[vtkusers] vtkContourGrid ???

[Will Schroeder]

Hi Chris -

At 11:58 AM 3/22/2001 -0600, Patrick Lowry wrote:
>Chis:
>
>If your data points are random, you can use a gridding algorithm to convert
>them to a structured points data set (not part of VTK).  A simple inverse
>distance weighted algorithm works well but there are better methods.  Then
>its easy enough to contour the data set and display it as shown in the gif
>you provided or as contour lines.  The image can then be written out as a
>BMP, TIFF or CGM.

VTK has several useful algorithms for converting points to data forms that can be contoured.
* vtkGaussianSplatter - points to vtkStructuredPoints/vtkImageData (ellipsoidal splats)
* vtkShepardMethod = points to vtkStructuredPoints/vtkImageData (simple inverse weighting as Patrick describes)
* vtkDelaunay2D - points to vtkPolyData
* vtkDelaunay3D - points to vtkUnstructuredGrid
* vtkSurfaceReconstructionFilter - points to vtkStructuredPoints/vtkImageData (Hoppe's surface algorithm thanks to Tim Hutton)
* vtkImplicitModeller - vertex cells (you have to create a vertex per point) to vtkStructuredPoints/vtkImageData (distance function)

There are probably a few more...

Will