Coordinate frames

Visualize 3D coordinate systems and hierarchical transformations.

This example demonstrates how to create and organize coordinate frames using viser.SceneApi.add_frame(). Coordinate frames are essential for understanding spatial relationships in 3D scenes and are commonly used in robotics, computer graphics, and 3D reconstruction applications.

Key concepts:

• Hierarchical naming: Scene nodes follow a filesystem-like structure (/tree/branch/leaf)

• Relative positioning: Child frames are positioned relative to their parent frames

• Dynamic scene management: Frames can be added and removed during runtime with viser.SceneNodeHandle.remove()

The hierarchical structure allows for complex transformations where moving a parent frame automatically moves all its children, making it perfect for modeling articulated objects, robot arms, or nested coordinate systems.

Source: examples/01_scene/00_coordinate_frames.py

Code

import random
import time

import viser

server = viser.ViserServer()

while True:
    # Add some coordinate frames to the scene. These will be visualized in the viewer.
    server.scene.add_frame(
        "/tree",
        wxyz=(1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0),
        position=(random.random() * 2.0, 2.0, 0.2),
    )
    server.scene.add_frame(
        "/tree/branch",
        wxyz=(1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0),
        position=(random.random() * 2.0, 2.0, 0.2),
    )
    leaf = server.scene.add_frame(
        "/tree/branch/leaf",
        wxyz=(1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0),
        position=(random.random() * 2.0, 2.0, 0.2),
    )

    # Move the leaf randomly. Assigned properties are automatically updated in
    # the visualizer.
    for i in range(10):
        leaf.position = (random.random() * 2.0, 2.0, 0.2)
        time.sleep(0.5)

    # Remove the leaf node from the scene.
    leaf.remove()
    time.sleep(0.5)