Overview#

Web visualization supports rendering and interacting with running Ignition Gazebo simulations. You may find web visualization useful when interacting with remote or headless Gazebo Sim simulations. No additionally dependencies, other than a browser and internet connection, are required.

How to use web visualization#

The following steps will guide you through the process of running Ignition Gazebo with a websocket server and connecting to the websocket for visualization.

Start an Gazebo Sim instance as usual. We will use the fuel.sdf world and run it headless.

ign gazebo -v 4 -s -r fuel.sdf

Create an Ignition Launch file with the websocket server plugin.

echo "<?xml version='1.0'?>
<ignition version='1.0'>
  <plugin name='ignition::launch::WebsocketServer'
          filename='ignition-launch-websocket-server'>
    <port>9002</port>
  </plugin>
</ignition>" > websocket.ign

Run the websocket server using

ign launch -v 4 websocket.ign

Visualize the simulation by going to https://app.gazebosim.org/visualization and pressing the Connect button.
It may take a few seconds for the scene to load. Your browser needs to fetch all of the models in the world.

Websocket server customization#

The following parameters are available in the websocket server plugin.

<admin_authorization_key> : If this is set, then a connection must provide the matching key using an “auth” call on the websocket. If the <authorization_key> is set, then the connection can provide that key.
<authorization_key> : If this is set, then a connection must provide the matching key using an “auth” call on the websocket. If the <admin_authorization_key> is set, then the connection can provide that key.
<max_connections> : An integer that is the maximum number of simultaneous connections.
<port> : An integer that is websocket port.
<publication_hz> : An integer that is the maximum publication hertz rate.

Code and Support#

The code for the web application, app.gazebosim.org, lives at ignitionrobotics/web/app.
The javascript library used to render the 3D scene lives at ignitionrobotics/web/gz3d.
Is you notice an issue with web visualization, then please file a ticket at gazebo-web/gzweb#issues.

Troubleshooting#

If you are running Gazebo Sim in a docker container, make sure to use the –network host Docker commandline option. Without --network host the web application won’t be able to connect to the websocket server.