Camera and Property Linking

This is an overview of property linking in ParaView.

There are a few types of links.

• Camera
• Proxy
• Property

Camera Linking

• A camera link links cameras from two render modules together.
• A change in one, propagates to the other, and vice versa.

Proxy Linking

• Two proxies can be linked together.
• If a proxy have any property with the same name as the other proxy, those properties will be linked.
  • For example:
    • Two sphere sources will have all of their properties linked.
    • A sphere source and a cylinder source will have only Radius and Center linked.
    • The planes of two clip filters can be linked.

Property Linking

• Two properties of the same type can be linked.
  • For example:
    • A sphere's Phi Resolution and Theta Resolution can be linked.
    • A cylinder's radius and a sphere's radius can be linked.
    • A cylinder's radius cannot be linked with a sphere's center.

Creating links in ParaView

• Quick view links can be created by right clicking in a view and selecting "Link Views..." A popup window is presented with the ability to name the link, and cancel. The link is created when the user clicks on another view.
• Tools -> Manage Links... is a place to manage all types of links.
  • Links can be added/edited/removed.
  • When adding/editing a link, property or object types can be chosen. Views can be selected under the object type.

Implementation Overview

• Server Manager
  • vtkSMCameraLink, vtkSMPropertyLink, vtkSMProxyLink share a common vtkSMLink base class.
  • vtkSM*Link classes support bi-directional links, with multiple "inputs" and multiple "outputs".
  • If an "input" changes, the values are copied to the "outputs."
• GUI side
  • All links are bi-directional.
  • All links are between only two objects. In other words, the vtkSM*Link objects have two inputs and two outputs. If it were not bi-directional, it would be one input and one output.
  • Camera linking is called View linking.