[vtkusers] surface mesh, visualize as tube?

[Randy Dawson]

My 24 vectors represent radial measurements of pipe wall thickness vs
pipe length.

The measurements make a nice 24 pt. color surface plot,  of  Y vs
length.
My requirement now to display this as a tube, in other words, take my
surface plot and wrap it around an axis.

Is there an easy way to do this?

Perhaps incorrectly, I started by taking the raw data and creating
triangles and 3d geometry as vtk files.
I think I am removing information by this step.
What do you think?

Randy
any opinions on using the MayaVI tool for prototyping?.
Thanks.