[vtkusers] Problems with VS 2005 and VTK (vtkrendering.lib)

[Obada Mahdi]

Hi Markus,

I have completely missed to ask you what version of VTK you are using,
sorry.  Note that Ning Ye and me were referring to VTK versions 5.x.

On 11/2/06, Ning Ye <aboycn at gmail.com> wrote:
> I doubt if you have built and install VTK properly.

Actually I tend to believe that Markus did proper installations of
VTK--so far there has been no information that would indicate that the
installation per se went wrong, and besides

[running a simple, non-VTK OpenGL test program]
> I've downloaded the zip file and ran the test1.bat but there was only a
> white window. nothing moving.

indicates that there might be a problem with OpenGL in general.  It
would be nice if this could be verified by trying other OpenGL (not
Direct3D) applications, like demos, benchmarks, games etc.  Maybe your
graphics driver has a tool for changing OpenGL settings system-wide
that affect normal OpenGL applications.

> Could my graphic card be the problem?

What kind of graphics board and which drivers do you have?  It might
help to know, maybe there are known issues.

> Do I have to buy a 400€ expensive
> graphic card to run a open-source program?

No, you do not (although I do not understand the implication that open
source software should be able to run on cheap hardware...)  In fact,
the graphics board on my GNU/Linux box is an old GeForce2 MX with 32MB
of RAM (yay!), and my notebook I use for testing Windows stuff does
have something even worse.  Also, you can always install Mesa drivers
(www.mesa3d.org) and build VTK by linking against the Mesa versions of
opengl32.lib and glu32.lib (path settings for these libraries are
among the "advanced values" in CMake).

> On 11/2/06, mam06bhv <mam06bhv at studserv.uni-leipzig.de >
> wrote:
> > That's what I mean in some previous mails. Everyone give me hints but
> > bnothing is a complete solution.

It is just not that easy.  It is not like there is a magic switch labeled
"[ ] Make things work" that noone is telling you about ;-)

So far everything seems to point to a problem with your graphics card
or OpenGL drivers.  As long as even simple OpenGL applications to not
work on your system, there is IMHO no point in trying to fix things
related to VTK (although more tests should be conducted to
substantiate that assumption, that example I quoted might just be
bad).

For all I know it is not even clear yet whether there is a problem
with VTK or your system configuration, and if you are seeking for help
here, we need your assistance in figuring some things about your
system and eliminating some possibilities.  Even if I had your PC in
front of me, I would try things just like I have described in my
previous posting: first confirm that OpenGL works in general, then run
tests with the VTK-enhanced Tcl interpreter, and so on.  I am afraid
that I do not have a complete solution, hints for closing in on the
actual problem is all I can give.  (Perhaps someone with more
experience can jump in?)

Among the first google hits for "wglCreateContext 1114" is the
following recent posting from a different mailing list:

https://mail.enthought.com/pipermail/enthought-dev/2006-September/002596.html

It mentions similar problems as you have quoted before
("wglCreateContext failed in CreateAWindow(), error: 1114" reported by
VTK).  I did not find a solution in this thread, but if everything
else fails, maybe you can contact people from that mailing list for
help.


I do understand your frustration after not being able for several days
to get a seemingly simple task finished, but I am afraid that hints
and suggestions is all I can offer.  Try installing some
OpenGL-enhanced games like "Doom Legacy" or "glxQuake", this way you
can test the OpenGL-capabilities of your system and relieve some of
the tension at the same time ;-)
(My sincere apologies to anyone who is offended by that suggestion.)


Regards

Obada