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vhacdOptions

Solver options for V-HACD

Since R2023b

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    Description

    The vhacdOptions object defines voxelized hierarchical approximate convex decomposition (V-HACD) solver options for functions such as collisionVHACD and importrobot. To decompose individual concave meshes into convex meshes for collision checking, use vhacdOptions with the Type property set to "IndividualMesh". To decompose the meshes of a rigid body tree, use vhacdOptions with the Type property set to "RigidBodyTree".

    Creation

    Syntax

    OPTS = vhacdOptions
    OPTS = vhacdOptions(type)
    OPTS = vhacdOptions(type,Name=Value)

    Description

    OPTS = vhacdOptions creates a V-HACD solver options object with default property values for decomposing individual meshes with the collisionVHACD function.

    example

    OPTS = vhacdOptions(type) specifies the type of decomposition and by setting Type property to type. Use this syntax to create V-HACD solver options with the Type property set to "RigidBodyTree" for use with the importrobot function.

    Note

    If you set only the Type property at object construction, then the properties use the default values for the corresponding decomposition type.

    example

    OPTS = vhacdOptions(type,Name=Value) sets properties using one or more name-value arguments.

    Properties

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    Type of decomposition, specified as "IndividualMesh" or "RigidBodyTree". To decompose a single mesh using the collisionVHACD function, set Type to "IndividualMesh". To decompose robot models during import with the importrobot function, set Type to "RigidBodyTree".

    The default values of the VoxelResolution, MaxNumConvexHulls, and MaxNumVerticesPerHull properties depend on the specified Type.

    Data Types: char | string

    Voxel resolution of the decomposition, specified as a positive integer or an N-element vector of positive integers. N is the number of rigid bodies on the rigid body tree model specified in the importrobot function. Using a higher voxel resolution can improve the accuracy of the decomposition at the cost of increasing the decomposition time.

    If you set the Type property to "RigidBodyTree" at object construction, the default value of VoxelResolution is 2000 for all bodies of the rigid body tree. To set one voxel resolution for all rigid bodies of the rigid body tree, specify VoxelResolution as a positive integer. To individually specify voxel resolutions for each body of the rigid body tree, specify VoxelResolution as an N-element vector of positive integers.

    Maximum number of convex hulls after decomposition, specified as a positive integer or an N-element vector of positive integers. N is the number of rigid bodies on the rigid body tree model specified in the importrobot function. Increasing the number of convex hulls can improve the accuracy of the decomposition, but may also result in an increase in the number of convex meshes produced by the decomposition. More meshes can generate more accurate results at the cost of a longer collision-checking time.

    If you set the Type property to "RigidBodyTree" at object construction, the default value of MaxNumConvexHulls is 8 for all bodies of the rigid body tree. To set one voxel resolution for all rigid bodies of the rigid body tree, specify MaxNumConvexHulls as a positive integer. To individually specify voxel resolutions for each body, specify MaxNumConvexHulls as an N-element vector of positive integers.

    Maximum number of vertices per convex hull after decomposition, specified as a positive integer or an N-element vector of positive integers. N is the number of rigid bodies on the rigid body tree model specified in the importrobot function. Increasing the maximum number of vertices per convex hull can improve the accuracy of each convex hull at the cost of a longer decomposition time.

    If you set the Type property to "RigidBodyTree" at object construction, the default value of MaxNumVerticesPerHull is 16 for all bodies of the rigid body tree. To set one voxel resolution for all rigid bodies of the rigid body tree, specify MaxNumVerticesPerHull as a positive integer. To specify a voxel resolution for each body, specify MaxNumVerticesPerHull as an N-element vector of positive integers.

    Fill mode for interior voxels of the mesh after voxelization, specified as "FLOOD_FILL", "SURFACE_ONLY", or "RAYCAST_FILL":

    • "FLOOD_FILL" — The flood-fill mode uses the flood-fill algorithm to determine the outer surface of the mesh. After determining the outer surface of the mesh, the V-HACD solver fills interior voxels enclosed by the outer surface. "FLOOD_FILL" mode produces the most accurate result for closed meshes. If you use flood fill mode for an open mesh, the flood fill algorithm considers the inner surface of the mesh as connected to the outer surface of the mesh, resulting in a hollow mesh. If the mesh is open, use "RAYCAST_FILL" mode for better results.

    • "RAYCAST_FILL" — Raycasting fill mode uses raycasting to identify the outer surface of the mesh and fill the interior voxels enclosed by the outer surface of the mesh. Use this mode to fill interior voxels of open meshes. For better accuracy, use 3-D modeling software to close the mesh and use the "FLOOD_FILL" mode.

    • "SURFACE_ONLY" — Surface-only fill mode does not fill any interior voxels in the mesh. Use this mode for meshes that should have no volume.

    Data Types: char | string

    Source mesh type of the rigid body tree to decompose when using the importrobot function, specified as "CollisionGeometry" or "VisualGeometry":

    • "CollisionGeometry" — Decompose the collision geometries of the rigid body tree model, which are used for collision checking. Decomposing the collision geometry meshes can lower complexity of the meshes and improve the collision-checking speed at the cost of collision-checking accuracy.

      This code displays the collision geometries of a robot without the visual geometries:

      robot = loadrobot("rethinkSawyer");
show(robot,homeConfiguration(robot),Collisions="on",Visuals="off");
axis auto

      Collision geometries of Rethink Robotics Sawyer robot

    • "VisualGeometry" — Decompose the visual geometries of the rigid body tree model, which represent a more accurate visualization of the robot appearance. Decomposing the visual geometries can improve collision-checking accuracy over that provided by the collision geometries.

      This code displays the visual geometries of a robot without the collision geometries:

      robot = loadrobot("rethinkSawyer");
show(robot,homeConfiguration(robot),Collisions="off",Visuals="on");
axis auto

      Visual geometries of Rethink Robotics Sawyer robot

    Dependencies

    To enable this property, you must set the Type property to "RigidBodyTree".

    Data Types: char | string

    Examples

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    Open Live Script

    Load the Rethink Robotics Sawyer robot. 

    robot = loadrobot("rethinkSawyer",DataFormat="row")
    robot = 
  rigidBodyTree with properties:

     NumBodies: 20
        Bodies: {1x20 cell}
          Base: [1x1 rigidBody]
     BodyNames: {1x20 cell}
      BaseName: 'base'
       Gravity: [0 0 0]
    DataFormat: 'row'

    Show the robot with just the visual meshes and show the robot with just the collision meshes. Use a vertical view so the difference between the arms is more clear.

    tiledlayout(1,2)
sgtitle("Rethink Robotics Sawyer")
nexttile
show(robot,Visuals="on",Collisions="off");
title("Top Down View")
axis auto
view(90,90)
nexttile
show(robot,Visuals="off",Collisions="on");
title("Top Down View")
axis auto
view(90,90)

    Note that each body of the arm is represented by a single convex mesh that does not accurately represent the physical boundaries of the arm. To achieve more accurate collision checking, you must decompose the visual meshes of the robot. The rigid body tree stores the rigid bodies of the arm at indices 9 to 17.

    First, create V-HACD solver options for individual mesh decompositions with the maximum number of convex hulls set to 10.

    opts = vhacdOptions("IndividualMesh",MaxNumConvexHulls=10);

    Then for each rigid body:

    1. Get the current rigid body and clear the current collision mesh.

    2. Get the corresponding visual data if there is any.

    3. If there is visual data, use collisionVHACD with the custom solver options to decompose the triangulation of the visual data into an array of collision meshes.

    4. Add each collision mesh from the array of collision meshes to the rigid body.

    for bodyIdxToReplace = 9:17
    % 1. Get current body and clear collision mesh
    currBody = robot.Bodies{bodyIdxToReplace};
    clearCollision(currBody);

    % 2. Get Corresponding visual data
    vizData = getVisual(robot.Bodies{bodyIdxToReplace});

    % 3. If visual data, decompose visual data
    if ~isempty(vizData)
        collisionArray = collisionVHACD(vizData(1).Triangulation,opts);

        % 4. Add each collision mesh to the rigid body
        for j = 1:numel(collisionArray)
            addCollision(currBody,collisionArray{j});
        end
    end
end

    Show the original collision meshes of the robot arm next to the updated collision mesh of the arm.

    tiledlayout(1,2);
sgtitle("Rethink Robotics Sawyer")
nexttile
robotOriginal = loadrobot("rethinkSawyer",DataFormat="row");
show(robotOriginal,Visuals="off",Collisions="on");
title("Before Decomposition")
axis auto
view(90,90)
nexttile
show(robot,Visuals="off",Collisions="on");
title("After Decomposition")
view(90,90)
axis auto

    Note that in this case the new collision meshes represent the robot arm more accurately.

    Open Live Script

    Import a KUKA LBR iiwa 14 robot.

    robot = importrobot("iiwa14.urdf");

    Display the robot with the default collision meshes.

    t = tiledlayout(1,2);
title(t,"KUKA iiwa 14")
nexttile;
show(robot,Visuals="off",Collisions="on");
title("Default Collision Meshes");
axis auto
nexttile;
show(robot);
title("Visual Meshes");
axis auto

    Import a robot but decompose the collision meshes using voxelized hierarchical approximate convex decomposition (V-HACD).

    robotCollisionDecomp = importrobot("iiwa14.urdf",CollisionDecomposition=true);

    Display the robot with the updated collision meshes from decomposition.

    figure
show(robotCollisionDecomp,Visuals="off",Collisions="on");
title("Decomposition of Collision Meshes");
axis auto

    By default the V-HACD solver decomposes the collision meshes of the robot. To decompose the visual meshes of the robot, import the robot with custom V-HACD solver options.

    options = vhacdOptions("RigidBodyTree",SourceMesh="VisualGeometry");
robotVisualDecomp = importrobot("iiwa14.urdf",CollisionDecomposition=options);

    Display the robot with the updated collision meshes from decomposition.

    figure
show(robotVisualDecomp,Visuals="off",Collisions="on");
title("Decomposition of Visual Meshes");
axis auto

    Open Live Script

    Read an STL file of a ground vehicle to get a triangulation. Then use trisurf to visualize the mesh.

    meshData = stlread("groundvehicle.stl");
trisurf(meshData)
view(135,8)
axis equal

    Use the collisionVHACD function to decompose the mesh data into an array of collisionMesh objects.

    collisionArray = collisionVHACD(meshData);

    Display the collision mesh array.

    figure
showCollisionArray(collisionArray);
title(["Decomposed Ground Vehicle Mesh","Default Solver Options"])

    Create solver options that specify a lower maximum number of convex hulls, and decompose the mesh again with the new options.

    opts = vhacdOptions("IndividualMesh",SourceMesh="VisualGeometry",MaxNumConvexHulls=5);
collisionArray2 = collisionVHACD(meshData,opts);

    Display the collision mesh array.

    figure
showCollisionArray(collisionArray2);
title(["Decomposed Ground Vehicle Mesh","Fewer Convex Hulls"])

    References

    [1] Mammou, Khaled, et al. “Voxelized Hierarchical Approximate Convex Decomposition - V-HACD Version 4.” GitHub, October 24, 2022. https://github.com/kmammou/v-hacd.

    Version History

    Introduced in R2023b

    See Also

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