[ros-users] Phobos: 3D robot modelling with Blender

[Kai von Szadkowski]

Hi Severin,

thanks for your interest, I have only come across MORSE briefly before, 
but it seems I should definitely take a closer look.

We have implemented an import for URDF, but have also come across 
certain issues we haven't finally resolved, yet. The joints are one of 
those, as we are currently using Blender's bone long axes as the 
rotation or sliding axis and thus export an axis definition for almost 
every joint. We don't see this as a problem when creating new models, 
but working with existing models, that is surely not ideal.

As for the multiple DoF per joint, we may be facing different problems 
as we're using armatures differently, but I won't go into too much 
technical detail on Blender here and instead comment on your github.

Cheers,

Kai


> Hello Kai,
>
> As one of the MORSE dev (a robotic simulator based on Blender, [1]), your work is of high interest for us.
>
> Our main challenge, for now, is to *import* URDF into Blender, which is non trivial due to differences regarding how armatures are rendered (in particular, Blender does not easily allow for multiple DoFs per joint). Have you look into it (importing URDF) or are you only exporting URDF? (and in this
> case, how do you manage joints with more than 1 DoF?)
>
> Our design choices and progress regarding URDF import in Blender can be tracked here: https://github.com/morse-simulator/morse/issues/547
>
> Cheers,
> Severin
>
> [1] http://morse-simulator.github.io/
>
> On 14/10/14 16:12, Kai von Szadkowski wrote:
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> I'm working with the University of Bremen and the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI). We've recently decided to switch from our own data format to using URDF for the kinematic descriptions of our robots.
>>
>> We already used the 3D modelling software Blender to create our models, exporting them using a bunch of python scripts as we didn't fancy creating models by hand. Building on these scripts, we have started to develop a full-blown add-on for Blender designed for simplifying robot model editing. It's
>> called 'Phobos' and can be found on GitHub: https://github.com/rock-simulation/phobos
>>
>> I haven't been able to track down anything comparable in the ROS and Gazebo world and figured this might be interesting for some people here. There's an overview in the README file on github and already some documentation explaining the overall concepts and how to get started. We're certainly far
>> from delivering a bug-free "consumer product", but if somebody is interested and finds the time to take a glance, we're very happy for any feedback.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Kai
>>
>> -- 
>>   Kai von Szadkowski (M.Sc.)
>>   Space Robotics
>>
>>   Universität Bremen
>>   FB 3 - Mathematik und Informatik
>>   AG Robotik
>>   Robert-Hooke-Straße 1
>>   28359 Bremen, Germany
>>   
>>   Zentrale: +49 421 178 45-6611
>>   
>>   Besuchsadresse der Nebengeschäftstelle:
>>   Robert-Hooke-Straße 5
>>   28359 Bremen, Germany
>>   
>>   Tel.:    +49 421 178 45-6646
>>   Empfang: +49 421 178 45-6600
>>   Fax:     +49 421 178 45-4150
>>   E-Mail:   kai.von-szadkowski at uni-bremen.de
>>
>>   Weitere Informationen: http://www.informatik.uni-bremen.de/robotik
>>
>>
>>
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-- 
  Kai von Szadkowski (M.Sc.)
  Space Robotics

  Universität Bremen
  FB 3 - Mathematik und Informatik
  AG Robotik
  Robert-Hooke-Straße 1
  28359 Bremen, Germany
  
  Zentrale: +49 421 178 45-6611
  
  Besuchsadresse der Nebengeschäftstelle:
  Robert-Hooke-Straße 5
  28359 Bremen, Germany
  
  Tel.:    +49 421 178 45-6646
  Empfang: +49 421 178 45-6600
  Fax:     +49 421 178 45-4150
  E-Mail:   kai.von-szadkowski at uni-bremen.de

  Weitere Informationen: http://www.informatik.uni-bremen.de/robotik

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