_ui
Bag-to-Video-Tool:
ros2 run ros2_utils_tool tool_bag_to_video /path/to/bag_file /path/to/target_video
(Note that a topic can be specified optionally. If no topic is specified, the first available video topic is used. The video needs to have an .mp4 or .mkv appendix).
Video-to-Bag-Tool:
ros2 run ros2_utils_tool tool_video_to_bag /path/to/video_file /path/to/target_bag
(Note that a topic can be specified optionally. If no topic is specified, a predefined topic name will be taken. The video needs to have an .mp4 or .mkv appendix).
Bag-to-PCDs-Tool:
ros2 run ros2_utils_tool tool_bag_to_pcds /path/to/bag_file /path/to/pcd_files
(Note that a topic can be specified optionally. If no topic is specified, the first available point cloud topic is used).
PCDs-to-Bag-Tool:
ros2 run ros2_utils_tool tool_bag_to_pcds /path/to/pcd_files /path/to/target_bag
(Note that a topic can be specified optionally. If no topic is specified, a predefined topic name will be taken).
Bag-to-Images-Tool:
ros2 run ros2_utils_tool tool_bag_to_images /path/to/bag_file /path/to/image_files
(Note that a topic can be specified optionally. If no topic is specified, the first available video topic is used. image_format needs to be either jpg, bmp or png, jpg is default).
Merge-Bags-Tool:
ros2 run ros2_utils_tool tool_merge_bags path/to/first_bag path/to/second_bag -t1 topic_name_1 (...) -t2 topic_name_2 (...) path/to/output_bag
Dummy-Bag-Tool:
ros2 run ros2_utils_tool tool_dummy_bag path/to/bag_file topic_type_1 topic_name_1 ... message_count
(Topic type needs to be String, Integer, Image or PointCloud, up to four topics can be written, message_count needs to be a value from 1 to 1000).
Publish-Video-Tool:
ros2 run ros2_utils_tool tool_publish_video path/to/video_file
(Note that a topic can be specified optionally. If no topic is specified, a predefined topic name will be taken. The video needs to have an .mp4 or .mkv appendix).
Publish-Images-Tool:
ros2 run ros2_utils_tool tool_publish_images path/to/images_files
(Note that a topic can be specified optionally. If no topic is specified, a predefined topic name will be taken. Images need to be of format jpg, bmp or png).
Unit tests:
ros2 run ros2_utils_tool tool_tests
The ros2_utils_tool package is licensed under EUPLv1.2.
If you discover a new bug or wish for a new feature, feel free to open a new issue.
If you want to contribute another feature, please use the provided Uncrustify file for code formatting. As the main branch is only updated for new versions or critical bugfixes, the develop branch is the most current one, providing the newest updates and features. So please open a merge request with develop as the target branch.