# point_cloud_viewer

**Repository Path**: IMMS_ROS/point_cloud_viewer

## Basic Information

- **Project Name**: point_cloud_viewer
- **Description**: No description available
- **Primary Language**: Unknown
- **License**: Apache-2.0
- **Default Branch**: master
- **Homepage**: None
- **GVP Project**: No

## Statistics

- **Stars**: 0
- **Forks**: 0
- **Created**: 2018-03-11
- **Last Updated**: 2020-12-19

## Categories & Tags

**Categories**: Uncategorized

**Tags**: None

## README

# Point viewer

[![build status](https://travis-ci.org/googlecartographer/point_cloud_viewer.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/googlecartographer/point_cloud_viewer) [![License](https://img.shields.io/badge/License-Apache%202.0-blue.svg)](https://github.com/googlecartographer/point_cloud_viewer/blob/master/LICENSE)

This is a standalone project to make viewing massive point clouds easy and convenient.
It was build to serve the needs of the [Cartographer](https://github.com/googlecartographer) project, but is useful in its own right.

## Building

The project consist of a root crate that can build and read octrees on disk and viewer binaries to visualize the data. For Mac OS X, we assume below that you've installed [Homebrew](https://brew.sh).

- Install Rust: `curl https://sh.rustup.rs -sSf | sh`. See <https://rustup.rs> for details.
- Install protobuf > 3.0. See [ci/install_proto3.sh](https://github.com/googlecartographer/point_cloud_viewer/blob/master/ci/install_proto3.sh) for Linux or run `brew install protobuf` on Mac OS X.
- Install the rust protobuf plugin: `cargo install protobuf` and make sure
  `protoc-gen-rust` is in your `$PATH`. The binary probably is in
  `$HOME/.cargo/bin`.
- Install the rust gRPC protobuf plugin: `cargo install grpcio-compiler` and
  make sure it is in your `$PATH`. This has more dependencies, it requires cmake
  and go. On mac: `brew install cmake go`.

### Creating Octrees

In the root of the repo, run `cargo build --release`.
Then use `target/release/build_octree` to generate an octree out of a PLY file.

### SDL client

This is a native client using [SDL2](https://libsdl.org).

1. Install SDL2. For example, on Mac `brew install sdl2`. 
2. Change to the sdl viewer's directory: `cd sdl_viewer/`. 
3. Build with `cargo build --release`. 
4. Run with `../target/release/sdl_viewer <octree directory>`.

In the point cloud viewer, navigate with the keyboard and rotate with left-click + mouse drag or touchpad. The following keys are bound:

| Key           | Action               |
| ------------- | -------------------- |
| W             | Move forward         |
| A             | Move left            |
| S             | Move backwards       |
| D             | Move right           |
| Q             | Move up              |
| Z             | Move down            |
| 0             | Increase points size |
| 9             | Decrease points size |
| 8             | Brighten scene       |
| 7             | Darken scene         |

### Web Viewer

The `web_viewer` consists of [TypeScript](https://www.typescriptlang.org) code running in the browser and a web server binary.

To build,

1. Change into the web viewer's client directory: `cd web_viewer/client`.
2. Install npm. We strongly suggest using [nvm](https://github.com/creationix/nvm). On Mac `brew install nvm`. 
3. Install node version 8: `nvm install 8`. Change to the web viewer's client directory: `cd client`, then set node version to 8: `nvm use 8`. 
4. Install javascript dependencies: `npm install`.
5. Build the client: `npm run build`.

Then build the server: `cargo build --release`.
Serve up the octree using `../target/release/web_viewer <octree directory>`, open Chrome to <http://localhost:5433>, navigate with WASD and left-click-drag on the mouse.
The mouse wheel adjusts movement speed.

The client files (HTML and JavaScript) are embedded in the `web_viewer` binary, so it is fully stand alone.

## Prior art

This work was inspired through the following projects.

- [Potree](http://potree.org)
- [Megatree](http://wiki.ros.org/megatree)