Improving vtk (was RE: [vtk-developers] vtknew tree and testing / examples)

[Prabhu Ramachandran]

hi,

>>>>> "DG" == David Gobbi <dgobbi at irus.rri.ca> writes:

    DG> of the example.  Also, examples should be far fewer in number
    DG> than tests.

Why is that?  Do you mean tests should be treated as examples?  how
about readablity for the new user?  Do we want the new users to see
stuff that is speicfic to testing and confuse them? :) Also, are you
thinking of creating Python test scripts? :)

    DG> I have a very strong interest in making VTK more accessible to
    DG> new users because I spend huge amounts time on VTK support.

This is really veering off-topic but I'd really appreciate free docs.
I mean a free online/downloadable book/tutorial on VTK.  Agreed, its
nice to have the VTK book, since it is so informative and well written
but at $60 it costs quite a bit.  For some folks $60 is quite a lot of
money.  FYI, $60 is more than half of my monthly stipend!  It also
takes time for libraries to get books like these on demand.

I am not so sure how folks in Europe/US think about buying a book that
costs $60 in order to understand a library.  I am not talking of a
company or university but of some average user who wants to do
visualization.  I think VTK is wonderful for doing just that but
unfortunately, its hard to get a feel for it without free docs.  I am
sure you will find more users if there were free docs.  One of the
greatest things about most free software is they come with free docs.
Please dont get me wrong.  I am not saying it is wrong to charge $60
for the book, nor am I saying that you should make the book free.  I
am thinking aloud and thought you might appreciate the views of
someone who might have a different view of things.

That said I wouldnt mind helping with writing these docs.  But as
David says we all have limited time and I am really no expert at VTK.

I just saw the tutorial on VTK at the computer.org site.  Its really
nice.  We need more stuff like that.  Do you folks have any idea on
how we can go about improving documentation?  Maybe set up some kind
of Wiki page where we can add stuff?  Something along the lines of
what the wxPython folks do?

	 http://wxpython.org/cgi-bin/wiki

This way users can easily contribute.

The other thing that would be nice is for more binary distributions of
VTK.  Atleast VTK for different versions of linux should be available.
Nightly rpms built on RH 5.2 arent good enough. :( Forget the
nightlies.  Atleast for the pucca releases making nice binary install
packages would be nice.  I am not saying that kitware should do this.
Its just a suggestion.

    DG> would also help, but we all have limited time... many thanks
    DG> to Sebastien for his outstanding efforts!

Absolutely!

Thanks for listening.
prabhu