Odom frame disappears in rviz

Question

Why does the /odom frame disappear in rviz? This happens to me when I set the fixed frame to be /odom.

Update: based on request for tf tree My tf tree was odom -> base_footprint -> base_link -> all_frames_on_robot

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Originally posted by 2ROS0 on ROS Answers with karma: 1133 on 2014-07-14

Post score: 2

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Original comments

Comment by sai on 2014-07-14:
I think, it means that there is no TF from odom frame to others. You can check once by 'rosrun tf view_frames' and see if this is true. Later you can create a valid TF tree and then check in RVIZ.

Comment by 2ROS0 on 2014-07-15:
There is a tf that I have checked using view_frames. Also, the /odom frame shows when some other frame is selected as fixed frame. It's only when I select the /odom frame as fixed frame that it is seen for some time and then disappears.

Answer 1

Do you mean that it starts out as visible, and then fades away? That happens to me too. I think it happens if a frame doesn't have a parent frame. Do you have any parents for odom? Perhaps you can edit the original question and add the tf tree?

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Originally posted by Tom Moore with karma: 13689 on 2014-07-16

This answer was ACCEPTED on the original site

Post score: 3

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Original comments

Comment by 2ROS0 on 2014-07-16:
Yes, that's exactly what happens. That could be it, I don't have any parent for odom. I just don't see why that would happen, it's always useful to see the frame while debugging.

Comment by Tom Moore on 2014-07-16:
If you want, you can define a static transform using static_transform_publisher that gives a parent to odom. Just make the transform all zeros, and then make the new parent frame your fixed frame in rviz. It will disappear, but odom will remain. There may be a better way; I don't know offhand.

Comment by 2ROS0 on 2014-07-16:
That's great, thanks!

Answer 2

Another possible reason for transforms to start out visible and then lose color and fade away is if your transforms have incorrect / old header.stamp fields.

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Originally posted by Rufus with karma: 1083 on 2019-11-19

This answer was NOT ACCEPTED on the original site

Post score: 1