3D
Display markers, entities, camera images, meshes, URDF models, and more in a 3D scene.
Supported messages
The 3D panel can visualize an assortment of different messages.
To visualize a topic, the messages on that topic must conform to one of the known message schemas listed below.
Camera field-of-view
Calibration parameters for your scene's camera.
framework | schema |
---|---|
ROS 1 | sensor_msgs/CameraInfo |
ROS 2 | sensor_msgs/msg/CameraInfo |
Custom | foxglove.CameraCalibration |
Grid
2D colored grids.
framework | schema |
---|---|
ROS 1 | nav_msgs/OccupancyGrid |
ROS 2 | nav_msgs/msg/OccupancyGrid |
Custom | foxglove.Grid |
foxglove.Grid
settings
field | description |
---|---|
Color mode | One of: Flat: solid color Color map: pre-defined color palette Gradient: smooth transition between two custom colors RGBA (separate fields): use embedded color from each cell's red , green , blue , and alpha fields (see below) |
Flat color | Only shown if "Color mode" is set to "Flat"; hex code for color of each cell |
Color by | Only shown if "Color mode" is not set to "Flat"; numeric field in message used for coloring logic |
Color map | Only shown if "Color mode" is set to "Color map"; "Turbo" (Google) or "Rainbow" (RViz); for mapping "Color by" field values to colors |
Opacity | Only shown if "Color mode" is set to "Color map" or "BGR (packed)"; sets alpha value for all cells |
Value min | Only shown if "Color mode" is not set to "Flat"; minimum value used to normalize incoming grid's "Color by" field values |
Value max | Only shown if "Color mode" is not set to "Flat"; maximum value used to normalize incoming grid's "Color by" field values |
Frame lock | "On" means the grid is locked to the frame specified by its frame_id , and will move as that frame's transforms change. "Off" means the grid is relative to the fixed frame and will not move after it is first displayed. |
RGBA (separate fields) color mode
Each cell can contain color information in four separate fields, named red
, green
, blue
, and alpha
, of any numeric type:
- Floating-point values — 0–1 range
- Unsigned integer values — Maximum possible range (e.g. 0–255 for a
UINT8
field) - Signed integer values —
-max
tomax
(e.g. −127 to 127 for anINT8
field; a value of −128 is treated as identical to −127)
nav_msgs/OccupancyGrid
settings
field | description |
---|---|
Color mode | One of: Costmap: pre-defined RViz color palette. Cannot customize settings further. Custom: custom color palette using settings below |
Min color | Color corresponding to minimum cell value (0) |
Max color | Color corresponding to maximum cell value (100). Note that cells with value exactly 100 are displayed as fully transparent. |
Unknown color | Color corresponding to unknown cell value (−1) |
Fallback color | Color corresponding to cell values that fall outside the range from −1 to 100 |
Frame lock | "On" means the grid is locked to the frame specified by its frame_id , and will move as that frame's transforms change. "Off" means the grid is relative to the fixed frame and will not move after it is first displayed. |
Image
Images displayed in the 3D scene, using the corresponding Camera field-of-view messages.
framework | schema |
---|---|
ROS 1 | sensor_msgs/Image |
ROS 2 | sensor_msgs/msg/Image |
ROS 1 | sensor_msgs/CompressedImage |
ROS 2 | sensor_msgs/msg/CompressedImage |
Custom | foxglove.RawImage |
Custom | foxglove.CompressedImage |
Laser scan
A single scan from a planar laser range-finder.
framework | schema |
---|---|
ROS 1 | sensor_msgs/LaserScan |
ROS 2 | sensor_msgs/msg/LaserScan |
Custom | foxglove.LaserScan |
ROS polygons
Timestamped polygons made up of a series of connected points.
framework | schema |
---|---|
ROS 1 | geometry_msgs/PolygonStamped |
ROS 2 | geometry_msgs/msg/PolygonStamped |
ROS markers
Similar to scene entities, these Marker
messages describe primitive shapes or meshes.
framework | schema |
---|---|
ROS 1 | visualization_msgs/Marker |
ROS 2 | visualization_msgs/msg/Marker |
ROS 1 | visualization_msgs/MarkerArray |
ROS 2 | visualization_msgs/msg/MarkerArray |
Mesh markers
Markers with a mesh_resource
field support the following URL schemes:
http(s)://
package://
(Desktop app only)file://
(Desktop app only)
And file formats:
glTF (.glb
)
This is the preferred format, as it enjoys the best performance of all supported file types.
Binary glTF files bundle all required assets into a single file, with support for embedded meshes, compression, and the same physically-based material system used in Foxglove. As a result, your model should appear in Foxglove similarly to how it appears in other 3D programs.
STL (.stl
)
STL files are well supported in Foxglove, but lack some of glTF's visualization features. The main advantage to STL is the ability to share the same files between your hardware manufacturing process and robot visualization tooling.
STL was designed for 3D printing and CAD applications, and does not include materials or hierarchies of meshes. While they can be represented in a binary encoding, STL files are commonly represented with ASCII characters, which leads to larger files.
COLLADA (.dae
)
As a predecessor to glTF, COLLADA has a similar feature set. With that said, it does have larger XML-based files, no compression, and additional processing overhead.
There is a bug in RViz where the up-axis metadata is ignored, resulting in incorrect orientations for many .dae
files in ROS environments. To work around this, the 3D panel has a Ignore COLLADA <up_axis>
setting to toggle between observing the <up-axis>
tag or ignoring it like RViz.
Wavefront OBJ (.obj
)
OBJ is a simple ASCII format predating all other supported formats. It has large file sizes, no material support, no mesh hierarchies, no compression, and additional processing overhead.
Material support was added to the OBJ format as separate .mtl
files, which Foxglove does not read.
Path
An array of timestamped poses in a named coordinate frame, denoting an object's path through space.
framework | schema |
---|---|
ROS 1 | nav_msgs/Path |
ROS 2 | nav_msgs/msg/Path |
Custom | foxglove.PosesInFrame |
Point cloud
A collection of N-dimensional points, which may contain additional fields with information like normals, intensity, etc.
framework | schema |
---|---|
ROS 1 | sensor_msgs/PointCloud2 |
ROS 2 | sensor_msgs/msg/PointCloud2 |
Custom | foxglove.PointCloud |
Settings
field | description |
---|---|
Point size | Size of each rendered point |
Point shape | Shape of each rendered point |
Decay time | Duration of time (in sec) that each point stays rendered |
Color mode | One of: Flat: solid color Color map: pre-defined color palette Gradient: smooth transition between two custom colors BGR (packed): sensor_msgs/PointCloud2 only; use embedded color from each point's rgb field (see below)BGRA (packed): sensor_msgs/PointCloud2 only; use embedded color from each point's rgba field (see below)RGBA (separate fields): foxglove.PointCloud only; use embedded color from each point's red , green , blue , and alpha fields (see below) |
Flat color | Only shown if "Color mode" is set to "Flat"; hex code for color of each point |
Color by | Only shown if "Color mode" is not set to "Flat"; value used for "Color map" coloring logic; any numeric field in message such as x , y , z , <distance> (L2 norm of coordinates), or custom defined field |
Color map | Only shown if "Color mode" is set to "Color map"; "Turbo" (Google) or "Rainbow" (RViz); for mapping "Color by" field values to colors |
Opacity | Only shown if "Color mode" is set to "Color map" or "BGR (packed)"; sets alpha value for all points |
Value min | Only shown if "Color mode" is not set to "Flat"; minimum value used to normalize incoming points' "Color by" field values |
Value max | Only shown if "Color mode" is not set to "Flat"; maximum value used to normalize incoming points' "Color by" field values |
Stixel view | Visualize points as stixels that extend from the point's z location to 0 |
RGBA color modes
When using the "BGR (packed)", "BGRA (packed)", and "RGBA (separate fields)" color modes, your point cloud message must contain certain fields to display color information for each point.
RGBA (separate fields)
For foxglove.PointCloud
messages, each point can contain color information in four separate fields, named red
, green
, blue
, and alpha
, of any numeric type:
- Floating-point values — 0–1 range
- Unsigned integer values — Maximum possible range (e.g. 0–255 for a
UINT8
field) - Signed integer values —
-max
tomax
(e.g. −127 to 127 for anINT8
field; a value of −128 is treated as identical to −127)
BGR (packed) and BGRA (packed)
For sensor_msgs/PointCloud2
messages, each point can contain color information in a single field named rgb
or rgba
:
- Must use a 4-byte type from sensor_msgs/PointField (
UINT32
, value 6, is recommended) - Each red, green, blue, and alpha value is represented by one byte in the 0–255 range
- Bytes must be packed in
[0xBB, 0xGG, 0xRR, 0xAA]
order (i.e.(0xAA << 24) | (0xRR << 16) | (0xGG << 8) | 0xBB
in little-endian order). This order is compatible with RViz.
If using the "BGR" mode, the alpha value must still be present, but is ignored.
Pose
Poses in a named coordinate frame.
framework | schema |
---|---|
ROS 1 | geometry_msgs/PoseArray |
ROS 2 | geometry_msgs/msg/PoseArray |
ROS 1 | geometry_msgs/PoseStamped |
ROS 2 | geometry_msgs/msg/PoseStamped |
Custom | foxglove.PosesInFrame |
Scene entity
A collection of primitive shapes (cubes, spheres, text, meshes, lines, etc) used to display anything from a basic bounding box to a complex 3D decision tree or road network.
Scene entities must be wrapped in a SceneUpdate
message.
framework | schema |
---|---|
Custom | foxglove.SceneEntity |
Custom | foxglove.SceneUpdate |
Transforms
A transform (translation and rotation) between two reference frames in 3D space.
framework | schema |
---|---|
ROS 1 | tf/tfMessage |
ROS 1 | tf2_msgs/TFMessage |
ROS 2 | tf2_msgs/msg/TFMessage |
Custom | foxglove.FrameTransform |
Velodyne scan
Velodyne Lidar scan packets from the Velodyne ROS driver or the Foxglove desktop app's Velodyne connection.
framework | schema |
---|---|
ROS 1 | velodyne_msgs/VelodyneScan |
ROS 2 | velodyne_msgs/msg/VelodyneScan |
Video
Compressed videos displayed in the 3D scene, using the corresponding Camera field-of-view messages.
framework | schema |
---|---|
Custom | foxglove.CompressedVideo |