Urdf Visualizer

English / 简体中文

A VSCode extension for visualizing URDF files and xacro files.

用于可视化 URDF 和 xacro 文件的 VSCode 扩展.

Features

• Preview and inspection: visualize URDF and Xacro files, switch visual/collision/inertia display, toggle each link, and inspect joint/link names and frames.
• Interaction: drag joints directly in the viewer, keep the camera view between files, and optionally restore joint values.
• Measurement: measure coordinates, distance, angle, and area, with configurable defaults.
• Interface and localization: new UI with dedicated Control, Links, Joints, and Settings panels, plus English and Simplified Chinese support.

  If you need more language support, you can raise it in the issue of the repository

Extension Settings

This extension contributes the following settings, grouped by purpose:

Package Resolution

• urdf-visualizer.packages

  Maps ROS/ROS2 package names to local folders so package://<package_name> paths in URDF/Xacro files can be resolved. It is recommended to set this in your workspace .vscode/settings.json, where the key is the package name and the value is its path. Example:

  // settings.json
  {
    // other settings
    "urdf-visualizer.packages": {
        "fake_robot": "src/fake_robot"
    },
    // other settings
  }

  Equivalent to:

  {
    // other settings
    "urdf-visualizer.packages": {
        "fake_robot": "${workspaceFolder}/src/fake_robot"
    },
    // other settings
  }

  Supported special path variables:

  • ${workspaceFolder} represents the absolute path of the workspace
  • ${workspaceFolder:<workspace_name>} represents the path of a specific workspace in a multi-root workspace.
  • ${env:<environment_variables>} represents the value of the environment variable <environment_variables>

  In URDF Visualizer ≥4.4.0, you can directly use relative paths to represent paths relative to the workspace, without needing the ${workspaceFolder}/ prefix.

Reload and Caching

• urdf-visualizer.renderOnSave: Re-render when the current file is saved.

• urdf-visualizer.reRenderWhenSwitchFile: Re-render when switching between active files.

• urdf-visualizer.cacheCameraView: Remember and restore the camera view for each file.

• urdf-visualizer.cacheJointValues: Remember and restore joint values for each file.

• urdf-visualizer.cacheMesh: Cache mesh resources to speed up repeated loads.

Default Preview State

All urdf-visualizer.default.* settings define the initial state of a newly opened preview. They can still be changed later in the webview UI.

• Geometry and frames: urdf-visualizer.default.showVisual, urdf-visualizer.default.showCollision, urdf-visualizer.default.showInertia, urdf-visualizer.default.showInertiaWhenHover, urdf-visualizer.default.showWorldFrame, urdf-visualizer.default.showJointFrames, urdf-visualizer.default.jointFrameSize, urdf-visualizer.default.showLinkFrames, urdf-visualizer.default.linkFrameSize

• Units and colors: urdf-visualizer.default.lengthUnit, urdf-visualizer.default.angleUnit, urdf-visualizer.default.collisionColor, urdf-visualizer.default.inertiaColor

• Measurement defaults: urdf-visualizer.default.measurement.precision, urdf-visualizer.default.measurement.useSciNotation, urdf-visualizer.default.measurement.labelSize, urdf-visualizer.default.measurement.labelColor, urdf-visualizer.default.measurement.lineColor, urdf-visualizer.default.measurement.lineThickness, urdf-visualizer.default.measurement.pointColor, urdf-visualizer.default.measurement.pointSize, urdf-visualizer.default.measurement.surfaceColor

Appearance and Interaction

• urdf-visualizer.backgroundColor: Set the background color of the 3D viewer. It must be a hexadecimal color code starting with #.

• urdf-visualizer.showTips: Show or hide the operation tips.

• urdf-visualizer.highlightJointWhenHover: Highlight the joint frame at the top when hovering.

• urdf-visualizer.highlightLinkWhenHover: Highlight the link frame at the top when hovering.

Instructions

Important

Open VSCode in a folder that contains all resources required by the URDF/Xacro file. Opening only the single URDF/Xacro file may prevent mesh resources from being found.

There are two ways to start previewing URDF or Xacro files:

• In VSCode, use Ctrl+Shift+P to open the Command Panel and enter URDF Visualizer: Preview URDF/Xacro.
• Click the button in the upper right corner of the file.

Both operations require the URDF/Xacro file to be in an active state.

Operations:

• View control: hold the left mouse button and drag in blank space to rotate; hold the right mouse button and drag to move the view.
• Joint control: hold the left mouse button and drag on the link directly connected to the joint.
• Measurement: click one of the four buttons in the upper right corner to measure coordinates, distance, angle, or area.

Install

There are three installation methods:

• Search for "URDF Visualizer" in VSCode extensions and install it.
• In VSCode, use Ctrl+Shift+P to open the Command Panel and enter ext install morningfrog.urdf-visualizer.
• Download the .vsix file in the Release of the repository, then select Install from VSIX in the upper right corner of the VSCode extension, and choose the downloaded .vsix file for installation.

Known Issues

• When measuring area, if concave polygons appear, the area result may be incorrect

Release Notes

5.1

Added:

• Support interia visualization, with settings urdf-visualizer.default.showInertia and urdf-visualizer.default.showInertiaWhenHover.

5.0

Added:

• New UI design
• Toggle the visibility of each link
• Default configurations for preview and measurement settings, adjustable through VSCode settings
• Preserve camera view and joint angle states when switching files (configurable with urdf-visualizer.cacheCameraView and urdf-visualizer.cacheJointValues)
• Support for ** operator (exponentiation) in xacro parsing, thanks to @IvanFan-Van (#19)

4.x

• Added multilingual support, configurable operation tips, world frame toggle, and richer joint information in the sidebar.
• Improved model inspection with hover names, joint/link frame visualization and highlighting, joint axis display, and coordinate measurement.
• Expanded measurement features with configurable units, precision, scientific notation, and style settings.
• Improved compatibility and usability with relative package paths, broader math expression support, and friendlier package-not-found prompts.
• Added mesh caching and camera view caching to improve loading speed and file-switching workflow.

3.x

• Add measurement functions for distance/angle/area.
• Add operation prompts

2.x

• Add the visualization of joint angles.
• Optimized the extension's experience.

1.x

Initial release of URDF Visualizer.