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BulletLab

UI Guide

NuclearVenom/BulletLab

UI Guide

The BulletLab UI is a separate Dear ImGui window that runs alongside the PyBullet simulation window.

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────┐  ┌──────────────────────────────┐
│   PyBullet Window       │  │   BulletLab ImGui Window     │
│  • Physics simulation   │  │  • Explorer Panel            │
│  • 3D rendering         │  │  • Properties Panel          │
│  • Camera controls      │  │  • Telemetry Panel           │
│                         │  │  • Console Panel             │
│                         │  │  • Plots Panel               │
│                         │  │  • Custom Panels             │
└─────────────────────────┘  └──────────────────────────────┘
         communicate via Python objects

Basic Usage

from bulletlab.ui import BulletLabUI
from bulletlab.telemetry import TelemetryManager

telemetry = TelemetryManager()
telemetry.watch("Speed", lambda: robot.speed)

app = BulletLabUI(sim=sim, robots=[robot], telemetry=telemetry)
app.run()    # blocking

Non-Blocking Usage

app = BulletLabUI(sim=sim, robots=[robot])
app.start()

while True:
    sim.step()
    telemetry.update(t=sim.elapsed_time)
    app.step()
    if app.should_close:
        break

app.stop()

Built-in Panels

Panel	Purpose
Explorer	Scene tree: Simulation → Robots → Joints/Links
Properties	Editable properties for selected object
Telemetry	Live key-value table
Plots	Inline sparkline charts
Console	Interactive Python REPL

Custom Panels

Using the decorator

from bulletlab.ui import BulletLabUI
from bulletlab.ui import widgets as ui

app = BulletLabUI(sim=sim, robots=[robot])

@app.custom_panel("Motor Control")
def motor_panel():
    ui.text("Robot", robot.name)
    ui.separator()
    ui.slider("Left Wheel",  lambda: robot.joints["wheel_l"].velocity, -20, 20,
              setter=lambda v: setattr(robot.joints["wheel_l"], "velocity", v))
    ui.slider("Right Wheel", lambda: robot.joints["wheel_r"].velocity, -20, 20,
              setter=lambda v: setattr(robot.joints["wheel_r"], "velocity", v))
    ui.separator()
    ui.button("Stop All", lambda: [setattr(j, "velocity", 0) for j in robot.controllable_joints])

app.run()

Using register_panel

app.register_panel("My Panel", my_render_function)

Function	Description
`ui.button(label, callback)`	Clickable button
`ui.text(label, value)`	Read-only text field
`ui.slider(label, getter, min, max, setter)`	Float slider
`ui.drag_float(label, getter, setter, speed)`	Drag-to-edit field
`ui.input_float(label, getter, setter)`	Float input box
`ui.checkbox(label, getter, setter)`	Boolean toggle
`ui.color_edit(label, getter, setter)`	RGB color picker
`ui.combo(label, items, getter, setter)`	Dropdown list
`ui.collapsing_header(label)`	Collapsible section
`ui.separator(label)`	Horizontal divider
`ui.tooltip(text)`	Hover tooltip

Console Panel

The console provides an interactive Python REPL inside the UI:

# Example commands you can type in the console:
robot.links["wheel"].mass = 10
robot.joints["motor"].velocity = 15
print(robot.base_position)
sim.pause()

The console namespace includes sim, robot (first robot), and telemetry by default.