[vtkusers] Help with resources

[Luis Ibanez]

Hi Mac,

Welcome to ITK and VTK!

Here are some answers to your questions:

1) VTK is a visualization toolkit
ITK is an image processing and analysis toolkit

For an application like the one you are interested, you probably
want to combine both toolkits. VTK will provide functionalities
for visualizing of your models as well as the input images, while
ITK can be used for image segmentation and image registration.
Both toolkits work well together in an integrated environment.

You will have to decide what to use for managing the GUI
of your application, typical options are : FLTK, Qt, wxWindows
MFC, Java, and Tcl. If time is a premium, you probably want
to go for FLTK.

You are strongly encouraged to follow the tutorial sessions

http://www.itk.org/HTML/Tutorials

where you will find abundant details regarding the installation
and combined use of ITK and VTK.

You are also encouraged to look at the ITK SoftwareGuide

http://www.itk.org/ItkSoftwareGuide.pdf


2) Representing your model as a Mesh seems to be a good option.
You will find classes for representing Meshes both in ITK and
VTK. Examples on how to convert an ITK mesh into a VTK
one are available as part of the InsightApplications download.


3) VTK is a higher level layer on top of OpenGL. You will
save a lot of time by using VTK instead of programming
directly with OpenGL where you have to work with low
level primitives such as points and lines.



Regards,


Luis


----------------------------------
Mackenzie L. Cowell wrote:

>Hi all -
>
>I'm a summer intern at the arctic region supercomputing center in
>Fairbanks, Alaska, and I'm working on a project to model human
>respiration.  The goal of the project is to generate a 3D model of the
>human lung from the Visible Human dataset, and to animate that lung in a
>realistic way given certain airflow measurements taken from patients in a
>hospital.
>
>The project is just beginning, and after a little research, it's become
>clear the VTK and ITK might be extremely useful tools for what we want to
>do; thus, we were hoping to solicit you all for answers to a couple
>general questions that will help define our project's direction over the
>next few months.
>
>1. None of us have used any kitware products before, but we're leaning
>towards the use of the Insight Toolkit (ITK) for the generation of the
>lung model.  Do any of you know how ITK is different from VTK, if and how
>they work together, and which would be more appropriate for us to use in
>the generation of the lung model?
>
>2. Keeping in mind that we eventually want to be able to deform and
>animate our model of the lung (in response to airflow data), what would be
>an appropriate format for the model?  It seems like some representations
>of points in space would lend themselves more easily to deformation and
>whatnot then others - what do you think?
>
>3. Originally, we were planning on rendering the lung in openGL, and
>writing a C++ program to deform it somehow.  However, if VTK has the
>capabilities to animate, we want to use them.  Would it be possible to use
>VTK to manipulate the lung model to create the animation?
>
>
>Thanks for taking the time to read this.  We really appreciate your
>responses - each one of them is a small contribution to the success of our
>project.
>
>-thanks again,
>Mac Cowell
>ARSC summer intern
>_______________________________________________
>This is the private VTK discussion list. 
>Please keep messages on-topic. Check the FAQ at: <http://public.kitware.com/cgi-bin/vtkfaq>
>Follow this link to subscribe/unsubscribe:
>http://www.vtk.org/mailman/listinfo/vtkusers
>
>  
>