Veloview
Veloview - ( Developed using Paraview ) Software for view data stream from Velodyne Lidar
By Ronald Baker, updated by Gatien Ferret
Description
VeloView performs real-time visualization and processing of live captured 3D LiDAR data from Velodyne’s HDL sensors (HDL-64E, HDL-32E, VLP-32, VLP-16, Puck, Puck Lite, Puck HiRes)
VeloView can playback pre-recorded data stored in .pcap files, and can record live stream as .pcap file. The HDL sensor sweeps an array of lasers (16, 32, or 64) 360° and a vertical field of view of 40°/20° with 5-20Hz and captures about a million points per second (HDL-32E: ~700,000pt/sec; HDL-64E: ~1.3Million pt/sec). VeloView provides tools to display, select and measure information about the points captured from the sensor. VeloView displays the distance measurements from the Lidar as point cloud data and supports custom color maps of multiple variables such as intensity-of-return, time, distance, azimuth, dual return type, and laser id. The data can be exported as XYZ data in multiple formats or screenshots of the currently displayed point cloud can be exported with the touch of a button.
Highlights
Configurable listening ports
Forward data received toward another port or/and ip address
Show the Rotation Per Minute of the current frame
Tool to select the dual returns of a selection of points
Cropping tool in Spherical and Box mode (new in 3.5)
Support for HDL-64 dual mode & on-the-fly calibration data
Support for Velarray, AlphaPrime, HDL-32 ,VLP-32c, Puck Hi-Res and Puck LITE
Supports multiple sensors simultaneously
Base infrastructure for georeferencing from GPS and IMU data
Base infrastructure for performing SLAM-based mapping, with and without GPS/IMU. See example below. This feature not yet fully available.
Advanced options to visualize 0-distance returns, empty frames, intensity correction and raw data (without azimuth adjustment)
User configurable playback speed
Underlying ParaView version is now version 5.9, providing many new tools
Input from live sensor stream or recorded .pcap file
Visualization of LiDAR returns in 3D + time including 3D position and attribute data such as timestamp, azimuth, laser id, etc
Spreadsheet inspector for LiDAR attributes
Record to .pcap from sensor
Export to PCD, PLY, LAS, CSV or VTK formats
Record and export GPS and IMU data
Ruler tool
Visualize path of GPS data
Show multiple frames of data simultaneously
Show or hide a subset of lasers
System Requirements
Compatible Linux, Windows and Mac
Documentation
Metrics
Accessibility: The estimated time for someone to create a simple 3D scan which can be ported into a virtual reality space.
Beginner: No coding or graphics experience |5 min
Intermediate: Some coding or graphics experience | 5 min
Advanced: Both coding and graphics experience | 5 min
Expert: A lot of experience with computer graphics | 5 min
Usage: Evaluation of software's use for the following purposes
Scientific visualization - developed using ParaView
Sources
VisIt: https://www.paraview.org/veloview/
New in 5.1 : https://www.kitware.com/veloview-5-1-released/
Setting up Velodyne Sensor with Veloview:
For "sensor streaming" (live display of sensor data) it is important to change the network settings of the Ethernet adapter connected to the sensor from automatic IP address to manual IP address selection and choose:
HDL-32E
IP address: 192.168.1.70 (70 as example, any number except 201 works)
Gateway: 255.255.255.0
HDL-64E
IP address: 192.168.3.70 (70 as example, any number except 43 works)
Gateway: 192.168.3.255
In order for sensor streaming to work properly, it is important to disable firewall restrictions for the Ethernet port. Disable the firewall completely for the ethernet device connected to the sensor or explicitly allow data from that Ethernet port of (including both public and private networks).
When opening pre-recorded data or live sensor streaming data one is prompted to choose a calibration file.
For HDL-32E data no calibration file is needed (the HDL-32E calibration values are already incorporated in VeloView) therefore select "NONE".
For HDL-64E data the correct calibration file for that sensor needs to be chosen. The calibration file can be found on the individual product CD that was send with the HDL-64E sensor.
Playing .pcap recording back:
Navigate to the "File" tab and then select "Open". Once you have selected "Open", then select the "Capture File..." option. You will then be prompted with an navigation window. Navigate to the .pcap file then select. Once the file is select, you should be able to press the play button on the gui to playback the movement of the LIDAR over the time frame recorded in the .pcap file.