[vtkusers] vtk + python ~= vpython? (another newbie question)

[Karl Garsha]

Greetings Mike,
I'm not very familiar with the capablilities of vpython but it looks like 
there are some noteworthy differences between vpython and vtkpython.  My 
impression is that vpython is a nice python interface to a lower level 
real-time 3-D graphics API such as OpenGL.  The main difference that I can 
see is that VTK has a richer set of functionality in terms of working with 
datasets aquired from a wide range of imaging modalities.  VTK is intended 
to enable processing and visualization of raw data sets through means such 
as volume rendering; many functions for importing different types of  
data,as well as filtering and processing data are available. Vpython appears to be limited to 
instantiating, positioning and surface rendering geometric primitives and combinations of 
geometric primitives (I could be mistaken however).
	You will probably want to check out MayaVi 
(http://mayavi.sourceforge.net).  MayaVi is a Python/Tkinter GUI interface 
to the vtkpython wrappers.  I haven't used it yet (I'm still wrestling 
with getting VTK/python compiled and working with python/tkinter on OS X 
10.2), but it looks like a good tool for working with 3-D datasets in 
Python.  
 Best Regards,
Karl G.

On Thu, 13 Feb 2003, Mike Carifio wrote:

> I know people hate this sort of "comparison question", but
> I have to ask it: what's the similarity/differences between
> vtkpython and Visual Python (http://www.vpython.org/)?
> Are they roughly just different implementations of
> visualization primatives within a python interpreter,
> or is there something more fundemental and significant
> going on here?
> 
> I'm in the process of selecting a tool for a visualization
> project that I'm pitching. I'd like to script it in Python,
> if possible, for my own productivity. High performance isn't
> an issue (yet, until it becomes an issue (:-)). I anticipate
> the app will always remain Python. I'm new to the visualization
> domain, so good documentation and perhaps some handholding
> will be part of the selection criteria. The app will run on
> Windows as a desktop application, so it should be somewhat
> self contained. I anticipate that I'll probably only need
> simplier primatives to "animate" my model. So ease of use
> and ease of packaging and deployment will also affect
> the selection criteria. (By the way, the build system for 
> vtkpython is wonderful. Kudos to the developers.)
> 
> I've managed to get vtkpython running on a Windows XP box
> with Python 2.2.2. I can even "xcopy deploy" it to another box,
> once I gather up all the vtk dll's, the Python dll's, the python
> and vtk .py files. I can get Cone5.py to run, although with
> some of the other examples (but not all of them; Cone3 and Cone4
> don't do anything and then crash).
> 
> So, I'm trying to make a reasonable selection without much
> deep background knowledge upon which to rely. Perhaps some
> kind soul on the list, who perhaps has experience with
> both, can quickly compare the two and focus my attention
> on the important issues.
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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-- 
Karl Garsha
Light Microscopy Specialist
Imaging Technology Group
Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
405 North Mathews Avenue
Urbana, IL 61801
Office: B650J
Phone: 217.244.6292
Fax: 217.244.6219
Mobile: 217.390.1874
www.itg.uiuc.edu