No active physics scene found error

Omniverse Isaac Sim
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I am running Isaac Sim (version 4.2) on a server using the container installation, in headless webrtc mode. I can see and interact with the GUI in a browser as intended.

I am trying to run python code using an external editor (VSCode) and have the necessary extensions installed to run the code remotely. I started with the standalone hello_world script shown here. I can run it partially, i.e., the ground plane and cube get added to the scene correctly. However, when I try to run the simulation, I get an error saying:

[Error] [omni.physx.tensors.plugin] Failed to create simulation view: no active physics scene found

In the VSCode output I see:

File "/isaac-sim/exts/omni.isaac.core/omni/isaac/core/world/world.py", line 388, in reset
    SimulationContext.reset(self, soft=soft)
  File "/isaac-sim/exts/omni.isaac.core/omni/isaac/core/simulation_context/simulation_context.py", line 619, in reset
    SimulationContext.initialize_physics(self)
  File "/isaac-sim/exts/omni.isaac.core/omni/isaac/core/simulation_context/simulation_context.py", line 588, in initialize_physics
    self._physics_sim_view = omni.physics.tensors.create_simulation_view(self.backend)
  File "/isaac-sim/extsPhysics/omni.physics.tensors/omni/physics/tensors/impl/api.py", line 12, in create_simulation_view
    raise Exception("Failed to create simulation view backend")
Exception: Failed to create simulation view backend

The code I’m trying to run is:

from omni.isaac.core import World
from omni.isaac.core.objects import DynamicCuboid

import numpy as np

world = World()
world.scene.clear()

world.scene.add_default_ground_plane()

fancy_cube = world.scene.add(
    DynamicCuboid(
        prim_path="/World/random_cube",
        name="fancy_cube",
        position=np.array([0, 0, 1.0]),
        scale=np.array([0.5015, 0.5015, 0.5015]),
        color=np.array([0, 0, 1.0]),
    )
)
# Resetting the world needs to be called before querying anything related to an articulation specifically.
# Its recommended to always do a reset after adding your assets, for physics handles to be propagated properly
world.reset()
for i in range(500):
    position, orientation = fancy_cube.get_world_pose()
    linear_velocity = fancy_cube.get_linear_velocity()
    # will be shown on terminal
    print("Cube position is : " + str(position))
    print("Cube's orientation is : " + str(orientation))
    print("Cube's linear velocity is : " + str(linear_velocity))
    # we have control over stepping physics and rendering in this workflow
    # things run in sync
    world.step(render=True)  # execute one physics step and one rendering step

The error occurs on the world.reset() line. I can see the cube and ground plane loaded correctly in the GUI in the browser. The simulation runs fine if I click on the Play button in the GUI.

Any help with this error and how to fix it would be appreciated. Additionally, is there any other recommended workflow for scripting+visualisation when running Isaac Sim on a remote server?

1 Like
2

@ToddT Any ideas? I’m also not unsure how to run the VS Code extension with the container installation. Any help would be great. Thanks!