Written by: Jérémie Bannwarth

University of Auckland, 2015

Log data streamed by motion capture PC over VRPN to csv format.

• Release version 1.0
• Add graphical interface (not anytime soon)

If you are running the program on the computer that is running Vicon Tracker, simply open the command line and type:

vrpn_logger.exe -objectnames=name1,name2

Where name1 and name2 are the names of the objects you are tracking (the program supports any number of objects).

Press the enter key on your keyboard to end data recording. By default the object poses will be saved in the executable's folder in a comma delimited (,) file called recording_YYYY_MM_DD_HH_MM.csv.

The following table describes additional command line options that can be used to change the program's behaviour:

Make sure to separate all the options by a space. E.g.

vrpn_logger.exe -objectnames=quadcopter,tree -ip=10.0.0.10 -filename=myrecordingdata.csv -separator=\t

The VRPN library needs to have been installed on your PC. It is a cross-platform library and should work on most operating systems.

First, you need to install the GUI for CMake.

sudo apt-get install cmake-gui

Then, cd to the directory you want to store the files in.

Download the VRPN git repository and switch to version 7.33:

git clone --recursive https://github.com/vrpn/vrpn.git
cd vrpn
git checkout tags/version_07.33

Create a build folder and use the CMake GUI to generate the build files:

mkdir build
cmake-gui

Once the CMake GUI opens, select the vrpn root folder as your source folder and the build folder you created previously as the target folder. Click "Configure" and then "Generate".

cd to the build directory and compile the program:

cd build
make
sudo make install

This should take a while. Once the compilation is done the generated static libraries - libvrpn.a, libvrpnserver.a, libvrpn_timecode_generator.a, libvrpn_atmel.a and libquat.a (a library for quarternions)- will be moved to the /usr/local/lib/ folder, which is one of the default include folders on a Linux System.

First, make sure you have a C++11 compatible compiler (if in doubt, install g++-4.9 using sudo apt-get install g++-4.9).

Then, simply cd to the relevant folder and run make.

Very similar to compiling on Linux.

Install the GUI for cmake. Get the "Mac OSX 32-bit Universal (for Intel or PPC, Tiger/10.4 or later)" file from this address:

Link

Extract it in your Applications folder.

Then, cd to the directory you want to store the files in.

Download the VRPN git repository and switch to version 7.33:

git clone --recursive https://github.com/vrpn/vrpn.git
cd vrpn
git checkout tags/version_07.33

Create a build folder:

mkdir build

Open the CMake GUI from your Applications folder. Once the CMake GUI opens, select the vrpn root folder as your source folder and the build folder you created previously as the target folder. Click "Configure" and then "Generate".

cd to the build directory and compile the program:

cd build
make
sudo make install

This should take a while. Once the compilation is done the generated static libraries - libvrpn.a, libvrpnserver.a, libvrpn_timecode_generator.a, libvrpn_atmel.a and libquat.a (a library for quarternions)- will be moved to the /usr/local/lib/ folder, which is one of the default include folders on an OSX System.

Simply cd to the relevant folder and run make.

The following procedure was tested using Visual Studio 2013

First, cd to the desired folder.

Then, download the vrpn library repository:

git clone --recursive https://github.com/vrpn/vrpn.git
cd vrpn
git checkout tags/version_07.33

Then, open vrpn.sln using Visual Studio. Update the solution files if prompted.

If you want to be able to use the program on any computer or if you are not interested in modifying the software, follow these extra steps:

• Right click on quatlib in the Solution Explorer
• Select Properties
• At the top of the window, switch to the "Release" configuration
• Click on "All Options" under the "C/C++" heading
• Scroll down and change "Runtime Library" from "Multi-threaded Dll (/MD)" to "Multi-threaded (/MT)" - this is necessary in order to avoid having to include the visual studio DLLs along with the software
• Click "OK" to close the window
• Do the exact same thing for vrpn in the Solution Explorer
• Finally, set Visual Studio to compile a "Release" build instead of a "Debug" build. The option is located in a box below the menu bars.

Once the files have been processed (and you have followed the instructions above if needed), build the following solutions (right click on the relevant solution in the solution bar and choose "build"): quatlib and vrpn.

Now, cd back to the root folder and download the vrpn_logger repository:

cd ..
git clone https://github.com/JBannwarth/vrpn_logger
cd vrpn_logger

Then, open vrpn_logger.sln using Visual Studio. The solution file should already be configured to source the vrpn libraries and include files from the folder created in the previous step. Make sure the vrpn and vrpn_logger folders are located in the same root folder, or you will have to modify the include paths manually.

If you are not interested in modifying the software, set Visual Studio to compile a "Release" build instead of a "Debug" build. The option is located in a box below the menu bars.

Finally, simply build the software using the graphical interface (or pressing F6).