[vtkusers] getting started

[David E DeMarle]

VTK is first and foremost a C++ library that you use to write applications
with. Thus all the focus on compiling.

The VTK library has wrappers that make the library callable from other
languages, such as Tcl, Java, Python, and sometimes C#. Which makes it much
easier to use.

vtk.exe is the tcl interpreter with VTK's tcl wrapper build into it. The
one inch square Tk window is a TclTk frame that you can make up a Tk GUI in
(as memory serves). The interesting part is the VTK cmd prompt, which is a
script interpreter. You can type commands in there like:
% require package vtk
% vtkRenderWindow renwin
% renwin Render
to start working with VTK
the above command will pop up a window containing an empty scene.

>From there you can build up arbitrary visualization pipelines.
You can also pass in files to vtk.exe containing complete scripts.
I'ld start with $VTKSOURCE/Examples/Tutoral/Step*/Tcl/Cone*.

5.8 was the last release we packages vtk.exe.
In 5.10 and 6.0 we didn't package an interpreter binary at all and just put
out the source code.
For 6.1 I am hoping to release vtkpython as part of the release process.




David E DeMarle
Kitware, Inc.
R&D Engineer
21 Corporate Drive
Clifton Park, NY 12065-8662
Phone: 518-881-4909


On Fri, Aug 23, 2013 at 9:56 AM, Greg Hanowski <greg at tekknow.net> wrote:

> Hi,****
>
> ** **
>
> Just downloaded VTK6.0.0 and VTKDATA6.0.0.  ****
>
> ** **
>
> Then I read "The installer for the Windows platform contains vtk.exe which
> is essentially a wish.exe replacement that allows you to run VTK TCL
> scripts without doing any other installation or configuration."  So I also
> downloaded ****
>
> vtk-5.8.0-win32-x86.exe<http://www.vtk.org/files/release/5.8/vtk-5.8.0-win32-x86.exe>
> ****
>
> ** **
>
> and installed it.  When I run vtk.exe I get a little 1" square window with
> nothing in it, no menus, no options. ****
>
> ** **
>
> I also checked the FAQ as I would expect this would be the very first and
> most FAQ.  Nothing.****
>
> ** **
>
> I also read the README.html in the VTK6.0.0 folder.  It's all about
> compiling VTK source code and nothing about running from vtk.exe.****
>
> ** **
>
> Can anybody point me to documentation that explains how to run a VTK TCL
> script using vtk.exe?****
>
> ** **
>
> Thank you,****
>
> ** **
>
> Greg****
>
> ** **
>
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