Cleaner API for saved/embedded visualizations + initial documentation

.github/workflows/docs.yml

@@ -32,14 +32,14 @@ jobs:
       # Get version from pyproject.toml.
       - name: Get version + subdirectory
         run: |
-          VERSION=$(python -c "import toml; print(toml.load('pyproject.toml')['project']['version'])")
+          VERSION=$(python -c "import viser; print(viser.__version__)")
           echo "VERSION=$VERSION" >> $GITHUB_ENV
           echo "DOCS_SUBDIR=versions/$VERSION" >> $GITHUB_ENV
 
       # Hack to overwrite version.
-      - name: Set version to 'latest' for pushes (this will appear in the doc banner)
+      - name: Set version to 'main' for pushes (this will appear in the doc banner)
         run: |
-          python -c "import toml; conf = toml.load('pyproject.toml'); conf['project']['version'] = 'latest'; toml.dump(conf, open('pyproject.toml', 'w'))"
+          echo "VISER_VERSION_STR_OVERRIDE=main" >> $GITHUB_ENV
         if: github.event_name == 'push'
 
       # Build documentation.

.github/workflows/publish.yml

@@ -30,9 +30,11 @@ jobs:
       - name: Only bundle client build for PyPI release
         run: |
           # This should delete everything in src/viser/client except for the
-          # build folder.
+          # build folder + original source files. We don't want to package
+          # .nodeenv, node_modules, etc in the release.
           mv src/viser/client/build ./__built_client
           rm -rf src/viser/client/*
+          git checkout src/viser/client
           mv ./__built_client src/viser/client/build
       - name: Build and publish
         env:

docs/source/conf.py

@@ -6,11 +6,12 @@
 # full list see the documentation:
 # http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/stable/config
 
-from pathlib import Path
+import os
 from typing import Dict, List
 
 import m2r2
-import toml
+
+import viser
 
 # -- Path setup --------------------------------------------------------------
 
@@ -25,10 +26,7 @@
 copyright = "2024"
 author = "brentyi"
 
-# The short X.Y version
-version: str = toml.load(
-    Path(__file__).absolute().parent.parent.parent / "pyproject.toml"
-)["project"]["version"]
+version: str = os.environ.get("VISER_VERSION_STR_OVERRIDE", viser.__version__)
 
 # Formatting!
 #     0.1.30 => v0.1.30

docs/source/development.md

@@ -31,12 +31,15 @@ pip install -e .[dev]
 pre-commit install
 ```
 
-It would be hard to write unit tests for `viser`. We rely on static typing for
-robustness. To check your code, you can run the following:
+For code quality, rely primarily on `pyright` and `ruff`:
 
 ```bash
-# runs linting, formatting, and type-checking
-viser-dev-checks
+# Check static types.
+pyright
+
+# Lint and format.
+ruff check --fix .
+ruff format .
 ```
 
 ## Message updates

docs/source/embedded_visualizations.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,198 @@
+Embedding Visualizations
+===============================================
+
+This guide describes how to export 3D visualizations from Viser and embed them into static webpages. The process involves three main steps: exporting scene state, creating a client build, and hosting the visualization.
+
+.. warning::
+
+   This workflow is experimental and not yet polished. We're documenting it
+   nonetheless, since we think it's quite useful! If you have suggestions or
+   improvements, issues and PRs are welcome.
+
+
+Step 1: Exporting Scene State
+----------------------------
+
+You can export static or dynamic 3D data from a Viser scene using the scene
+serializer. :func:`ViserServer.get_scene_serializer` returns a serializer
+object that can serialize the current scene state to a binary format.
+
+Static Scene Export
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+For static 3D visualizations, use the following code to save the scene state:
+
+.. code-block:: python
+
+   import viser
+   from pathlib import Path
+
+   server = viser.ViserServer()
+
+   # Add objects to the scene via server.scene
+   # For example:
+   # server.scene.add_mesh(...)
+   # server.scene.add_point_cloud(...)
+   server.scene.add_box("/box", color=(255, 0, 0), dimensions=(1, 1, 1))
+
+   # Serialize and save the scene state
+   data = server.get_scene_serializer().serialize()  # Returns bytes
+   Path("recording.viser").write_bytes(data)
+
+
+As a suggestion, you can also add a button for exporting the scene state:
+
+.. code-block:: python
+
+   import viser
+   server = viser.ViserServer()
+
+   # Add objects to the scene via server.scene.
+   # For example:
+   # server.scene.add_mesh(...)
+   # server.scene.add_point_cloud(...)
+   server.scene.add_box("/box", color=(255, 0, 0), dimensions=(1, 1, 1))
+
+   save_button = server.gui.add_button("Save Scene")
+
+   @save_button.on_click
+   def _(event: viser.GuiEvent) -> None:
+       assert event.client is not None
+       event.client.send_file_download("recording.viser", server.get_scene_serializer().serialize())
+
+   server.sleep_forever()
+
+Dynamic Scene Export
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+For dynamic visualizations with animation, you can create a "3D video" by inserting sleep commands between frames:
+
+.. code-block:: python
+
+   import viser
+   import numpy as np
+   from pathlib import Path
+
+   server = viser.ViserServer()
+
+   # Add objects to the scene via server.scene
+   # For example:
+   # server.scene.add_mesh(...)
+   # server.scene.add_point_cloud(...)
+   box = server.scene.add_box("/box", color=(255, 0, 0), dimensions=(1, 1, 1))
+
+   # Create serializer.
+   serializer = server.get_scene_serializer()
+
+   num_frames = 100
+   for t in range(num_frames):
+       # Update existing scene objects or add new ones.
+       box.position = (0.0, 0.0, np.sin(t / num_frames * 2 * np.pi))
+
+       # Add a frame delay.
+       serializer.insert_sleep(1.0 / 30.0)
+
+   # Save the complete animation.
+   data = serializer.serialize()  # Returns bytes
+   Path("recording.viser").write_bytes(data)
+
+.. note::
+   Always add scene elements using :attr:`ViserServer.scene`, not :attr:`ClientHandle.scene`.
+
+.. note::
+   The ``.viser`` file is a binary format containing scene state data and is not meant to be human-readable.
+
+Step 2: Creating a Viser Client Build
+-----------------------------------
+
+To serve the 3D visualization, you'll need two things:
+
+1. The ``.viser`` file containing your scene data
+2. A build of the Viser client (static HTML/JS/CSS files)
+
+With Viser installed, create the Viser client build using the command-line tool:
+
+.. code-block:: bash
+
+   # View available options
+   viser-build-client --help
+
+   # Build to a specific directory
+   viser-build-client --output-dir viser-client/
+
+
+Step 3: Hosting
+---------------
+
+Directory Structure
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+For our hosting instructions, we're going to assume the following directory structure:
+
+.. code-block::
+
+    .
+    ├── recordings/
+    │   └── recording.viser    # Your exported scene data
+    └── viser-client/
+        ├── index.html         # Generated client files
+        ├── assets/
+        └── ...
+
+This is just a suggestion; you can structure your files however you like.
+
+Local Development Server
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+For testing locally, you can use Python's built-in HTTP server:
+
+.. code-block:: bash
+
+    # Navigate to the parent directory containing both folders
+    cd /path/to/parent/dir
+
+    # Start the server (default port 8000)
+    python -m http.server 8000
+
+Then open your browser and navigate to:
+
+* ``http://localhost:8000/viser-client/`` (default port)
+
+This should show the a standard Viser client. To visualize the exported scene, you'll need to specify a URL via the ``?playbackPath=`` parameter:
+
+* ``http://localhost:8000/viser-client/?playbackPath=http://localhost:8000/recordings/recording.viser``
+
+
+GitHub Pages Deployment
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+To host your visualization on GitHub Pages:
+
+1. Create a new repository or use an existing one
+2. Create a ``gh-pages`` branch or enable GitHub Pages on your main branch
+3. Push your directory structure to the repository:
+
+   .. code-block:: bash
+
+       git add recordings/ viser-client/
+       git commit -m "Add Viser visualization"
+       git push origin main  # or gh-pages
+
+Your visualization will be available at: ``https://user.github.io/repo/viser-client/?playbackPath=https://user.github.io/repo/recordings/recording.viser``
+
+You can embed this into other webpages using an HTML ``<iframe />`` tag.
+
+
+Step 4: Setting the initial camera pose
+-----------------------------------------------
+
+To set the initial camera pose, you can add a ``&logCamera`` parameter to the URL:
+
+* ``http://localhost:8000/viser-client/?playbackPath=http://localhost:8000/recordings/recording.viser&logCamera``
+
+Then, open your Javascript console. You should see the camera pose printed
+whenever you move the camera. It should look something like this:
+
+* ``&initialCameraPosition=2.216,-4.233,-0.947&initialCameraLookAt=-0.115,0.346,-0.192&initialCameraUp=0.329,-0.904,0.272``
+
+You can then add this string to the URL to set the initial camera pose.

docs/source/index.md

@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ URL (default: `http://localhost:8080`).
 
    ./conventions.md
    ./development.md
+   ./embedded_visualizations.rst
 
 .. toctree::
    :caption: API (Basics)

pyproject.toml

@@ -7,6 +7,9 @@ exclude = ["src/viser/client/.nodeenv", "src/viser/client/node_modules", "**/__p
 # Client build is in the gitignore, but we still want it in the distribution.
 ignore-vcs = true
 
+[tool.hatch.version]
+path = "src/viser/__init__.py"
+
 [tool.hatch.build.targets.sdist]
 only-include = ["src/viser"]
 
@@ -15,7 +18,7 @@ packages = ["src/viser"]
 
 [project]
 name = "viser"
-version = "0.2.19"
+dynamic = ["version"]
 description = "3D visualization + Python"
 readme = "README.md"
 license = { text="MIT" }
@@ -70,7 +73,7 @@ examples = [
 "GitHub" = "https://github.com/nerfstudio-project/viser"
 
 [project.scripts]
-viser-dev-checks = "viser.scripts.dev_checks:entrypoint"
+viser-build-client = "viser._client_autobuild:build_client_entrypoint"
 
 [tool.pyright]
 exclude = ["./docs/**/*", "./examples/assets/**/*", "./src/viser/client/.nodeenv", "./build"]
@@ -86,6 +89,7 @@ lint.select = [
     "I", # Import sorting.
 ]
 lint.ignore = [
+    "E731",  # Do not assign a lambda expression, use a def.
     "E741", # Ambiguous variable name. (l, O, or I)
     "E501",  # Line too long.
     "E721",  # Do not compare types, use `isinstance()`.

src/viser/__init__.py

@@ -53,3 +53,5 @@
 from ._viser import CameraHandle as CameraHandle
 from ._viser import ClientHandle as ClientHandle
 from ._viser import ViserServer as ViserServer
+
+__version__ = "0.2.20"