[vtk-developers] How can I test my PolyData Algorithm? #2

[Andrew Maclean]

Hi Thomas,
  Have you thought about using xvfb?
See for example:
http://kovyrin.net/2007/10/01/how-to-run-gui-programs-on-a-server-without-any-monitor/
Also see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xvfb but is is not very informative.
You may be able to use this to set up VTK regression testing in a headless
environment.
Regards
   Andrew


>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: "Kilgus, Thomas" <t.kilgus at Dkfz-Heidelberg.de>
> To: "Moreland, Kenneth" <kmorel at sandia.gov>, "vtk-developers at vtk.org" <
> vtk-developers at vtk.org>
> Cc:
> Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2013 19:30:57 +0100
> Subject: Re: [vtk-developers] How can I test my PolyData Algorithm? #2
> Ok that is very interessting.
>
> My deparment has no real experience with the rendering tests. I was trying
> to configure everything to unleash the power ;), but I struggled with Linux
> (which doesnt work at all) and Windows (which delivers strange rendered
> images, when a users connects to his machine via Remote Desktop). It was
> hard for me to get to know everything. In fact, I was looking into the code
> to understand how to insert multiple reference images for a single test
> (which is very easy once you know it, but I could not find any
> documentation).
>
> Is there any documentation like "How to set up linux dartclients to use
> vtkRegressionTestImage" or stuff like that? Maybe I should solve our
> iissues regarding vtkRegressionTestImage, instead of programming my own
> functions to compare data objects.
>
> Regards,
> Thomas
> ________________________________________
> Von: Moreland, Kenneth [kmorel at sandia.gov]
> Gesendet: Donnerstag, 24. Januar 2013 17:32
> An: Kilgus, Thomas; vtk-developers at vtk.org
> Betreff: RE: [vtk-developers] How can I test my PolyData Algorithm? #2
>
> To my knowledge there is no built in mechanism for comparing data objects
> and the like.  The VTK regression tests rely pretty much exclusively on the
> rendering tests.  I won't prattle on about the advantages of them, but
> suffice it to say that once configured the rendering tests are easy to set
> up to test a large fraction of what can be done with VTK.  So I am not
> aware of anyone bothering to implement anything else.
>
> -Ken
>
> From: <Kilgus>, Thomas <t.kilgus at Dkfz-Heidelberg.de<mailto:
> t.kilgus at Dkfz-Heidelberg.de>>
> Date: Thursday, January 24, 2013 9:14 AM
> To: Kenneth Moreland <kmorel at sandia.gov<mailto:kmorel at sandia.gov>>, "
> vtk-developers at vtk.org<mailto:vtk-developers at vtk.org>" <
> vtk-developers at vtk.org<mailto:vtk-developers at vtk.org>>
> Subject: [EXTERNAL] RE: [vtk-developers] How can I test my PolyData
> Algorithm? #2
>
> Hi Kenneth,
>
> Thank you very much for your answer! I know the regression tests and
> really like them, however, in this case I would like to test the data
> itself and not the rendering. One problem I have with rendering tests is
> that they do not run in Linux DartClients. (We use a CMake Script to run
> the nightlies and it somehow opens an environment without any X-Server so
> there is no possibility to actually open any render window. I know that it
> is possible to use Mesa Software rendering, but that is huge configuration
> effort. But this is really off topic …).
>
> Is there no way to make the test on a lower level? vtkRegressionTestImage
> would also test the rendering, which slightly overkill here in my opinion.
> Just out of curiosity: Are most VTK algorithms (even they just modify data
> and do not render anything themselves) tested with vtkRegressionTestImage?
>
> Regards,
> Thomas
>
> From: vtk-developers-bounces at vtk.org<mailto:vtk-developers-bounces at vtk.org>
> [mailto:vtk-developers-bounces at vtk.org] On Behalf Of Moreland, Kenneth
> Sent: Donnerstag, 24. Januar 2013 16:53
> To: Kilgus, Thomas; vtk-developers at vtk.org<mailto:vtk-developers at vtk.org>
> Subject: Re: [vtk-developers] How can I test my PolyData Algorithm? #2
>
> The typical way this type of testing is done within the VTK regression
> tests is to run your algorithm, render the result, and then test the image
> to some ground truth image.  There is a utility in VTK
> (vtkRegressionTestImage) that performs this test with the requisite
> tolerance to compensate for slight variations in hardware (as well as the
> ability to provide multiple ground truth images for instances where the
> difference is more than a little but still correct).
>
> There are lots of examples in the VTK source.  A basic one is called
> Mace.cxx.  Take a look at that example first.
>
> -Ken
>
> From: <Kilgus>, Thomas <t.kilgus at Dkfz-Heidelberg.de<mailto:
> t.kilgus at Dkfz-Heidelberg.de>>
> Date: Thursday, January 24, 2013 3:32 AM
> To: "vtk-developers at vtk.org<mailto:vtk-developers at vtk.org>" <
> vtk-developers at vtk.org<mailto:vtk-developers at vtk.org>>
> Subject: [EXTERNAL] [vtk-developers] How can I test my PolyData Algorithm?
> #2
>
> Hi there,
>
> I didn’t get any answer last time (also on the user’s list) so I try again
> ☺:
>
>
> I have an algorithm generating a vtkPolyData as output. I would like to
> write a test, in order to make sure that my algorithm generates the same
> output every day (even though there might be changes to the algorithm or to
> surrounding classes). What is a nice way to do this?
>
> I thought I could save a generated PolyData as “ground truth” and compare
> it point wise to the generated output. However, my output data contains
> lots of 3D floating-point points and thus I have to perform lots of
> comparisons between floating-point numbers and this can be difficult for
> different data or 32Bit/64Bit Systems.
>
> I was wondering if there are any methods/classes already meant general
> testing purposes? Anything I could reuse for comparing two PolyDatas or
> anything to make sure my algorithm provides the same result for the same
> data. I tried to look into tests of other VTK classes but couldn’t really
> find anything. Any suggestions?
>
> Regards
> Thomas
>
>
-- 
___________________________________________
Andrew J. P. Maclean

___________________________________________
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://public.kitware.com/pipermail/vtk-developers/attachments/20130125/70f69afe/attachment.html>