Exported XML loses meshdir and relative mesh paths

[yang-si-hang]

I'm using PyMJCF to load a robot model from an XML file and build a MuJoCo scene. When I export the composed scene back to an XML string using scene_model.to_xml_string(), I've run into an issue with the file paths.

The Problem

The exported XML file is missing the directive. Meanwhile, all the mesh file paths, which were originally relative to that directory, are now missing their path prefixes.

For example, a mesh defined like file="my_robot/meshes/part1.stl" becomes file="part1.stl" in the exported file.

Code Snippet

Here is the line of code I'm using for the export:

final_xml_string = scene_model.to_xml_string()

What I've Found

I found a related issue (#454) that suggests using mjcf.export_with_assets(...) as a potential solution for managing assets.

My Questions

1. Is there a direct method in PyMJCF to preserve the meshdir compiler attribute and the corresponding relative file paths when exporting a model to an XML string?

2. Separately, my main goal is to visualize the composed scene. I know dm_control.viewer can be used for simulations. Does the viewer also support loading and visualizing a custom MJCF scene like the one I'm building?

Thanks for your help!