[Isaac Sim 5.0] How to properly instantiate a Velodyne VLP-16 RTX Lidar? (Config option missing)

Omniverse Isaac Sim
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Isaac Sim Version 5.1.0 5.0.0 4.5.0 4.2.0 4.1.0 4.0.0 4.5.0 2023.1.1 2023.1.0-hotfix.1 Other (please specify):

Operating System [ x ] Ubuntu 24.04 Ubuntu 22.04 Ubuntu 20.04 Windows 11 Windows 10 Other (please specify):

GPU Information Model:RTX 5090 driver version here, 580.95.05

Topic Description Unable to select “Velodyne_VLP16” configuration when creating an RTX Lidar in Isaac Sim 5.0 because the configuration dropdown/option is missing in the Properties panel.

Detailed Description I am trying to simulate a Velodyne VLP-16 sensor and publish point cloud data to ROS 2. In previous versions of Isaac Sim, I could create a Rotating Lidar and select the Velodyne_VLP16 profile from a dropdown menu in the “RTX Lidar Sensor” properties.

In Isaac Sim 5.0, after creating a Lidar via Create -> Isaac -> Sensors -> RTX Lidar -> Rotating, the created prim appears to be a generic lidar. I cannot find any option named “Config Name” or “Configuration File” in the Property window to switch it to the VLP-16 specification.

I need to know the correct workflow in version 5.0 to instantiate a specific Lidar model (VLP-16) so that I can get the correct beam pattern (16 channels) for my ROS 2 application.

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Launch Isaac Sim 5.0.0.

  2. Navigate to the top menu: Create → Isaac → Sensors → RTX Lidar → Rotating.

  3. Select the newly created Lidar Prim in the Stage.

  4. Inspect the Property panel under the RTX Lidar Sensor section.

  5. Observe that there is no dropdown menu to select a specific Lidar configuration (e.g., VLP-16, VLP-32, etc.).

Error Messages N/A (No error message, just missing UI functionality).

Screenshots or Videos (None attached)

Additional Information What I’ve Tried

  1. I searched the Property panel extensively for any hidden settings.

  2. I tried searching for a pre-made VLP-16 USD in the Assets browser but couldn’t find a direct drop-in replacement that works as expected.

  3. I attempted to use Python commands (like IsaacSensorCreateRtxLidar) to force a config, but I am unsure if the API has changed in 5.0 as it didn’t seem to apply the config correctly.

Related Issues None found so far for version 5.0.

Additional Context My end goal is to publish this data via the ROS 2 Bridge to a /velodyne_points topic. I have the Action Graph ready, but the sensor source data is incorrect because it’s using the generic lidar settings instead of VLP-16

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Hi @me0608623! Please switch to Isaac Sim 5.1.0 because this is the latest stable version.

Please check out this doc for a list of lidar models that we provide Non-Visual Sensors — Isaac Sim Documentation

Unfortunately, Velodyne VLP-16 is not on the list.

But you can create your customized lidar model following our tutorial: RTX Lidar Sensor — Isaac Sim Documentation

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Hi NVIDIA team,

Thank you for the clarification.

I followed the official Isaac Sim documentation to create an RTX Rotating LiDAR
(using the recommended workflow for Isaac Sim 5.x), and the sensor itself can be
successfully instantiated and publish point cloud data.

However, when integrating this setup with LIO-SAM, I am still encountering issues
during runtime (for example, LIO-SAM waiting for IMU data or failing to properly
process the LiDAR input).

At the moment, it is not entirely clear to me whether the issue is related to:

  • Required point cloud fields (e.g., ring, time, intensity),
  • IMU–LiDAR time synchronization,
  • RTX LiDAR configuration parameters (scan rate, channels, timestamps),
  • Or ROS / ROS2 bridge specifics when using RTX LiDAR.

I would like to ask:

  1. Is there an official, end-to-end example or tutorial that demonstrates using
    RTX LiDAR (Rotating / custom config) with LIO-SAM or a similar LiDAR–Inertial SLAM pipeline?
  2. Are there recommended RTX LiDAR configuration settings specifically intended
    for LIO-SAM compatibility?
  3. Are there known limitations or required preprocessing steps when using RTX LiDAR
    instead of a real Velodyne sensor with LIO-SAM?

Any additional documentation, sample configs, or reference projects would be
greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much for your support.

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Hi @me0608623 we don’t have any official document for lidar-based SLAM with Isaac Sim example or pipeline.
We have a tutorial for lidar-based navigation with Isaac Sim ROS2 Navigation — Isaac Sim Documentation
We have a tutorial for visual SLAM with Isaac Sim
Tutorial for Visual SLAM with Isaac Sim — Isaac ROS

Here is a demo I found on Youtube which integrates LIO-SAM and Isaac Sim https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3PHup1nX1c

What are the detailed runtime errors?

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Hello!

We noticed that this topic hasn’t received any recent responses, so we are closing it for now to help keep the forum organized.

If you’re still experiencing this issue or have additional questions, please feel free to create a new topic with updated details. When doing so, we recommend mentioning or linking to this original topic in your new post—this helps provide context and makes it easier for others to assist you.

Thank you for being part of the NVIDIA Isaac Sim community.

Best regards,
The NVIDIA Isaac Sim Forum Team