[vtkusers] VTK Roadmap

[lucantiga at softhome.net]

Hi Will,
 I found the point about the rearrangment of vtkPolyData and
vtkUnstructuredGrid into a more general vtkMesh very attractive (along
with the integration of STL and templates) (towards itk compatibility?).
How far are we from there?
 I also have a more general question.
 Once the above steps will be taken, do you envision some evolution (of
vtk, itk or ?tk) towards some application-oriented computational geometry
classes (e.g. for shape analysis)? Although the itkMesh framework is
promising, Itk is explicitly geared towards registration and segmentation
(although you could think about some part of shape analysis as to some
kind of segmentation performed on a mesh).
 Vtk, on the other side, as the name states, should be headed towards
visualization, although I think I'm not the only one who has developed
computational and differential geometry classes on top of it. 
 What's your feeling about that?

luca

PS: I know there are valid tools explicitely devoted to computational
geometry (eg CGAL), but shape analysis (expecially in the medical field)  
must also itegrate differential geometry and image processing, so a more
integrated framework is needed. Maybe some wrapping of CGAL classes (as
for vnl in Itk)?


On Wed, 19 Mar 2003, Will Schroeder wrote:

> The problem with a roadmap is that is assumes that you know where you want 
> to go :-) To some extent VTK is a creative expression of emerging 
> visualization technology, so we (meaning the community) are creating the 
> map as we go. But rather than leave you with some vague pleasantries, here 
> are some possibilities:
> 
> - Tcl, Python, Java - no intention of dropping any one of these
> - Support for AMR (mulit-res grids see http://seesar.lbl.gov/AMR/Overview/ 
> for an overview)
> - More 3D widgets
> - Improvements to the pipeline update mechanism including support for 
> multiresolution
> - Possible support for multi-block and composite grids
> - I'd like to rework the polydata and unstructured grid structures (vtkMesh ??)
> - Lots more parallel support, including parallel compositing algorithms
> - Algorithms like LIC, maybe a couple terrain-decimation algorithms
> - Further integration of STL and other important C++ constructs (like 
> templates)
> - Maybe unstructured grid volume rendering
> 
> However, one of the biggest changes I'd like to see are the manner in which 
> VTK is managed. Ken Martin has proposed an ARB; we'd also like to find a 
> quality Enforcer. This should bring greater stability and maturity to the 
> software, and provide things like roadmaps :-)
> 
> Will
> 
> At 09:37 AM 3/19/2003 -0300, Marcio Antonio Mathias (EDB) wrote:
> 
> >Hi,
> >Does someone know about a "VTK roadmap". I am afraid about thousands of 
> >line code written in Tcl/Tk,  if this interpreter (or even another core 
> >languages) became not supported in further VTK releases.
> >
> >Cheers,
> >
> >Marcio
>