[vtkusers] What does vtk-5.0.4-win32.exe provide?

[Carl Trapani]

Hi all,

I'm trying to get VTK setup on my Vista machine so that I can try the 
VTK C++ examples. I've run the VTK 5.0.4 windows installer 
(vtk-5.0.4-win32.exe) and then run the executable (vtk.exe) which is 
installed, but vtk.exe only appears to provide a Tcl/Tk environment.

1) Is it correct that the Windows installer only provides a Tcl/Tk + VTK 
environment? In other words, if I want to develop a C++ application 
using VTK, the Windows installer won't get me what I need, right?

2) In order to try the VTK C++ examples like Creating a Sphere 
(http://public.kitware.com/VTK/example-code.php), what do I need to do?

3) If I need to build VTK from source, what would you recommend as 
compiler/linker tool chain:
    a) Eclipse 3.3 + CDT 4.0 using MinGW 5.1.4.
    b) Visual Studio 2005
    c) Visual Studio 2008

I've installed CMake 2.6 and tried to make an "out of source" build from 
vtk-5.0.4_source using the CDT 4.0 mingw make generator, but CMake 
crashes. Even though it crashes, it does output files in the build 
directory. But, when I try and build (using Eclipse CDT + MinGW), I get 
errors.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions or help.
Carl Trapani
carl|-AT-|skytopsoftware|-DOT-|com