按照RVIZ的官方教材来一步步来，Markers: Sending Basic Shapes (C++)，第一步先学习如何使用visualization_msgs/Marker 类型的消息发送简单的形状给RVIZ。
在~/rviz_ws/src中运行

catkin_create_pkg using_markers roscpp visualization_msgs
gedit using_markers/src/basic_shapes.cpp

cpp的代码如下:

#include <ros/ros.h>
#include <visualization_msgs/Marker.h>

int main( int argc, char** argv )
{
  ros::init(argc, argv, “basic_shapes”);
  ros::NodeHandle n;
  ros::Rate r(1);
  ros::Publisher marker_pub = n.advertise<visualization_msgs::Marker>(“visualization_marker”, 1);

  // Set our initial shape type to be a cube
  uint32_t shape = visualization_msgs::Marker::CUBE;

  while (ros::ok())
  {
    visualization_msgs::Marker marker;
    // Set the frame ID and timestamp.  See the TF tutorials for information on these.
    marker.header.frame_id = “/my_frame”;
    marker.header.stamp = ros::Time::now();

    // Set the namespace and id for this marker.  This serves to create a unique ID
    // Any marker sent with the same namespace and id will overwrite the old one
    marker.ns = “basic_shapes”;
    marker.id = 0;

    // Set the marker type.  Initially this is CUBE, and cycles between that and SPHERE, ARROW, and CYLINDER
    marker.type = shape;

    // Set the marker action.  Options are ADD, DELETE, and new in ROS Indigo: 3 (DELETEALL)
    marker.action = visualization_msgs::Marker::ADD;

    // Set the pose of the marker.  This is a full 6DOF pose relative to the frame/time specified in the header
    marker.pose.position.x = 0;
    marker.pose.position.y = 0;
    marker.pose.position.z = 0;
    marker.pose.orientation.x = 0.0;
    marker.pose.orientation.y = 0.0;
    marker.pose.orientation.z = 0.0;
    marker.pose.orientation.w = 1.0;

    // Set the scale of the marker — 1x1x1 here means 1m on a side
    marker.scale.x = 1.0;
    marker.scale.y = 1.0;
    marker.scale.z = 1.0;

    // Set the color — be sure to set alpha to something non-zero!
    marker.color.r = 0.0f;
    marker.color.g = 1.0f;
    marker.color.b = 0.0f;
    marker.color.a = 1.0;

    marker.lifetime = ros::Duration();

    // Publish the marker
    while (marker_pub.getNumSubscribers() < 1)
    {
      if (!ros::ok())
      {
        return 0;
      }
      ROS_WARN_ONCE(“Please create a subscriber to the marker”);
      sleep(1);
    }
    marker_pub.publish(marker);

    // Cycle between different shapes
    switch (shape)
    {
    case visualization_msgs::Marker::CUBE:
      shape = visualization_msgs::Marker::SPHERE;
      break;
    case visualization_msgs::Marker::SPHERE:
      shape = visualization_msgs::Marker::ARROW;
      break;
    case visualization_msgs::Marker::ARROW:
      shape = visualization_msgs::Marker::CYLINDER;
      break;
    case visualization_msgs::Marker::CYLINDER:
      shape = visualization_msgs::Marker::CUBE;
      break;
    }

    r.sleep();
  }
}

头文件不解释了

  ros::init(argc, argv, “basic_shapes”);
  ros::NodeHandle n;
  ros::Rate r(1);
  ros::Publisher marker_pub = n.advertise<visualization_msgs::Marker>(“visualization_marker”, 1);

这四句话可以参考ROS教程中创建一个消息发布器的内容理解。
先初始化ROS。之后为这个进程的节点创建一个句柄。第一个创建的NodeHandle会为节点进行初始化，最后一个销毁的NodeHandle则会释放该节点所占用的所有资源。
定义循环频率。它会追踪记录自上一次调用Rate::sleep()后时间的流逝，并休眠直到一个频率周期的时间。
告诉 master 我们将要在visualization_marker（话题名） 上发布visualization_msgs::Marker消息类型的消息。这样 master 就会告诉所有订阅了visualization_marker话题的节点，将要有数据发布。第二个参数是发布序列的大小。如果我们发布的消息的频率太高，缓冲区中的消息在大于 1个的时候就会开始丢弃先前发布的消息。

uint32_t shape = visualization_msgs::Marker::CUBE;

定义一个变量shape表示我们Marker的类型。

visualization_msgs::Marker marker;
// Set the frame ID and timestamp.  See the TF tutorials for information on these.
marker.header.frame_id = “/my_frame”;
marker.header.stamp = ros::Time::now();

其实这里我没有太明白。要设置frame的ID和时间戳。教程说让我去看tf的教程，好的，下次一定。
程序其他没有什么太难理解的地方。
之后就是修改CmakeLists.txt，在最后加上两句话生成可执行文件

add_executable(basic_shapes src/basic_shapes.cpp)
target_link_libraries(basic_shapes ${catkin_LIBRARIES})

准备运行\

cd ~/rviz_ws
catkin_make
roscore
rosrun using_markers basic_shapes

接下来启动RVIZ

rosrun rviz rviz

修改Fixed Frame

接下来添加一个Marker

之后就能看到我们想要的结果了。