meshcat-cpp

Self-contained C++ interface for the MeshCat visualizer.

meshcat-cpp took (heavy) inspiration for C++ (drake) MeshCat interface extensively discussed here. The main purpose of this package is to have an independent (self-contained) C++ library that exposes the MeshCat interface in C++.

🚧 REPOSITORY UNDER DEVELOPMENT 🚧
The library implemented in this repository is still experimental and we cannot guarantee stable API

🏗️ Dependencies

meshcat-cpp is a self-contained library. Most dependencies can be cloned at compile time and they are statically linked to the library. The only dependencies you need is a sufficiently recent C++ compiler (full support to C++20), cmake, openssl, zlib, libuv, boost and pkg-config.

Install dependencies on Debian/Ubuntu

sudo apt install cmake pkg-config build-essential ninja-build git libssl-dev libuv1-dev libz-dev libboost-dev

Install dependencies with conda-forge

mamba create -n meshcatcppdev boost-cpp libuwebsockets cmake pkg-config compilers zlib openssl libuv msgpack-cxx

Then, execute all the other commands after activating the environment:

mamba activate meshcatcppdev

⚒️ Build the library

You can build the library coping and paste the following snippet into a terminal

git clone https://github.com/GiulioRomualdi/meshcat-cpp.git
cd meshcat-cpp
mkdir build && cd build
cmake ..
cmake --build .
[sudo] make install

🏃 Example

meshcat-cpp provides native CMake support which allows the library to be easily used in CMake projects. Please add in your CMakeLists.txt

project(foo)
find_package(MeshcatCpp REQUIRED)
add_executable(${PROJECT_NAME} src/foo.cpp)
target_link_libraries(${PROJECT_NAME} MeshcatCpp::MeshcatCpp)

Differently for the python, julia, and C++ (drake) interfaces this interface currently supports only a subset of functionalities (🚧 New functionalities will be soon implemented). The following example shows you how to display some primary shapes.

#include <MeshcatCpp/Material.h>
#include <MeshcatCpp/Meshcat.h>
#include <MeshcatCpp/Shape.h>

MeshcatCpp::MatrixView<double> array_to_matrix_view(std::array<double, 16>& array)
{
    constexpr MeshcatCpp::MatrixView<double>::index_type rows = 4;
    constexpr MeshcatCpp::MatrixView<double>::index_type cols = 4;
    constexpr auto order = MeshcatCpp::MatrixStorageOrdering::ColumnMajor;
    return MeshcatCpp::make_matrix_view(array.data(), rows, cols, order);
}

int main()
{
    MeshcatCpp::Meshcat meshcat;
    MeshcatCpp::Material m;

    std::array<double, 16> transform = {1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1};
    auto matrix_view = array_to_matrix_view(transform);

    m.set_color(66, 133, 244);
    meshcat.set_object("box", MeshcatCpp::Box(0.5, 0.5, 0.5), m);
    matrix_view(3, 1) = 1.75;
    meshcat.set_transform("box", matrix_view);

    m.set_color(234, 67, 53);
    meshcat.set_object("sphere", MeshcatCpp::Sphere(0.5), m);
    matrix_view(3, 1) = 0.75;
    meshcat.set_transform("sphere", matrix_view);

    m.set_color(251, 188, 5);
    meshcat.set_object("ellipsoid", MeshcatCpp::Ellipsoid(0.5, 0.25, 0.75), m);
    matrix_view(3, 1) = -0.75;
    meshcat.set_transform("ellipsoid", matrix_view);

    m.set_color(52, 168, 83);
    meshcat.set_object("cylinder", MeshcatCpp::Cylinder(0.25, 0.5), m);
    matrix_view(3, 1) = -1.75;
    meshcat.set_transform("cylinder", matrix_view);

    meshcat.join();

    return 0;
}

Once you have run the example, the MeshcatCpp::Meshcat class will print the URL at which the MeshCat server runs. Please open the link in your browser and you should be able to see the following screen

🐛 Bug reports and support

All types of issues are welcome.

📝 License

Materials in this repository are distributed under the following license:

All software is licensed under the BSD 3-Clause "New" or "Revised" License. See LICENSE file for details.