Including multiple actors in Simulink 3D animation with asbQuadcopter model

I am using the asbQuadcopter model in Simulink to simulate a parrot minidrone. I want to test obstacle avoidance methods I have built which I test on moving objects. From plotting the data I can see it is working, but I want to export the animation of the drone for a video.

I can't figure out how to add these objects to the animation, and save the animation as a video. Starting with just one moving red sphere, how can I add this to the simulink 3D animation? Secondly, how can I save the animation as a video?

I have read the documentation here: https://uk.mathworks.com/help/sl3d/create-multiple-instances-of-actors.html

But I am still unsure on how it can be applied to the asbQuadcopter model to add another "actor". Thank you in advance!

Answer 1

[Nishan Nekoo]

Hi Benjamin,

You can add a Simulation 3D Actor block to your model to get a basic shape such as a red sphere.

In the initialization script, you can use the createShape function to create the sphere and specify its color. There should already be an example in there by default that is commented out for a box shape.

On the Inputs tab of the Simulation 3D Actor, you can specify properties that you would like to create an Inport for such as position or velocity and you can use these to move the red sphere around the scene.

Note that you will need to set the 'Mobility' property of the Actor to sim3d.utils.MobilityTypes.Movable in order to move it around the scene.

To record, unfortunately we don't have any built-in capabilities to record the Viewer yet, though this is an important feature that we are considering for inclusion in a future product release. For now, you will need to screen record to obtain a video.

I hope this helps, and please let me know if you have any additional questions.

Nishan

[Benjamin Campbell]

Thank you for getting back to me so quickly! I am still having a bit of trouble though sorry. I tried what you suggested but still no sphere appears on the animation. This is what I have added:

But still nothing comes up in the animation window, do you know what I have done wrong / am missing? I tried lots of different translation options so I don't think it is in the window but just too far away to see. Thanks so much

[Nishan Nekoo]

Hi Benjamin,

I see the issue here, and I will say that this is not the most intuitive issue, and not your fault at all. The Simulation 3D Actor block you add is already an actor (with the handle 'Actor' you can readily make use of), so your call to sim3d.Actor to create a new actor is being (silently) ignored in this case. We are aware of the confusion this can cause and are looking into solutions like providing a warning or error when this is attempted.

In your case, you should remove the first line where you call sim3d.Actor, then replace all references to block1 with 'Actor', something like this:

Actor.createShape('sphere',[2 2 2]);
Actor.Color = [1 0 0];
....

Finally, the Simulation 3D Actor block already adds an actor to the World, so the final line is not necessary.

Here is a simple example illustrating this:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/sl3d/build-actor-3d-graphic-primitives-using-simulink.html

Hope that helps!

Nishan

[Benjamin Campbell]

You're a hero, that works perfectly, thanks so much Nishan!

[Nishan Nekoo]

You're welcome! Don't hesitate to reach out if you have any additional questions or feedback, I'd love to hear from you.

Nishan