Configure a Join Point Clouds View

Combine the point clouds from multiple camera sources and project them to be from the point of view of target_frame:

Navigate to the Config tab of your robot’s page in the Viam app. Click on the Components subtab and click Create component. Select the camera type, then select the join_pointclouds model. Enter a name for your camera and click Create.

Configuration of a Join Point Clouds view in the Viam App config builder.

Edit and fill in the attributes as applicable.

{
    "name": "<your-camera-name>",
    "type": "camera",
    "model" : "join_pointclouds",
    "attributes": {
        "target_frame": "<target-frame-name>",
        "source_cameras": ["<cam-name-1>", "<cam-name-2>", ... ],
        "proximity_threshold_mm": <int>,
        "merge_method": "<naive|icp>",
        "intrinsic_parameters": {
            "width_px": <int>,
            "height_px": <int>,
            "fx": <float>,
            "fy": <float>,
            "ppx": <float>,
            "ppy": <float>
        },
        "distortion_parameters": {
            "rk1": <float>,
            "rk2": <float>,
            "rk3": <float>,
            "tp1": <float>,
            "tp2": <float>
        },
        "debug": <boolean>
    }
}

The following attributes are available for join_pointclouds views:

NameTypeInclusionDescription
target_framestringRequiredThe frame of reference for the points in the merged point cloud.
source_camerasarrayRequiredThe name of each of the camera sources to combine.
intrinsic_parametersobjectRequiredThe intrinsic parameters of the camera used to do 2D <-> 3D projections:
  • width_px: The expected width of the aligned image in pixels.
  • height_px: The expected height of the aligned image in pixels.
  • fx: The image center x point.
  • fy: The image center y point.
  • ppx: The image focal x.
  • ppy: The image focal y.
proximity_threshold_mmintOptionalDefines the largest distance 2 points can have in millimeters to be considered the same point when merged.
merge_methodstringOptionalnaive or icp.
Default: naive
distortion_parametersobjectOptionalModified Brown-Conrady parameters used to correct for distortions caused by the shape of the camera lens:
  • rk1: The radial distortion x.
  • rk2: The radial distortion y.
  • rk3: The radial distortion z.
  • tp1: The tangential distortion x.
  • tp2: The tangential distortion y.
debugbooleanOptionalEnables the debug outputs from the camera if true.
Default: false

View the camera stream

Once your camera is configured and connected, go to the Control tab, and click on the camera’s dropdown menu. Then toggle the camera or the Point Cloud Data view to ON. If everything is configured correctly, you will see the live video feed from your camera. You can change the refresh frequency as needed to change bandwidth.

Example Camera view inside Viam app

Next Steps

Calibrate a Camera

Calibrate a camera and extract the intrinsic and distortion parameters.

transform

Instructions for transforming a camera.

Vision
Vision

The vision service enables your smart machine to use its on-board cameras to intelligently see and interpret the world around it.



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