Merge pull request #83 from Simple-Robotics/fix-optional-video-recording

Fix FFmpeg not being actually optional when building, add warnings when calling `Visualizer` recording settings in this case

Author: ManifoldFR

.github/workflows/macos-linux-windows-pixi.yml

@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ jobs:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
         os: [ubuntu-latest, macos-latest]
-        environment: [all-test]
+        environment: [test-no-ffmpeg, test-all]
         build_type: [Release]
 
     steps:

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -10,14 +10,17 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 ### Added
 
 - bindings/python : expose video recorder settings
+- pixi : separate `pinocchio` and `ffmpeg` features, add to CI build matrix
 
 ### Changed
 
 - multibody/Visualizer : expose video settings directly instead of passing fps parameter
+- cmake : allow user to turn off FFmpeg support/video recording features even if FFmpeg was detected
 
 ### Fixed
 
-- support for Coal's current `devel` branch (remove incompatible fwd-declarations, just include `<coal/shape/geometric_shapes.h>`)
+- support for Coal's current `devel` branch (remove incompatible fwd-declarations, just include `<coal/shape/geometric_shapes.h>`) (https://github.com/Simple-Robotics/candlewick/pull/81)
+- Make FFmpeg actually optional: add option to turn off support even with FFmpeg installed, fix building with support turned off
 
 ## [0.4.0] - 2025-06-10
 

CMakeLists.txt

@@ -86,13 +86,24 @@ ADD_PROJECT_DEPENDENCY(SDL3 3.2.4 REQUIRED)
 ADD_PROJECT_DEPENDENCY(assimp REQUIRED)
 ADD_PROJECT_DEPENDENCY(Eigen3 REQUIRED)
 ADD_PROJECT_DEPENDENCY(coal REQUIRED PKG_CONFIG_REQUIRES "coal >= 3.0.0")
+ADD_PROJECT_DEPENDENCY(nlohmann_json 3.11.3 REQUIRED)
+ADD_PROJECT_DEPENDENCY(EnTT REQUIRED)
+ADD_PROJECT_DEPENDENCY(magic_enum 0.9.7 CONFIG REQUIRED)
 if(BUILD_PINOCCHIO_VISUALIZER)
   ADD_PROJECT_DEPENDENCY(
     pinocchio
     REQUIRED
     PKG_CONFIG_REQUIRES "pinocchio >= 3.7.0"
   )
 endif()
+ADD_PROJECT_DEPENDENCY(
+  FFmpeg
+  7.0.0
+  COMPONENTS
+  avformat
+  avcodec
+  swscale
+)
 set(CANDLEWICK_ASSETS_DIR ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/assets)
 set(CANDLEWICK_SHADER_SRC_DIR ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/shaders)
 set(
@@ -101,6 +112,15 @@ set(
 )
 message(STATUS "Shader install dir: ${CANDLEWICK_SHADER_INSTALL_DIR}")
 
+if(FFmpeg_FOUND)
+  message(STATUS "FFmpeg found (version ${FFmpeg_VERSION}).")
+  option(
+    BUILD_WITH_FFMPEG_SUPPORT
+    "Build Candlewick with support for FFmpeg and video recording features."
+    ON
+  )
+endif()
+
 add_subdirectory(external)
 add_subdirectory(src)
 

bindings/python/CMakeLists.txt

@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ set(
   pycandlewick_SOURCES
   src/expose-mesh-data.cpp
   src/expose-renderer.cpp
-  src/expose-recording.cpp
   src/module.cpp
 )
 
@@ -29,6 +28,9 @@ if(BUILD_PINOCCHIO_VISUALIZER)
     PRIVATE CANDLEWICK_PYTHON_PINOCCHIO_SUPPORT
   )
 endif()
+if(BUILD_WITH_FFMPEG_SUPPORT)
+  target_sources(pycandlewick PRIVATE src/expose-recording.cpp)
+endif()
 
 set_target_properties(
   pycandlewick

bindings/python/candlewick/__init__.py

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # ruff: noqa: F401, F403, F405
 from .pycandlewick import *  # noqa
 from .pycandlewick import __version__
-from . import video_context
+from .video_context import *
 
 
 def _process():

bindings/python/candlewick/video_context.py

@@ -1,26 +1,37 @@
-from . import Visualizer
-from . import VideoRecorderSettings
 from contextlib import contextmanager
+from . import Visualizer
+import warnings
+
+try:
+    import importlib
+
+    importlib.import_module("VideoRecorderSettings", package=".")
+    CANDLEWICK_HAS_VIDEO_RECORDER = True
+except ImportError:
+    CANDLEWICK_HAS_VIDEO_RECORDER = False
 
+_DEFAULT_VIDEO_SETTINGS = {"fps": 30, "bitRate": 3_000_000}
 
-_DEFAULT_VIDEO_SETTINGS = VideoRecorderSettings()
+__all__ = ["create_recorder_context"]
 
 
 @contextmanager
 def create_recorder_context(
     viz: Visualizer,
     filename: str,
     /,
-    fps: int = _DEFAULT_VIDEO_SETTINGS.fps,
-    bitRate: int = _DEFAULT_VIDEO_SETTINGS.bitRate,
+    fps: int = _DEFAULT_VIDEO_SETTINGS["fps"],
+    bitRate: int = _DEFAULT_VIDEO_SETTINGS["bitRate"],
 ):
-    viz.videoSettings().fps = fps
-    viz.videoSettings().bitRate = bitRate
-    viz.startRecording(filename)
+    if not CANDLEWICK_HAS_VIDEO_RECORDER:
+        warnings.warn(
+            "This context will do nothing, as Candlewick was built without video recording support."
+        )
+    else:
+        viz.videoSettings().fps = fps
+        viz.videoSettings().bitRate = bitRate
+        viz.startRecording(filename)
     try:
         yield
     finally:
         viz.stopRecording()
-
-
-__all__ = ["create_recorder_context"]

bindings/python/src/expose-visualizer.cpp

@@ -42,13 +42,24 @@ void exposeVisualizer() {
           ("self"_a, "filename"), "Save a screenshot to the specified file.")
       .def(
           "startRecording",
-          +[](Visualizer &viz, const std::string &filename) {
+          +[]([[maybe_unused]] Visualizer &viz,
+              [[maybe_unused]] const std::string &filename) {
+#ifndef CANDLEWICK_WITH_FFMPEG_SUPPORT
+            PyErr_WarnEx(PyExc_UserWarning,
+                         "Recording videos is not available because Candlewick "
+                         "was built without FFmpeg support.",
+                         1);
+            bp::throw_error_already_set();
+#else
             viz.startRecording(filename);
+#endif
           },
           ("self"_a, "filename"_a))
       .def("stopRecording", &Visualizer::stopRecording, "self"_a)
+#ifdef CANDLEWICK_WITH_FFMPEG_SUPPORT
       .def("videoSettings", &Visualizer::videoSettings, "self"_a,
            bp::return_internal_reference<>())
+#endif
       .def("addFrameViz", &Visualizer::addFrameViz,
            ("self"_a, "frame_id", "show_velocity"_a = true),
            "Add visualization (triad and frame velocity) for the given frame "

bindings/python/src/module.cpp

@@ -8,7 +8,9 @@ using namespace candlewick;
 
 void exposeMeshData();
 void exposeRenderer();
+#ifdef CANDLEWICK_WITH_FFMPEG_SUPPORT
 void exposeVideoRecorder();
+#endif
 #ifdef CANDLEWICK_PYTHON_PINOCCHIO_SUPPORT
 void exposeVisualizer();
 #endif
@@ -30,7 +32,9 @@ BOOST_PYTHON_MODULE(pycandlewick) {
 
   exposeMeshData();
   exposeRenderer();
+#ifdef CANDLEWICK_WITH_FFMPEG_SUPPORT
   exposeVideoRecorder();
+#endif
 #ifdef CANDLEWICK_PYTHON_PINOCCHIO_SUPPORT
   exposeVisualizer();
 #endif

cmake

@@ -14,7 +14,9 @@
 #include "candlewick/multibody/RobotScene.h"
 #include "candlewick/multibody/RobotDebug.h"
 #include "candlewick/primitives/Primitives.h"
+#ifdef CANDLEWICK_WITH_FFMPEG_SUPPORT
 #include "candlewick/utils/VideoRecorder.h"
+#endif
 #include "candlewick/utils/WriteTextureToImage.h"
 
 #include <imgui.h>
@@ -452,9 +454,9 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv) {
   Eigen::VectorXd q0 = pin::neutral(model);
   Eigen::VectorXd q1 = pin::randomConfiguration(model);
 
+  media::TransferBufferPool transfer_buffer_pool{renderer.device};
 #ifdef CANDLEWICK_WITH_FFMPEG_SUPPORT
   media::VideoRecorder recorder{NoInit};
-  media::TransferBufferPool transfer_buffer_pool{renderer.device};
   if (performRecording) {
     media::VideoRecorder::Settings settings;
     settings.fps = 50;
@@ -552,9 +554,9 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv) {
   robot_scene.release();
   debug_scene.release();
   gui_system.release();
+  transfer_buffer_pool.release();
 #ifdef CANDLEWICK_WITH_FFMPEG_SUPPORT
   recorder.close();
-  transfer_buffer_pool.release();
 #endif
   renderer.destroy();
   SDL_Quit();