Widgets

Description

Widgets work slightly differently then the other objects in the QLabs Workspaces. They are special actors that cannot be addressed after they have been spawned; therefore they cannot be deleted individually, they do not support parenting, and all actor properties must be set when they are spawned. The advantage of widgets is that they are highly efficient dynamic actors so it is possible to spawn thousands of widgets while maintaining performance.

In addition to the visible properties of widgets, widget actors can also individually contain invisible properties such as mass, a numerical ID tag, and a general purpose properties string. Some actors that are designed to interact with widgets include class methods to read these properties.

If you need the ability to make shapes static or the ability to address, modify, or parent shapes, see Basic Shapes instead.

See the Widget Tutorial to get a better understanding of using people in Quanser Interactive Labs.

Library

class qvl.widget.QLabsWidget(qlabs, verbose=False)[source]: This class is for the spawning of widgets.

Constants

Tip

See Widget Tutorial to see the different flooring options.

QLabsWidget.CUBE = 0: See configurations

QLabsWidget.CYLINDER = 1: See configurations

QLabsWidget.SPHERE = 2: See configurations

QLabsWidget.PLASTIC_BOTTLE = 4: See configurations

QLabsWidget.METAL_CAN = 5: See configurations

Methods

QLabsWidget.__init__(qlabs, verbose=False)[source]

Constructor Method

Parameters

qlabs (object) – A QuanserInteractiveLabs object
verbose (boolean) – (Optional) Print error information to the console.

QLabsWidget.spawn(location, rotation, scale, configuration, color=[1, 1, 1], measuredMass=0, IDTag=0, properties='', waitForConfirmation=True)[source]

Spawns a widget in an instance of QLabs at a specific location and rotation using radians.

Parameters

location (float array[3]) – An array of floats for x, y and z coordinates.
rotation (float array[3]) – An array of floats for the roll, pitch, and yaw in radians.
scale (float array[3]) – An array of floats for the scale in the x, y, and z directions.
configuration (uint32) – See configuration options
color (float array[3]) – Red, Green, Blue components of the RGB color on a 0.0 to 1.0 scale.
measuredMass (float) – A float value for use with mass sensor instrumented actors. This does not alter the dynamic properties.
IDTag (uint8) – An integer value for use with IDTag sensor instrumented actors.
properties (string) – A string for use with properties sensor instrumented actors. This can contain any string that is available for use to parse out user-customized parameters.
waitForConfirmation (boolean) – (Optional) Make this operation blocking until confirmation of the spawn has occurred.

Returns

status - True if successful, False otherwise

Return type

boolean

QLabsWidget.spawn_degrees(location, rotation, scale, configuration, color=[1, 1, 1], measuredMass=0, IDTag=0, properties='', waitForConfirmation=True)[source]

Spawns a widget in an instance of QLabs at a specific location and rotation using degrees.

Parameters

location (float array[3]) – An array of floats for x, y and z coordinates.
rotation (float array[3]) – An array of floats for the roll, pitch, and yaw in degrees.
scale (float array[3]) – An array of floats for the scale in the x, y, and z directions.
configuration (uint32) – See configuration options.
color (float array[3]) – Red, Green, Blue components of the RGB color on a 0.0 to 1.0 scale.
measuredMass (float) – A float value for use with mass sensor instrumented actors. This does not alter the dynamic properties.
IDTag (uint8) – An integer value for use with IDTag sensor instrumented actors.
properties (string) – A string for use with properties sensor instrumented actors. This can contain any string that is available for use to parse out user-customized parameters.
waitForConfirmation (boolean) – (Optional) Make this operation blocking until confirmation of the spawn has occurred.

Returns

status - True if successful, False otherwise

Return type

boolean

QLabsWidget.destroy_all_spawned_widgets()[source]

Destroys all spawned widgets, but does not destroy actors.

Returns: True if successful, False otherwise
Return type: boolean

QLabsWidget.widget_spawn_shadow(enableShadow=True)[source]

If spawning a large number of widgets causes performance degradation, you can try disabling the widget shadows. This function must be called in advance of widget spawning and all subsequence widgets will be spawned with the specified shadow setting.

Parameters: enableShadow (boolean) – (Optional) Show (True) or hide (False) widget shadows.
Returns: True if successful, False otherwise
Return type: boolean

Configurations

There are 5 different types of widgets that can be spawned in the widgets class.

0 - Cube

1 - Cylinder

2 - Sphere

4 - Plastic Bottle

5 - Metal Can

Connection Points

There are no connection points for this actor class.

Widget Tutorial

Python Tutorial

Raw to download this tutorial: Widgets Tutorial (.py).

"""
Widget Library Example
----------------------

.. note::

    Make sure you have Quanser Interactive Labs open before running this
    example.  This example is designed to best be run in Cityscape or Plane.

"""
# imports to important libraries
import sys
import math
import time

from qvl.qlabs import QuanserInteractiveLabs
from qvl.free_camera import QLabsFreeCamera
from qvl.system import QLabsSystem
from qvl.widget import QLabsWidget

def create_widgets(qlabs):

    # Create the widget class object in qlabs
    widget = QLabsWidget(qlabs)

    # Hide the shadowns on our first stack of objects. This is a global state that is preserved
    # for all new widgets spawned. Shadows are expensive and can be disabled if spawning a 
    # large number of widgets (thousands).
    widget.widget_spawn_shadow(enableShadow=False)

    # Create 10 cubes of a variety of shades of red
    for count in range(10):
        widget.spawn_degrees(location = [-11.000, 30.000+count*0.01, 1+count*0.6], rotation = [90,0,0], scale = [0.5,0.5,0.5], configuration = widget.CUBE, color = [1,0+count*0.03,0+count*0.02], measuredMass=0, IDTag=0, properties='', waitForConfirmation=True)
    
    # Re-enable shadows for widgets
    widget.widget_spawn_shadow(enableShadow=True)
    
    # Create 20 grey metal cans and place them at slightly different spots
    for count in range(20):
        widget.spawn(location = [-11.000, 29.000, 1+count*0.2], rotation = [0,0,0], scale = [1,1,1], configuration = widget.METAL_CAN, color = [1,1,1], measuredMass=0, IDTag=0, properties='', waitForConfirmation=True)

    time.sleep(1)

    # create 20 plastic bottles of a variety of shades of blue
    for count in range(20):
        widget.spawn_degrees(location = [-11.000, 29.000, 1+count*0.2], rotation = [90,0,0], scale = [1,1,1], configuration = widget.PLASTIC_BOTTLE, color = [count*0.01 ,count*0.02, 1], measuredMass=0, IDTag=0, properties='', waitForConfirmation=True)

    time.sleep(1)

    # create 10 spheres of a ombre of red to yellow
    for count in range(10):
        widget.spawn_degrees(location = [-11.000, 31.000+count*0.01, 1+count*0.6], rotation = [90,0,0], scale = [0.5,0.5,0.5], configuration = widget.SPHERE, color = [1,0+ count*0.05,0+ count*0.01], measuredMass=1000, IDTag=0, properties='', waitForConfirmation=True)

    
def main():
    # Initialize our desired variables
    # Note that you can use the coordinate helper to pick locations for your camera.
    loc = [-18.783, 30.023, 2.757]
    rot = [0, 8.932, -2.312]

    # Creates a server connection with Quanser Interactive Labs and manages the communications
    qlabs = QuanserInteractiveLabs()

    print("Connecting to QLabs...")
    if (not qlabs.open("localhost")):
        print("Unable to connect to QLabs")
        return    

    print("Connected")

    # Destroying any spawned actors in our QLabs that currently exist
    qlabs.destroy_all_spawned_actors()

    # Create a camera in this qlabs instance
    camera = QLabsFreeCamera(qlabs)

    # Add a custom camera at a specified location and rotation using degrees
    camera.spawn_degrees(location=loc, rotation=rot)

    # To switch our view from our current camera to the new camera we just initialized
    camera.possess()

    # Run the code for using widgets
    create_widgets(qlabs)

    # Close qlabs
    qlabs.close()
    print('Done!')

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Matlab Tutorial

Raw to download this tutorial: Widgets Tutorial (.m).

% Widget Library Example
% -------------------------
% 
% .. note::
% 
%     Make sure you have Quanser Interactive Labs open before running this
%     example.  This example is designed to best be run in QCar Cityscape

close all;
clear all;
clc;

% --------------------------------------------------------------
% Setting MATLAB Path for the libraries
% Always keep at the start, it will make sure it finds the correct references

newPathEntry = fullfile(getenv('QAL_DIR'), '0_libraries', 'matlab', 'qvl');
pathCell = regexp(path, pathsep, 'split');
if ispc  % Windows is not case-sensitive
  onPath = any(strcmpi(newPathEntry, pathCell));
else
  onPath = any(strcmp(newPathEntry, pathCell));
end

if onPath == 0
    path(path, newPathEntry)
    savepath
end
% --------------------------------------------------------------

% Creates a server connection with Quanser Interactive Labs and manages the communications
qlabs = QuanserInteractiveLabs();
connection_established = qlabs.open('localhost');

if connection_established == false
    disp("Failed to open connection.")
    return
end

disp('Connected')

num_destroyed = qlabs.destroy_all_spawned_actors();
fprintf('%d actors destroyed', num_destroyed);

main(qlabs);

qlabs.close()
disp('Done!')

% ------------ functions ----------

function widgets(qlabs)
    % Initialize the widget class in qlabs
    widget = QLabsWidget(qlabs);

    % Enable shadows for objects
    widget.widget_spawn_shadow(true);

    % Create 10 cubes of varying shades of red
    for count = 0:9
        widget.spawn_degrees([-11.000, 30.000 + count*0.01, 1 + count*0.6], [90, 0, 0], [0.5, 0.5, 0.5], ...
            widget.CUBE, [1, 0 + count*0.03, 0 + count*0.02], 0, 0, '', 1);
    end

    pause(1);

    % Create 20 grey metal cans at different locations
    % the constants can come from both the object or directly from QLabsWidget
    for count = 0:19
        widget.spawn([-11.000, 29.000, 1 + count*0.2], [0, 0, 0], [1, 1, 1], ...
            QLabsWidget.METAL_CAN, [1, 1, 1], 0, 0, '', 1);
    end

    pause(1);

    % Create 20 plastic bottles of varying shades of blue
    for count = 0:19
        widget.spawn_degrees([-11.000, 29.000, 1 + count*0.2], [90, 0, 0], [1, 1, 1], ...
            widget.PLASTIC_BOTTLE, [count*0.01, count*0.02, 1], 0, 0, '', 1);
    end

    pause(1);

    % Create 10 spheres of red to yellow gradient
    for count = 0:9
        widget.spawn_degrees([-11.000, 31.000 + count*0.01, 1 + count*0.6], [90, 0, 0], [0.5, 0.5, 0.5], ...
            widget.SPHERE, [1, 0 + count*0.05, 0 + count*0.01], 1000, 0, '', 1);
    end

    pause(5);

    % Destroy all spawned widgets
    % widget.destroy_all_spawned_widgets(); % Uncomment this line if destroy function is defined
end

function main(qlabs)
    
    % Initialize desired camera location and rotation
    loc = [-18.783, 30.023, 2.757];
    rot = [0, 8.932, -2.312];

    % Create a camera in this qlabs instance
    camera = QLabsFreeCamera(qlabs);

    % Add a custom camera at a specified location and rotation using degrees
    camera.spawn_degrees(loc, rot);

    % Switch view to the new camera
    camera.possess();

    % Run the code for using widgets
    widgets(qlabs);

    % Close qlabs
    qlabs.close();
    disp('Done!');

end