[vtkusers] How to disable a VTK filter that is connected to a VTK pipeline

[David Doria]

On Tue, Mar 30, 2010 at 11:34 PM, Allan James <ar.james at qut.edu.au> wrote:

>  Hi all,
>
> Does anyone know if it is possible to disable a VTK filter without removing
> it from the pipeline?
>
> For example, while using vtkImageMask, I would like to allow the user to be
> able to select whether to apply a mask to an image or not - I would like
> to enable/disable the vtkImageMask filter during runtime without having to
> disconnect/reconnect the pipeline everytime.
>
> I am sure there are work-arounds depending on the filter in question (such
> as setting a null mask image perhaps?) - however, generally speaking it
> would be nice to be able to disable a filter and have the input data
> pass through untouched - is this possible in VTK?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Allan James
>

Allan,

This is a really good idea. I find myself constantly having lines like this:

nextFilter->SetInput(reader->GetOutput());
//nextFilter->SetInput(lastFilter->GetOutput());

When I want to test what happens when I skip a filter. It would make a lot
more sense to call lastFilter->Disable(). In cases where the output type is
the same as the input type, we could make Disable() just pass the input
through to the output. In cases where they DONT match, I don't think it
makes sense to disable the filter.

Any comments from the devels?

Thanks,

David
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