feat: Implement 3D flight animation methods using Vedo (Issue #523) by GuilhermeAsura · Pull Request #909 · RocketPy-Team/RocketPy

GuilhermeAsura · 2025-12-06T03:50:22Z

Pull request type

Code changes (bugfix, features)
Code maintenance (refactoring, formatting, tests)

Checklist

Tests for the changes have been added (if needed)
Docs have been reviewed and added / updated
Lint (black rocketpy/ tests/) has passed locally
All tests (pytest tests -m slow --runslow) have passed locally
CHANGELOG.md has been updated (if relevant)

Current behavior

Currently, the Flight class lacks built-in methods for 3D visualization of the simulation results. Users wishing to visualize the rocket's trajectory or attitude must export data and use external tools or write custom scripts. This addresses Issue #523.

New behavior

This PR integrates 3D visualization capabilities directly into the Flight class using the vedo library.

Key Changes:

New Methods in Flight:
- animate_trajectory(file_name, start, stop, time_step): Visualizes the 6-DOF translation of the rocket relative to the ground.
- animate_rotate(file_name, start, stop, time_step): Visualizes the specific attitude (rotation) of the rocket during flight.
Optional Dependency:
- Added vedo as an optional dependency in pyproject.toml under the [animation] key.
- Users can install it via pip install rocketpy[animation].
Error Handling:
- Both methods check for the existence of vedo and raise a descriptive ImportError with installation instructions if it is missing.
Refactoring:
- Ported original logic from the legacy animate_flight branch to match the current Flight class structure (e.g., removing deprecated postProcess calls).

Breaking change

No

Additional information

Acknowledgements

This feature was originally developed by Patrick Sampaio in the animate_flight branch. This PR adapts that work to the modern develop branch structure and newer RocketPy architecture.

Verification

A modular verification suite was added in tests/animation_verification/ to generate a dummy 3D model and test the invocation of the animation methods.

Gui-FernandesBR · 2025-12-06T14:50:59Z

@GuilhermeAsura could you please fix tests and linters on CI?

GuilhermeAsura · 2025-12-06T15:55:19Z

@GuilhermeAsura could you please fix tests and linters on CI?

I'm on it!

Gui-FernandesBR

the code coverall looks good, but needs refactor.

We can still add it to the next release (this month)

Copilot

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Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 5 out of 7 changed files in this pull request and generated 21 comments.

Gui-FernandesBR · 2026-03-14T16:24:15Z

Before we merge this PR, some points should be addressed:

all plotting methods should be defined withing the plots/ folder
the vedo package should be added as an optional requirement
Unit tests are needed
CHANGELOG.md should be updated
The code should be formatted and linted
All the comments raised by reviewers should be addressed

codecov · 2026-03-14T17:50:49Z

Codecov Report

❌ Patch coverage is 87.93103% with 14 lines in your changes missing coverage. Please review.
✅ Project coverage is 81.24%. Comparing base (9cf3dd4) to head (a39ec8f).
⚠️ Report is 89 commits behind head on develop.

Files with missing lines	Patch %	Lines
rocketpy/plots/flight_plots.py	87.93%	14 Missing ⚠️

Additional details and impacted files

@@             Coverage Diff             @@
##           develop     #909      +/-   ##
===========================================
+ Coverage    80.27%   81.24%   +0.96%     
===========================================
  Files          104      113       +9     
  Lines        12769    14814    +2045     
===========================================
+ Hits         10250    12035    +1785     
- Misses        2519     2779     +260

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Gui-FernandesBR · 2026-05-27T00:53:02Z

I am working on this one locally

Gui-FernandesBR · 2026-06-17T02:22:07Z

@YuroCastroDev we would love to hear feedbacks from this feature. Do you think you could help us?

Implement 3D visualization of flight results in the plots layer using the optional `vedo` library, addressing issue #523: - `animate_trajectory`: 6-DOF translation of the rocket relative to ground. - `animate_rotate`: rocket attitude (rotation) evolution during flight. `vedo` is added as an optional dependency under the `[animation]` extra (`pip install rocketpy[animation]`); both methods raise a descriptive ImportError with install instructions when it is missing. A bundled `default_rocket.stl` asset and unit tests for the animation methods are included, along with user docs (flight, installation) and a colab cell. Originally developed by Patrick Sampaio in the legacy `animate_flight` branch and adapted to the current Flight architecture. Co-Authored-By: GuilhermeAsura <gmslazzarini@gmail.com> Co-Authored-By: Gui-FernandesBR <guilherme_fernandes@usp.br> Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

- Fold the Unreleased section into v1.13.0 and date it 2026-07-19. - Drop reverted PR #958 entries (parachute abstract-base breaking change) and its revert #1063 - neither ever reached a release. - Consolidate the 3D flight animation into a single #1066 (PyVista) entry; drop the superseded Vedo-based #909. - Remove duplicate entries (#1066, #1067, #1055 in Added, #1047 in Added) and the doubled "ENH: ENH:" / "MNT: MNT:" auto-changelog prefixes. - Drop non-user-facing meta entries (#1062 changelog cleanup, #1069 CI fix) and the test-only entry (#1051), per the changelog's own scope rules. - Add the missing #1070 (max_time for StochasticFlight) entry. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

The 3D flight animation switched from Vedo (#909) to PyVista (#1066). pyproject.toml was updated (animation extra = pyvista + imageio-ffmpeg) but requirements-optional.txt still pinned the now-unused vedo and was missing the new deps. Drop vedo and add pyvista/imageio-ffmpeg so both dependency sources agree. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

… deps sync (#1073) * DOC: consolidate and clean v1.13.0 changelog for release - Fold the Unreleased section into v1.13.0 and date it 2026-07-19. - Drop reverted PR #958 entries (parachute abstract-base breaking change) and its revert #1063 - neither ever reached a release. - Consolidate the 3D flight animation into a single #1066 (PyVista) entry; drop the superseded Vedo-based #909. - Remove duplicate entries (#1066, #1067, #1055 in Added, #1047 in Added) and the doubled "ENH: ENH:" / "MNT: MNT:" auto-changelog prefixes. - Drop non-user-facing meta entries (#1062 changelog cleanup, #1069 CI fix) and the test-only entry (#1051), per the changelog's own scope rules. - Add the missing #1070 (max_time for StochasticFlight) entry. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com> * MNT: sync optional animation deps in requirements-optional.txt The 3D flight animation switched from Vedo (#909) to PyVista (#1066). pyproject.toml was updated (animation extra = pyvista + imageio-ffmpeg) but requirements-optional.txt still pinned the now-unused vedo and was missing the new deps. Drop vedo and add pyvista/imageio-ffmpeg so both dependency sources agree. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com> --------- Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

* ENH: `Function` vectorized speed-up and refactor (#1049) * MNT: deduplicate function arithmetic logic. ENH: modularize function arithmetic and source dispatch. MNT: refactor function math modules. MNT: optimize function math speed. * MNT: enhance parachute trigger evaluation for speed. * MNT: improve typing stack on Function evaluation. * MNT: architecture corrections and optimizations. * TST: attempt at tests re-run. * MNT: minor fixes and docstring update. * DOC: Update Changelog for PR #1049 * ENH: Interactive 3D Flight Trajectory and Attitude Animation. (#1066) * ENH: Interactive 3D Flight Trajectory and Attitude Animation. * TST: update actions workflow dependencies for headless run. * MNT: solve plot animation review comments on styling. * DOC: Update Changelog for PR #1066 * MNT: Remove unused pylint disable statements. (#1067) * DOC: Update Changelog for PR #1067 * TST: cover PyVista flight animation helpers and fix docstring Fixes the two CI failures on the develop -> master sync (PR #1068): - DOC/build-docs: the ``color_by`` parameter of ``animate_trajectory`` used the numpydoc ``{...}`` value-set syntax split across two lines, which numpydoc rejects ("invalid value set (missing closing brace)"). Because the docs job builds with ``-W`` (warnings as errors) the build failed. Rewrite the type as a single-line prose description. - codecov/patch and codecov/project: the new PyVista animation subsystem in ``_FlightPlots`` was only exercised by a single minimal off-screen smoke test, leaving the scene builders and the pure geometry/telemetry helpers uncovered. Add unit tests for the render-independent helpers (quaternion rotation, polylines, camera paths, option validation, event markers, telemetry panels, background palette, etc.) and extend the off-screen integration tests to drive the full set of overlays (charts, camera tracking, stability markers, playback controls) and the GIF export path. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com> Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01VW2VidZmPd93dd8xW8BX2J * DOC: Update Changelog for PR #1069 * ENH: Add optional `max time` to `stochastic_flight` and create `stochastic_flight` objects with attributes in base flight (#1070) * Add max_time option to stochastic_flight * Update: use default attributes in flight object for stochastic flights * Add tests to check attributes * Refactor implementation * MNT: pre-release v1.13.0 cleanup — changelog consolidation + optional deps sync (#1073) * DOC: consolidate and clean v1.13.0 changelog for release - Fold the Unreleased section into v1.13.0 and date it 2026-07-19. - Drop reverted PR #958 entries (parachute abstract-base breaking change) and its revert #1063 - neither ever reached a release. - Consolidate the 3D flight animation into a single #1066 (PyVista) entry; drop the superseded Vedo-based #909. - Remove duplicate entries (#1066, #1067, #1055 in Added, #1047 in Added) and the doubled "ENH: ENH:" / "MNT: MNT:" auto-changelog prefixes. - Drop non-user-facing meta entries (#1062 changelog cleanup, #1069 CI fix) and the test-only entry (#1051), per the changelog's own scope rules. - Add the missing #1070 (max_time for StochasticFlight) entry. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com> * MNT: sync optional animation deps in requirements-optional.txt The 3D flight animation switched from Vedo (#909) to PyVista (#1066). pyproject.toml was updated (animation extra = pyvista + imageio-ffmpeg) but requirements-optional.txt still pinned the now-unused vedo and was missing the new deps. Drop vedo and add pyvista/imageio-ffmpeg so both dependency sources agree. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com> --------- Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com> * DOC: Update Changelog for PR #1073 --------- Co-authored-by: Pedro Henrique Marinho Bressan <87212571+phmbressan@users.noreply.github.com> Co-authored-by: github-actions[bot] <github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com> Co-authored-by: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com> Co-authored-by: ZuoRen Chen <180084773+zuorenchen@users.noreply.github.com>

GuilhermeAsura requested a review from a team as a code owner December 6, 2025 03:50

Gui-FernandesBR force-pushed the feature/add_animation_methods branch from 4a29817 to aebdf6a Compare December 9, 2025 00:25

Gui-FernandesBR requested a review from Copilot December 9, 2025 00:26

Gui-FernandesBR reviewed Dec 9, 2025

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Comment thread rocketpy/simulation/flight.py

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of Gui-FernandesBR December 9, 2025 00:28 View session

Gui-FernandesBR reviewed Dec 9, 2025

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Comment thread tests/animation_verification/rocket_stl.py Outdated

Gui-FernandesBR reviewed Dec 9, 2025

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Gui-FernandesBR linked an issue Dec 9, 2025 that may be closed by this pull request

ENH: adds an 3D animation of flight trajectory #523

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Copilot AI reviewed Dec 9, 2025

Gui-FernandesBR requested a review from Copilot December 11, 2025 18:40

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of Gui-FernandesBR December 11, 2025 18:41 View session

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Gui-FernandesBR assigned Gui-FernandesBR and GuilhermeAsura Mar 14, 2026

Copilot AI mentioned this pull request Apr 6, 2026

feat: Implement 3D flight animation methods using Vedo (Issue #523) #950

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Gui-FernandesBR force-pushed the feature/add_animation_methods branch from ab5ef3d to 292eadf Compare June 19, 2026 04:23

Gui-FernandesBR force-pushed the feature/add_animation_methods branch from 292eadf to a39ec8f Compare June 27, 2026 12:54

Gui-FernandesBR approved these changes Jun 27, 2026

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Gui-FernandesBR merged commit 8035949 into RocketPy-Team:develop Jun 27, 2026
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Gui-FernandesBR mentioned this pull request Jul 19, 2026

MNT: pre-release v1.13.0 cleanup — changelog consolidation + optional deps sync #1073

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GuilhermeAsura commented Dec 6, 2025

Pull request type

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Current behavior

New behavior

Breaking change

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Gui-FernandesBR commented Dec 6, 2025

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GuilhermeAsura commented Dec 6, 2025

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Gui-FernandesBR commented Mar 14, 2026

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Gui-FernandesBR commented May 27, 2026

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