[vtk-developers] vtkGL2PSExporter: need feedback.

[Prabhu Ramachandran]

>>>>> "KM" == Ken Martin <ken.martin at kitware.com> writes:

    KM> Hello Folks, In general I think that for 3D rendering, using
    KM> vtkWindowToImageFilter with a magnification of around 3 will
    KM> give you high quality images. I can see that for some line
    KM> drawings or solid filled contours a gl2ps approach would
    KM> result in smaller files and higher quality output. This leads
    KM> me to a couple questions.

Yes thats a nice approach.  Complex 3D scenes will still use
vtkWindowToImageFilter and simpler ones can use gl2ps.

    KM> 1) is the file size using vtkWindowToImageFilter an issue? If
    KM> so, is it possible that we could modify our postscript writer
    KM> to write out some RLE version of the raster etc? If so, that
    KM> would allow for high res output without large file sizes.

That would be a nice option.

    KM> 2) Is the benefit of having ps output (primarily for plots and
    KM> 2d contours) worth the complexity and dependencies of adding
    KM> the gl2ps code?

I dont think its complex.  Its just a single class with a new set of
cmake options to pick where gl2ps.h is and libgl2ps is installed.  If
needed these options can be added inside the advanced options section.
Of course getting text to work will need a bit of extra work but I
doubt it would be a show stopper.

gl2ps itself is just 2 files -- gl2ps.h and gl2ps.c.  It cant get
simpler than that. :)

regards,
prabhu