Port LensFlareSensorPlugin from gazebo-classic to a LensFlare system

[scpeters]

Desired behavior

There is support for lens flares in gazebo-classic (see the lensflare_plugin.world example world). Support for lens flares has been added to gz-rendering's harmonic (main) branch in gazebosim/gz-rendering#730, but in order to use it, we should port the LensFlareSensorPlugin to a gz-sim. It should not be too difficult to implement.

Alternatives considered

Implementation suggestion

Additional context

[jasmeet0915]

Hi @scpeters, I would like to work on this issue.

From what I understood one would have to create a LensFlare system plugin in the gz-sim repo which adds the LensFlarePass as a RenderPass for the camera after setting the values (scale, color, and occlusion steps) in the Configure Interface of the plugin. Something like shown in the Test it code snippet of the LensFlare pass PR.

Am I headed in the right direction with this implementation?

[iche033]

yes that's the right idea. One difference is that the LensFlarePass must be added to the camera in the render thread instead of Configure. As an example, you can take a look at the camera_video_recorder system which is also a sensor plugin.

In this example, the system connects to a render event so all rendering operations are done in the callback function in the render thread.

It retrieves the name of the camera based on its entity id (you should be able to do this in Configure) then use the name to get the rendering camera ptr. You just then need to apply Lens Flare pass to that camera. Afterwards, you are free to disconnect from the render event.

[scpeters]

Hi @scpeters, I would like to work on this issue.

Hooray! Thanks for volunteering, and please follow Ian's advice as he knows more than I do about this topic.

[jasmeet0915]

Thank you @iche033 for the detailed advice!

please follow Ian's advice as he knows more than I do about this topic.

Sure will do and make a PR as soon as possible!

[jasmeet0915]

@scpeters @iche033 I was able to add the LensFlare System to gz-sim. I have also ported the example sdf from gazebo-classic over to this repo. Here is a snapshot:

I am not sure why but the effect was somewhat more prominent in the Wide Angle Camera as compared to others. I'll create a PR soon after adding the integration tests!

[iche033]

awesome thanks for the work! I'll take a look at the PR once it's up

[jasmeet0915]

@iche033 the PR is up!

[scpeters]

lens_flare system added in #1933