Rviz2 Config

name: rviz2-config description: 'Configure RViz2 visualization. Use when setting up displays, camera views, QoS overrides, or saving .rviz config files.'

RViz2 Configuration for Robot Visualization

Launching

# Launch with a config file
rviz2 -d config/navigation.rviz

# Launch with default empty config
rviz2

Config File Structure

RViz2 configs are YAML files (.rviz) with three main sections: Visualization Manager (displays, global options), Views (camera settings), and Window Geometry.

Fixed Frame Selection

Key Display Types

QoS Overrides

Sensor topics typically use Best Effort reliability. If a display shows "no messages received," change QoS:

• LaserScan, PointCloud2, Image: Reliability = Best Effort, Durability = Volatile
• Map, Path: Reliability = Reliable, Durability = Transient Local
• TF: Reliability = Reliable

Camera Views

Complete Navigation Config

Panels:
  - Class: rviz_common/Displays
    Name: Displays
  - Class: rviz_common/Views
    Name: Views
Visualization Manager:
  Class: ""
  Displays:
    - Class: rviz_default_plugins/RobotModel
      Name: RobotModel
      Enabled: true
      Description File: ""
      Description Source: Topic
      Description Topic:
        Value: /robot_description
        Depth: 5
        Reliability Policy: Reliable
        Durability Policy: Transient Local
      Alpha: 1.0

    - Class: rviz_default_plugins/TF
      Name: TF
      Enabled: true
      Show Arrows: true
      Show Axes: true
      Show Names: true
      Frame Timeout: 15
      Frames:
        All Enabled: false
        base_link:
          Value: true
        odom:
          Value: true
        map:
          Value: true

    - Class: rviz_default_plugins/LaserScan
      Name: LaserScan
      Enabled: true
      Topic:
        Value: /scan
        Depth: 5
        Reliability Policy: Best Effort
        Durability Policy: Volatile
      Size (m): 0.03
      Color Transformer: Intensity
      Style: Points
      Min Intensity: 0
      Max Intensity: 4096

    - Class: rviz_default_plugins/Map
      Name: Map
      Enabled: true
      Topic:
        Value: /map
        Depth: 1
        Reliability Policy: Reliable
        Durability Policy: Transient Local
      Alpha: 0.7
      Color Scheme: map
      Draw Behind: true

    - Class: rviz_default_plugins/Map
      Name: GlobalCostmap
      Enabled: true
      Topic:
        Value: /global_costmap/costmap
        Depth: 1
        Reliability Policy: Reliable
        Durability Policy: Transient Local
      Alpha: 0.3
      Color Scheme: costmap

    - Class: rviz_default_plugins/Map
      Name: LocalCostmap
      Enabled: true
      Topic:
        Value: /local_costmap/costmap
        Depth: 1
        Reliability Policy: Reliable
        Durability Policy: Transient Local
      Alpha: 0.5
      Color Scheme: costmap

    - Class: rviz_default_plugins/Path
      Name: GlobalPlan
      Enabled: true
      Topic:
        Value: /plan
        Depth: 5
        Reliability Policy: Reliable
      Color: 0; 255; 0
      Line Style: Lines
      Width: 0.03
      Alpha: 0.8

    - Class: rviz_default_plugins/Path
      Name: LocalPlan
      Enabled: true
      Topic:
        Value: /local_plan
        Depth: 5
        Reliability Policy: Reliable
      Color: 255; 255; 0
      Line Style: Lines
      Width: 0.05

    - Class: rviz_default_plugins/MarkerArray
      Name: Waypoints
      Enabled: true
      Topic:
        Value: /waypoints_marker
        Depth: 5
        Reliability Policy: Reliable

  Global Options:
    Background Color: 48; 48; 48
    Fixed Frame: map
    Frame Rate: 30

  Tools:
    - Class: rviz_default_plugins/MoveCamera
    - Class: rviz_default_plugins/SetInitialPose
      Topic: /initialpose
    - Class: rviz_default_plugins/SetGoal
      Topic: /goal_pose

  Value: true
Views:
  Current:
    Class: rviz_default_plugins/ThirdPersonFollower
    Distance: 8.0
    Focal Point:
      X: 0
      Y: 0
      Z: 0
    Pitch: 0.5
    Target Frame: base_link
    Yaw: 3.14

Per-Use-Case Configs

Maintain separate configs to avoid clutter:

config/
├── navigation.rviz    # Map + costmaps + plans + robot model
├── mapping.rviz       # SLAM in progress: map, scan, TF, no costmaps
├── debugging.rviz     # All TF frames, scan, full costmaps, markers
└── camera.rviz        # Image + PointCloud2 + depth overlays

Saving and Sharing

Save config: File → Save Config As. Configs are portable across machines if topic names match. Launch from a ROS 2 launch file:

from launch_ros.actions import Node

Node(
    package="rviz2",
    executable="rviz2",
    name="rviz2",
    arguments=["-d", LaunchConfiguration("rviz_config")],
    parameters=[{"use_sim_time": LaunchConfiguration("use_sim_time")}],
)