[vtkusers] Suggestions for a newbie? (what versions?)

[James Carroll]

Building on Windows...  VTK 4.4 / Python 2.3.3 / MS VC++ 6.0 SP 6 / tcl
+ tk 8.4.6  

I have some questions on the build I just did...

- Need to install TCL source even if you aren't using it CMake complains
it can't continue without knowing where the libraries are.
tcl846-src.zip does the trick, need to build release and debug and point
cmake to the libs

- I installed tk, but couldn't build it (no cmake, no dsw, and when I
tried using the buildall.bat, it tells me to run vcvars32.bat (even
though I do have my environment set up, and ran vcvars32.bat again just
to be sure.)

QUESTION: Is there any way to remove all dependencies on tcl/tk in
cmake?  If not, should I put more effort into building tk?  (will
anything break?) 
I was also hoping for C++ and Python Examples, but my
{build}/lib/Examples directory is empty... could it be because I have no
tk?

- I installed the Python 2.3.3 sources, and built debug and release
static libraries.  I pointed the cmake PYTHON_INCLUDE_DIR to
Python-2.3.3\Include, but it couldn't find pyconfig.h, which I found
under Python-2.3.3\PC directory, so I copied all the PC\*.h files to the
Include directory, and it seems to be continuing.

QUESTION: is there a better way to get the build to find pyconfig.h in
the Python-2.3.3/PC directory?

- Once everything is built, I think I would use the
{output_dir}/wrapping/python/setup.py to install (from a command line
run 'setup.py install'  This seems to do stuff, but when I try to run
any examlples, I get 'vtkCommon.dll not found' reinstalling may fix this
problem.   hmmm...   I see that in
C:\apps\Python233\Lib\site-packages\vtk_python  there is a
vtkCommonPython.dll  

QUESTION: Should I rename vtkCommonPython.dll to vtkCommon.dll or should
I copy my vtkCommon.dll from the bin/release directory of my vtk build
to the C:\apps\Python233\Lib\site-packages\vtk_python directory?

- If I create a shortcut to \bin\Release\vtkpython.exe on my desktop and
drag Wrapping\Python\build\lib\vtk_python\vtk\wx\wxVTKRenderWindow.py  I
do get a cone in OpenGL w/ wxWidgets, so I've gotta be close to having
things work great.  

Sorry for being high maintenance, I just want to make sure I'm not
wasting too much time doing the wrong things...

Thanks in advance,
-Jim



-----Original Message-----
From: vtkusers-admin at vtk.org [mailto:vtkusers-admin at vtk.org] On Behalf
Of James Carroll
Sent: Tuesday, April 13, 2004 4:15 PM
To: vtkusers at public.kitware.com
Subject: [vtkusers] Suggestions for a newbie? (what versions?)



Hi,  I'm about to dive in to VTK, I've been lurking on the mailing list
for a while and reading the User's Guide, etc...  Which version of VTK
should I start with for a pain-free experience?

My first project is to try to use the TIFFImageIO to write very large
TIFF files setting IORegion then writing a little more... If the tiff is
tiled internally, I should be able to write very large files efficiently
(1.5GB with each tile jpeg compressed.)  I plan on subclassing
ImageIOBase to incrementally write a custom file format, and maybe
jpeg2000 as well.

I'm comfortable with wxPython, (wxPython 2.5 w/ Python2.3.3) and want to
use it for my front end.  I may eventually need to write and wrap some
additional C++ to optimize some image processing, etc.

The FAQ says to use 4.2, I've seen that others are using 4.4, I read in
the news that 4.6 is recently released, I've also got CVS HEAD
up-to-date in my project directory.  Which version should I start with
for a pain-free experience?

(Is there a stable Branch Tag in CVS that would keep me off the bleeding
edge?)

Thanks,
-Jim Carroll
----------------------
MicroBrightField, Inc.



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