Robot Viewer
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A VS Code extension for importing and visualizing robot models (URDF / Xacro) directly in the editor. Inspect the model in an interactive 3D view, drive joint angles in real time, tweak rendering, save/load scene configurations, and synchronize joint states from an external system over OPC UA.
Features
- Model import — Preview
.urdf and .xacro files. Xacro documents are expanded on the extension side before rendering.
- 3D interaction — Orbit, pan and zoom the camera; automatic fit-to-model framing.
- Joint control — A slider per movable joint with live value readout (degrees for revolute/continuous, meters for prismatic).
- Rendering settings — Background color, ground grid, ambient/key light intensity, visual/collision geometry toggles, wireframe, up-axis (
+Z URDF convention or +Y), a color mode (Original vs Alternate), and coordinate axes: colored arrow frames at the world origin and at every joint (toggleable, with an axis-size slider), plus a corner view gizmo that tracks the camera and can be clicked to snap to axis views.
- Scene save/load — Persist joint values, camera pose and render settings to a
*.robotscene.json file and restore them later.
- Collapsible tabbed panel — A docked side panel with tabs (Joints, Camera, Render, Scene, OPC UA) that can be slid out or collapsed with the edge handle.
- Live sync (OPC UA) — A six-part configuration panel (Connection, Security, Address Space, Variable Naming, Joint Mapping, Runtime) subscribes to a NodeId per joint and mirrors external joint states into the viewer in real time.
- Package resolution — Resolve
package://<pkg>/... mesh references via the robotViewer.packages setting. The model's own directory and its parent are always searched too, so meshes resolve even when the package:// name doesn't match a real folder.
Supported mesh formats: STL, Collada (.dae), OBJ, glTF/GLB.
Usage
- Open the folder that contains your robot description (so mesh resources resolve).
- Open a
.urdf / .xacro file, then either:
- click the Preview icon in the editor title bar, or
- run Robot Viewer: Preview Robot Model from the Command Palette, or
- right-click the file in the Explorer and choose Robot Viewer: Preview Robot Model.
- Use the side panel to move joints, adjust rendering, save/load scenes, and connect live sync.
A ready-to-run example lives in samples/simple_arm.urdf — it uses only primitive geometry, so no external meshes are required.
Commands
| Command |
Description |
Robot Viewer: Preview Robot Model |
Open the 3D preview for the active/selected model file. |
Robot Viewer: Open Model File... |
Pick a model file from disk and preview it. |
Robot Viewer: Load Scene Configuration... |
Load a saved *.robotscene.json into the active preview. |
Settings
| Setting |
Default |
Description |
robotViewer.packages |
{} |
Map ROS package names to folders for package:// resolution. |
robotViewer.backgroundColor |
#263238 |
Viewer background color. |
robotViewer.showGrid |
true |
Show the ground grid by default. |
robotViewer.upAxis |
+Z |
Up axis used to orient the model. |
robotViewer.reRenderOnSave |
true |
Re-render when the previewed file is saved. |
robotViewer.opcua.endpoint |
opc.tcp://localhost:4840 |
Default OPC UA endpoint. |
robotViewer.opcua.nodeIdTemplate |
ns=2;s=Joints/{joint} |
NodeId template per joint ({joint} is substituted). |
Tip: even without configuring robotViewer.packages, the extension automatically treats the URDF's own directory and its parent as implicit package roots when searching for meshes.
OPC UA live sync
Open the Live Sync (OPC UA) panel in the sidebar and configure the connection through its six sections:
- Connection — server host/IP and port.
- Security — security mode, policy, and optional username/password (leave the username empty for anonymous access).
- Address Space — namespace index and NodeId identifier type (string / numeric / GUID / opaque).
- Variable Naming — the common identifier prefix shared by every joint (e.g.
Joints/). The full NodeId is ns=<n>;<type>=<prefix><suffix>.
- Joint Mapping — a per-joint table where you only enter the differing suffix (defaults to the joint name), plus enable/disable and a
scale / offset applied to each incoming value.
- Runtime — monitored-item sampling interval, incoming value unit (radians or degrees), and the Connect / Disconnect button with live status.
robotViewer.opcua.endpoint and robotViewer.opcua.nodeIdTemplate seed the panel's initial values; anything you change in the panel is remembered per preview. Passwords are never written to disk.
Development
npm install
npm run compile # one-off build
npm run watch # rebuild on change
Press F5 (Run Extension) to launch an Extension Development Host.
Build output goes to dist/ (extension.js for the host, webview.js for the 3D viewer).
License
MIT
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