MCAP Support Lands in Rerun
2 days ago
- #open-source
- #data-visualization
- #robotics
- Experimental MCAP support added to Rerun for easier visualization of robotics data without altering existing workflows.
- MCAP is an open-source format for storing robotics log data, now the default in ROS2 since May 2023.
- Rerun's approach includes a layered architecture to process MCAP files, mapping data to distinct Rerun archetypes.
- ROS2 message types are semantically interpreted for visualization (e.g., images as Image, point clouds as Points3D).
- Protobuf messages are decoded into structured data but require additional steps for visualization compared to ROS2.
- Users can drag-and-drop MCAP files into Rerun or use CLI commands to load or convert files.
- Initial support focuses on common ROS2 message types, with plans to expand based on community feedback.
- Current limitations include unsupported custom messages, missing tf transforms, and no ROS1 message support.