[vtkusers] Plotting Multiple Spheres

[David Doria]

On Tue, Aug 3, 2010 at 9:22 AM, Alex Southern <mrapsouthern at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I was wondering what the best way is to add multiple spheres to the render
> window is. This is what I have currently but I expect that there must be a
> shorter way? or is the the most efficient approach?
>
> I would typically have anywhere between 1 and 100 spheres usually.
>
>        // numREC = number of spheres.....
>
>        vtkSphereSource **rec_sph = new vtkSphereSource* [numREC];
>        vtkPolyDataMapper **rec_mapper = new vtkPolyDataMapper* [numREC];
>        vtkActor **sphere_actor = new vtkActor* [numREC];
>
>        for(int x = 0; x<numREC;x++)
>        {
>            rec_sph[x] = vtkSphereSource::New();
>            rec_mapper[x] = vtkPolyDataMapper::New();
>            sphere_actor[x] = vtkActor::New();
>
>            rec_mapper[x]->SetInputConnection(rec_sph[x]->GetOutputPort());
>            sphere_actor[x]->SetMapper(rec_mapper[x]);
>
>            rx = some x co-ordinate
>            ry = some y co-ordinate
>
>            rec_sph[x]->SetCenter(rx,ry,0);
>            rec_sph[x]->SetRadius(0.025);
>            sphere_actor[x]->GetProperty()->SetColor(0,255,0);
>
>            ren->AddActor(sphere_actor[x]);
>        }
>
> Thanks
> A.
>
>

I would recommend using
vtkstd::vector<vtkSmartPointer<vtkActor> >

instead of doulbe pointers. Anytime I see ** I cringe...

Here is an example that is the same as you have done:
http://www.cmake.org/Wiki/VTK/Examples/Visualization/VectorOfActors

If anyone has a better way for Alex you could also update the example :)

Thanks,

David