urdf_importer

URDF Importer is an add-on for Blender. It supports for importing robots from URDF format from ROS Packages and provides FBX Exporter with textures for further usage.

Features

• Import robot from URDF format from ROS environment to Blender (please source the package first)
• Auto generate meshes, armatures and bones based on the URDF
• Remove duplicated materials
• Export robot to .fbx format with textures

Prerequisite

• Blender >= 3.1.x
• ROS or ROS2

Installation

1. Setup python enviroment

cd <blender_path>/<version>/python/bin/ # For example cd blender-3.1.2-linux-x64/3.1/python/bin/
./python3.10 -m ensurepip
./python3.10 -m pip install --upgrade pip
./python3.10 -m pip install pyyaml
./python3.10 -m pip install rospkg
./python3.10 -m pip install urdf_parser_py

Windows: If Blender is installed to i.e. C:\Program Files\, run cmd.exe as administrator! Define ROS_ROOT as system environment variable pointing to a folder containing your ROS packages.

2. Install add-on

• Compress the folder urdf_importer_addon into a ZIP file named urdf_importer_addon.zip.
• Open a terminal, source the ROS workspace that contains the URDF model, and then start Blender by running blender in the terminal.
• In Blender, go to the Edit menu and select Preferences.
• Click on Install.
• Navigate to and select the urdf_importer_addon.zip file, then click Install Add-on.
• Enable the add-on by checking the box next to Import-Export: Import URDF Format.
• Verify the installation by opening File → Import. You should see URDF (.urdf) listed in the menu.

Installation.mp4

Quickstart

Import a standard PR2 from ROS

Quickstart.mp4

Export as .fbx format with textures for e.g. Unreal Engine

FBX.exporter.with.textures.mp4