6DoF Pose Visualisation

[arrenglover]

Brief description

Is there any pre-existing tools to quickly/easily visualise a single (or many) 6-DoF poses as defined by <x, y, z, roll, pitch, yaw> or other representation.

Detailed context

We have some pose estimates coming from the Vicon, which we want to compare to some estimates from visual/IMU estimation. We want to visualise the two to compare how well our estimates are as our camera moves. If there is already a solution in the yarp/icub environment I would want to use that.

I've been told that I can use the YARP-ROS bridge and publish the orientation estimates through ROS PoseStamped messages, then to use this rqt plugin to visualize rotations http://wiki.ros.org/rqt_pose_view . However, I was hoping to avoid installing ROS etc.

I don't know so well the:
Rviz plug-in? iCubGUI?

Thanks!

@simbamford

[pattacini]

Hi @arrenglover

As far as I know, the easiest solution would be relying on Rviz, hence ROS.
I don't think we have other tools ready to be used in this respect. I might be mistaken, but iCubGui is not up to the task of displaying reference frames within the simulated world.

If you don't like introducing yet another middleware but think that using a library is still doable (it's a dependency anyway), then my recommendation goes in favor of VTK, which is capable of reproducing professional results with only a little effort.

I have quite an experience with VTK and I'm very happy about it. If you plan to give it a shot I could provide heads-up.

Consider that learning how to use VTK is definitely a plus for future developments, thus it is certainly a good way of investing part of your time 😉

[arrenglover]

Thanks @pattacini as discussed, I'll give VTK a go