Geometries not found when defined inside ROS package

[MCFurry]

Loading a robot description from the ROS parameter server works nicely, but mesh-files are not found. In our URDF-files we include meshes like so: <geometry> <mesh filename="package://my_package/meshes/frame.stl" /> </geometry>

But these result in file not found errors: [GUI] [Err] [SystemPaths.cc:357] Unable to find file with URI [model://my_package/meshes/frame.stl] [GUI] [Err] [SystemPaths.cc:444] Could not resolve file [model://my_package/meshes/frame.stl] [GUI] [Err] [MeshManager.cc:172] Unable to find file[model://my_package/meshes/frame.stl] [GUI] [Err] [MeshDescriptor.cc:56] Mesh manager can't find mesh named [model://my_package/meshes/frame.stl]

Changing the paths to absolute paths works fine, but this makes the URDF not portable unfortunately. Would it be possible to use the rospkg tooling to resolve these paths?

[chapulina]

Could you try using relative paths to the meshes? Like meshes/frame.stl.

Alternatively, you can create env hooks to set environment variables telling Ignition where to find your meshes, like:

prepend-non-duplicate;IGN_GAZEBO_RESOURCE_PATH;share/@PROJECT_NAME@/models
prepend-non-duplicate;IGN_GAZEBO_RESOURCE_PATH;share/@PROJECT_NAME@/worlds

See an example here:

https://github.com/chapulina/dolly/blob/foxy/dolly_ignition/env-hooks/dolly_ignition.dsv.in