[vtk-developers] [vtkusers] Any plan to update the books?

Wed Mar 28 14:05:01 EDT 2018

I have a strawman for Chapter 6. I'll publish it as soon s I add the
figures (which we already have). The figures are regression tested
every night. Equations are not addressed yet. Andrew Maclean knows how
to handle these I believe.

Bill

On Wed, Mar 28, 2018 at 9:42 AM, Berk Geveci <berk.geveci at kitware.com> wrote:
> Wow this is great!
>
> On Tue, Mar 27, 2018 at 1:13 PM, Bill Lorensen <bill.lorensen at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>>
>> I found a tool, pandoc, that converts pdf to a number of file formats
>> including markdown and docx. It can also extract figures. I've
>> extracted all of the VTK book figures and I'm checking out how well it
>> did on the drawn figures.
>>
>> Bill
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Mar 27, 2018 at 7:57 AM, Bill Lorensen <bill.lorensen at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> > I think an online source would be very useful and doable.
>> >
>> > There are several components to the book:
>> > 1) The text (easy to convert to another format)
>> > 2) Non-vtk generated figures (I think Kitware has these in some form).
>> > 3) vtk-generated figures (almost all already exist in
>> > https://lorensen.github.io/VTKExamples/site/VTKBookFigures/)
>> > 4) Equations (need to find a reasonable converter)
>> > 5) Cross-references (might be a manual operation)
>> > 6) Index (use search technology?)
>> > 7) Remove all references to tcl.
>> > 8) Update the text to reflect modern VTK.
>> > 9) Other stuff (TBD).
>> >
>> > There are tools to convert pdf text to markdown. For example,
>> > http://pdf2md.morethan.io/ converted the entire VTK Book pdf to
>> > markdown.
>> >
>> > There are lots of decisions to make, but given the current toolsets
>> > available on the internet, an organized group effort could do it once
>> > an approach is chosen.
>> >
>> > Choosing an approach will be the most challenging part of the effort.
>> >
>> > There are tools to convert pdf to markdown. These tools could handle
>> > the "text" portion of the book. I've tried
>> > http://pdf2md.morethan.io/
>> > and it converted the entire text of the vtk book into a simple markdown
>> > format.
>> >
>> > I can also share my experience in moving the VTK Wiki Examples to
>> > github and markdown. Auto-generation of enhanced markdown was a key.
>> > For example, the VTKExamples hyperlinks every text occurrence of a vtk
>> > class to the doxygen. VTK generated figures could be auto inserted.
>> >
>> > Just my 2 cents,
>> >
>> > Bill
>> >
>> > On Mon, Mar 26, 2018 at 7:56 AM, Berk Geveci <berk.geveci at kitware.com>
>> > wrote:
>> >> Just a quick update on this guys. We would love to provide editable
>> >> versions
>> >> of both books. The challenge is that they are in old Framemaker format
>> >> and
>> >> we have not had the time to focus on finding a way to generate some
>> >> form of
>> >> editable content from them. I don't believe exporting to another format
>> >> from
>> >> Framemaker is a good option. So we have contemplating scraping the PDF
>> >> for
>> >> content and generating all new images (which Bill Lorensen did to a
>> >> great
>> >> extent). Will Schroeder has been contemplating doing a new version that
>> >> is
>> >> interactive on the Web also. If there are folks out there with concrete
>> >> ideas on how to move forward, we would be happy to have everyone
>> >> engaged in
>> >> finding a way forward.
>> >>
>> >> I have some ideas of my own:
>> >>
>> >> * Combine contents to create one book that is a hybrid textbook /
>> >> user's
>> >> guide, more focused on teaching visualization as covered by VTK
>> >> * Generate a separate guide with lots of examples that can be
>> >> translated to
>> >> various languages that VTK supports leveraging content from the book as
>> >> well
>> >> as VTK examples online. This could be an online thing.
>> >>
>> >> Best,
>> >> -berk
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> On Mon, Mar 26, 2018 at 10:49 AM, Andras Lasso <lasso at queensu.ca>
>> >> wrote:
>> >>>
>> >>> Yes, the VTK textbook is great and still up-to-date, except specific
>> >>> source code examples. If it was made available in editable form then
>> >>> I’m
>> >>> sure there would be volunteers to update the examples (convert Tcl to
>> >>> Python
>> >>> and update according to VTK API), and maybe describe some notable core
>> >>> changes (pipeline changes, etc).
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> I have never found the VTK User’s Guide particularly suitable for a
>> >>> printed book format. At user guide level online resources (examples,
>> >>> API
>> >>> documentation, etc.) are easier to use, because you can search better,
>> >>> they
>> >>> are hyperlinked, you can copy-paste, etc. Online materials are also
>> >>> easier
>> >>> to keep up-to-date.
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> Andras
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> From: vtkusers <vtkusers-bounces at vtk.org> On Behalf Of David E DeMarle
>> >>> Sent: Monday, March 26, 2018 10:39 AM
>> >>> To: Jesse Kinross-Smith <Jesse.Kinross-Smith at bentley.com>
>> >>> Cc: vtkusers at vtk.org
>> >>> Subject: Re: [vtkusers] Any plan to update the books?
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> We don't have any near term plans for an update.
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> The books certainly do need a refresh, including a math reformat for
>> >>> the
>> >>> free online versions, however just about of the techniques described
>> >>> in them
>> >>> are still valid.
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> Most of the code is still valid, with the important exception of a few
>> >>> places in need of  version 5->6 changes. For those refer to
>> >>> https://www.vtk.org/Wiki/VTK/VTK_6_Migration_Guide
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> David E DeMarle
>> >>> Kitware, Inc.
>> >>> Principal Engineer
>> >>> 21 Corporate Drive
>> >>> Clifton Park, NY 12065-8662
>> >>> Phone: 518-881-4909
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> On Mon, Mar 26, 2018 at 3:42 AM, Jesse Kinross-Smith
>> >>> <Jesse.Kinross-Smith at bentley.com> wrote:
>> >>>
>> >>> Are there any plans to update these books at all?
>> >>>
>> >>> I’d love to get some books to help me learn the ins and outs of VTK
>> >>> for
>> >>> the office, but anything over 5 years old in this industry is usually
>> >>> pretty
>> >>> obsolete I’ve found.
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> Visualization Toolkit: An Object-Oriented Approach to 3D Graphics, 4th
>> >>> Edition - December 1, 2006
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> https://www.amazon.com/Visualization-Toolkit-Object-Oriented-Approach-Graphics/dp/193093419X
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> VTK User's Guide Paperback – 11th Ed. March 18, 2010
>> >>>
>> >>> https://www.amazon.com/VTK-Users-Guide-Kitware/dp/1930934238
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> Jesse
>> >>>
>> >>> --
>> >>>
>> >>> Jesse Kinross-Smith
>> >>>
>> >>> Senior Software Engineer - BSW
>> >>>
>> >>> Bentley Systems, Fremantle
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> _______________________________________________
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>> >>>
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>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> _______________________________________________
>> >>> Powered by www.kitware.com
>> >>>
>> >>> Visit other Kitware open-source projects at
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>> >>>
>> >>> Please keep messages on-topic and check the VTK FAQ at:
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>> >>>
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>> >>
>> >>
>> >> _______________________________________________
>> >> Powered by www.kitware.com
>> >>
>> >> Visit other Kitware open-source projects at
>> >> http://www.kitware.com/opensource/opensource.html
>> >>
>> >> Please keep messages on-topic and check the VTK FAQ at:
>> >> http://www.vtk.org/Wiki/VTK_FAQ
>> >>
>> >> Search the list archives at: http://markmail.org/search/?q=vtkusers
>> >>
>> >> Follow this link to subscribe/unsubscribe:
>> >> https://vtk.org/mailman/listinfo/vtkusers
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > Unpaid intern in BillsParadise at noware dot com
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Unpaid intern in BillsParadise at noware dot com
>
>

-- 
Unpaid intern in BillsParadise at noware dot com