v0.19.0

[0.19.0] 27 September 2024

Added

• Added skeleton animation (mesh skinning) performed on GPU
  • Added API call to assign bone weights to the mesh
    • rgl_mesh_set_bone_weights
  • Added API call to assign restposes to the mesh
    • rgl_mesh_set_restposes
  • Added API call to set the current pose of the given Entity in world coordinates
    • rgl_entity_set_pose_world
• Added multi-return outputs
  • Multi-return point clouds can be post-processed and outputted by RGL
  • Added more return types supported (second, strongest, second strongest)
  • Added API call to configure return mode
    • rgl_node_raytrace_configure_return_mode
• Added support for ROS 2 Jazzy

Changed

• Changed API calls for handling animations resulted from external animation system
  • Removed API call to update vertices of the mesh
    • rgl_mesh_update_vertices
  • Added API call to update vertices of the entity
    • rgl_entity_apply_external_animation
  • In current implementation, meshes that are animated can be shared between entities
    • Previously, such meshes must be duplicated because vertices were updated in the mesh object
    • Now, the entity holds its copy of animated vertices
• Renamed API call for setting transform of the entity
  • rgl_entity_set_pose -> rgl_entity_set_transform
  • Pose is considered as set of skeleton bones transforms

Fixed

• Fixed error message from yield node when trying to get field data that was not requested

Removed

• Removed API call to switch between return modes:
  • rgl_node_multi_return_switch
  • Replaced by rgl_node_raytrace_configure_return_mode

Released binaries

• RGL-core-linux-x64 - core build (without any extension) for Linux x64
• RGL-full-linux-x64-humble - core build + PCL + ROS2 extensions for Linux x64 + ROS 2 Humble
• RGL-full-linux-x64-jazzy - core build + PCL + ROS2 extensions for Linux x64 + ROS 2 Jazzy
• RGL-full-windows-x64-humble - core build + PCL + ROS2 extensions for Windows x64 + ROS 2 Humble
• RGL-full-windows-x64-jazzy - core build + PCL + ROS2 extensions for Windows x64 + ROS 2 Jazzy

v0.18.0

[0.18.0] 24 July 2024

Added

• Added radar object tracking feature
  • Added API call to produce point cloud with radar objects
    • rgl_node_points_radar_track_objects
• Added mechanism to simulate fault injection
  • Added API call to mask groups of rays
    • rgl_node_raytrace_configure_mask
• Added multi-return simulation
  • Currently, this feature is limited to outputting a single return point cloud, but the user can select which return mode is simulated (first or last)
  • Added API call to configure beam divergence
    • rgl_node_raytrace_configure_beam_divergence
  • Added API call to switch between return modes:
    • rgl_node_multi_return_switch
• Added new fields: RGL_FIELD_INTENSITY_U8 and RGL_FIELD_TIME_STAMP_U32
  • These fields are duplicates of existing fields but are stored in other data types
• Added default intensity configuration
  • Added API call to configure default intensity
    • rgl_node_raytrace_configure_default_intensity
  • Default intensity is considered when hitting entities with no intensity texture set

Changed

• Renamed ROS2 field name for RGL_FIELD_RING_ID
  • ring -> channel
• Changed the content of time stamp fields (RGL_FIELD_TIME_STAMP_F64 and RGL_FIELD_TIME_STAMP_U32)
  • Previously, it was time on the scene when the raytrace is triggered
  • Now, it holds the time have passed since the time of the raytrace trigger when given point was measured
    • If velocity distortion is disabled, the time stamp for all points will be zero
• Intensity value of the point is based on intensity texture of the entity and the incident angle
  • The influence of the incident angle was added

Removed

• Removed deprecated API call
  • rgl_node_points_compact
  • Please use rgl_node_points_compact_by_field instead

Released binaries

• RGL-core-linux-x64 - core build (without any extension) for Linux x64
• RGL-full-linux-x64 - core build + PCL + ROS2 extensions for Linux x64
• RGL-full-windows-x64 - core build + PCL + ROS2 extensions for Windows x64

v0.17.0

[0.17.0] 11 June 2024

Added

• Added radar sensor simulation
  • Added API call to process point cloud to create radar-like output
    • rgl_node_points_radar_postprocess
  • Added API call to remove ground using RANSAC method to fit the plane model to the point cloud
    • rgl_node_points_remove_ground
  • Added API call to filter ground based on the incident angle of the ray hitting the mesh triangle
    • rgl_node_points_filter_ground
  • Added API call to publish RadarScan message into ROS2 topic
    • rgl_node_publish_ros2_radarscan
  • Added new fields (point attributes) calculation:
    • Velocity of the hit point on the entity. Depends on entity's linear and angular velocity, and mesh deformations (inferred from calls rgl_entity_set_pose, rgl_scene_set_time and rgl_mesh_update_vertices).
      • RGL_FIELD_ABSOLUTE_VELOCITY_VEC3_F32
      • RGL_FIELD_RELATIVE_VELOCITY_VEC3_F32
      • RGL_FIELD_RADIAL_SPEED_F32
    • Normal vector of the mesh triangle where the hit-point is located
      • RGL_FIELD_NORMAL_VEC3_F32
    • Incident angle of the ray hitting the mesh triangle
      • RGL_FIELD_INCIDENT_ANGLE_F32
    • Azimuth and elevation angle of the hit point
      • RGL_FIELD_AZIMUTH_F32
      • RGL_FIELD_ELEVATION_F32
• Added API call to compact point cloud by given field (RGL_FIELD_IS_HIT_I32 or RGL_FIELD_IS_GROUND_I32)
  • rgl_node_points_compact_by_field
  • At the same time, rgl_node_points_compact became deprecated
• Added set of calls to check if API objects are still valid
  • rgl_mesh_is_alive
  • rgl_entity_is_alive
  • rgl_texture_is_alive
  • rgl_node_is_alive
• Added raytrace node configurations
  • Added API call to configure values for non-hit points
    • rgl_node_raytrace_configure_non_hits
  • Added API call to configure sensor velocity (necessary for velocity distortion or calculating fields RGL_FIELD_RELATIVE_VELOCITY_VEC3_F32 and RGL_FIELD_RADIAL_SPEED_F32)
    • rgl_node_raytrace_configure_velocity
  • Added API call to configure (turn on/off) velocity distortion
    • rgl_node_raytrace_configure_distortion
• Added support for LiDAR reflective value (similar to intensity but set as a single floating-point value for the entire entity)
  • Added API call to set laser retro value to the entity
    • rgl_entity_set_laser_retro
  • Note: could be replaced with 1x1 float-type texture in the future
• Added CI to the project using GitHub actions
• Added static build option
  • Added variable to the CMakeLists (default OFF):
    • RGL_BUILD_STATIC

Changed

• Optimized tape files format to be lighter and be loaded faster
  • Note: old tape files are not compatible
• Improved docker-based build pipeline
  • Introduced multistage dockerfile for the build process
  • Decoupled dependency installation from compilation scripts (better caching)

Removed

• Removed API call for modifying RaytraceNode to apply velocity distortion
  • rgl_node_raytrace_with_distortion
  • Replaced by rgl_node_raytrace_configure_distortion

Released binaries

• RGL-core-linux-x64 - core build (without any extension) for Linux x64
• RGL-full-linux-x64 - core build + PCL + ROS2 extensions for Linux x64
• RGL-full-windows-x64 - core build + PCL + ROS2 extensions for Windows x64

v0.16.2

[0.16.2] 19 November 2023

Fixed

• Fixed Gaussian noise nodes to always perform in rays coordinates
• Fixed distance Gaussian noise to apply error based on distance traveled by the ray (not distance to rays coordinates origin)
• Fixed graph validation when rays definition is modified

v0.16.1

[0.16.1] 13 November 2023

Fixed

• Fixed a bug introduced in v0.16.0 causing RGL to crash in Compact and Downsample Node when some field was removed from the graph

v0.16.0

[0.16.0] 10 November 2023

Added

• Added API calls to set relative node's priority, which determines their execution order within a graph (but not between graphs).
  • rgl_graph_node_set_priority
  • rgl_graph_node_get_priority

Changed

• rgl_graph_run(...) is now fully asynchronous, i.e. it will initiate computations without waiting for them to finish
  • RGL API calls attempting to obtain results from a given node will block until the node has completed execution
  • RGL API calls modifying scene will block until all graphs have completed execution
  • Running a graph will block until the previous run has been completed
• Changed internal implementation of Entity ID feature
  • The Entity ID is now held in a 28-bit integer (OptiX limit) instead of a 32-bit integer
• Renamed XYZ field name to be more precise and compatible with future features
  • RGL_FIELD_XYZ_F32 -> RGL_FIELD_XYZ_VEC3_F32

Known Issues

• Modifying fields between graph's runs (consisted of Compact or Downsample nodes) may cause a segmentation fault. Fixed in v0.16.1.
• Gaussian noise is not performed in rays coordinates. Fixed in v0.16.2.
• Modifying rays definition between graph's runs may allow computations on invalid pipeline. Fixed in v0.16.2.

v0.15.0

[0.15.0] 23 September 2023

Added

• Added feature to simulate velocity distortion
  • Added API call to specify the delay between firing each ray:
    • rgl_node_rays_set_time_offsets
  • Added API call to perform raytracing with velocity distortion:
    • rgl_node_raytrace_with_distortion
  • Note: it is a simplified version of that feature
    • The distortion takes into account only sensor velocity
    • The velocity of the objects being scanned by the sensor is not considered
• Improved ray range configuration
  • Added API call to define min and max range for rays:
    • rgl_node_rays_set_range
  • The range for each ray can be specified individually
  • Modified API call:
    • rgl_node_raytrace
    • No longer takes range as a parameter
• Improved tape tools
  • Multi-lidar tapes are now supported by tapeVisualizer

Fixed

• Fixed -march=native imposed compilation option
  • Library builds are compatible with all 64-bit CPUs
  • vcpkg tag has been updated
  • PCL version has been upgraded (1.13.0 -> 1.13.1)
• Fixed missing dependencies for ROS2 standalone build
• Fixed tape for API call rgl_entity_set_id
• Fixed rgl_node_points_visualize
  • Fixed blocking spin loop for up to 1s on some machines
  • Fixed segmentation fault on window close
  • Fixed handling multiple windows at the same time
• Fixed linking the tests on Windows

Known Issues

• Destroying rgl_node_points_visualize may deadlock on some machines if multiple windows are spawn
• Destroying rgl_node_points_visualize may not close window immediately - main thread exit needed

Released binaries

• Linux-x64 - RGL on Ubuntu22 with ROS2 Humble
• Windows-x64 - RGL on Windows with ROS2 Humble
• Linux-x64-jazzy - RGL on Ubuntu24 with ROS2 Jazzy

v0.14.1

[0.14.1] 5 July 2023

Fixed

• Fixed building PCL on Windows
  • vcpkg tag has been updated
  • PCL version has been upgraded (1.12.0 -> 1.13.0)
• Fixed rclcpp (ROS2 package) initialization
  • RGL checks whether rclcpp is already initialized
  • Resolved spdlog conflict between RGL and rclcpp by downgrading its version on the RGL site (1.10.0 -> 1.9.2)

v0.14.0

[0.14.0] 22 June 2023

Added

• Added feature to query in runtime if specific extensions were compiled in the binary
  • Added API call:
    • rgl_get_extension_info
  • Created a tool that prints all the extensions in the given RGL binary:
    • inspectLibRGL
• Added instance/semantic segmentation feature
  • Added API call to set the ID of the entity:
    • rgl_entity_set_id
  • Added a new field that can be returned:
    • RGL_FIELD_ENTITY_ID_I32
• Added material information reading and converting to intensity based on intensity texture assigned to the entity:
  • Added API calls:
    • rgl_mesh_set_texture_coords
    • rgl_entity_set_intensity_texture
    • rgl_texture_create
    • rgl_texture_destroy
• Added publishing raw lidar packets via UDP
  • In the closed-source version only
• Added unity tests to field RGL_FIELD_DISTANCE_F32

Changed

• Changed value of non-hits points from CUDART_INF_F to FLT_MAX
• Updated docker README information

Known Issues

• rclcpp (ROS2 package) is always initialized by RGL. It could cause a double initialization if the client's code also did it before RGL.
  • Fixed in v0.14.1

v0.13.1

[0.13.1] 19 April 2023

Fixed

• Improved performance of temporal merge node.
  • The node doubles the array capacity if it's running out (instead of reallocating every iteration).

Changed

• Point cloud formatting for rgl_graph_write_pcd_file is performed on the CPU now.
  • We prefer to avoid transferring huge point cloud to GPU (risk of cuda out of memory error).

Known Issues

• rgl_graph_write_pcd_file causes SEH exception on Windows when trying to save point cloud with ~375 000 000 or more points.
  • The issue has been reported to PCL (link).
• rclcpp (ROS2 package) is always initialized by RGL. It could cause a double initialization if the client's code also did it before RGL.
  • Fixed in v0.14.1