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C++ Examples

These are fully independent, compilable examples. There is significant overlap in the examples, but they are each intended to illustrate a different concept and be fully stand alone compilable.

VTK Classes Summary

This Python script, SelectExamples, will let you select examples based on a VTK Class and language. It requires Python 3.7 or later. The following tables will produce similar information.

Tutorials

If you are new to VTK then these tutorials will help to get you started.

Hello World

Example Name Description Image
A hello world example Cylinder example from the VTK Textbook and source code. A hello world example.

Simple Operations

Example Name Description Image
DistanceBetweenPoints Distance between two points.
DistancePointToLine Distance between a point and a line.
FloatingPointExceptions Floating Point Exceptions
GaussianRandomNumber Generates Gaussian random numbers.
PerspectiveTransform Apply a perspective transformation to a point.
ProjectPointPlane Project a point onto a plane.
RandomSequence This is the preferred way to generate random numbers.
UniformRandomNumber Generates uniform random numbers.

Input and Output

Graph Formats

3D File Formats

Example Name Description Image
ConvertFile Convert a file from one type to another
XGMLReader Read a .gml file

Standard Formats

Input
Example Name Description Image
DEMReader Read DEM (elevation map) files
DelimitedTextReader Read a delimited file into a polydata.
DumpXMLFile Report the contents of a VTK XML or legacy file
IndividualVRML This example is used to get each actor and object from a scene and verify axes correspondence
ParticleReader This example reads ASCII files where each line consists of points with its position (x,y,z) and (optionally) one scalar or binary files in RAW 3d file format.
ReadAllPolyDataTypes Read any VTK polydata file.
ReadAllPolyDataTypesDemo Read all VTK polydata file types.
ReadAllUnstructuredGridTypes Read any VTK unstructuredgrid file.
ReadCML Read Chemistry Markup Language files.
ReadExodusData Read and view ExodusII data.
ReadOBJ Read an OBJ (.obj) file.
ReadPDB Read Protein Data Bank Files.
ReadPLOT3D Read CFD (computational fluid dynamics) data produced by PLOT3D.
ReadPLY Read PLY (.ply) files
ReadPlainTextTriangles Read a plain text file into a polydata.
ReadSLC Read VolVis file.
ReadSTL Read stereo lithography STL (.stl) files
ReadTextFile Read a plain text file into a polydata.
SimplePointsReader Read a simple "xyz" file of points.
TransientHDFReader Read transient data written inside a vtkhdf file.
Importers
Example Name Description Image
3DSImporter Import a 3D Studio scene that includes multiple actors.
GLTFImporter Import a glTF scene.
ImportPolyDataScene Import a polydata scene using multiblock datasets.
ImportToExport Import a scene and export the scene using vtkOBJExporter.
OBJImporter Import an OBJ scene that includes actors, materials and textures.
VRMLImporter Import a VRML 2.0 (WRL) file.
VRMLImporterDemo Import a VRML 2.0 (WRL) file and add normals if necessary.
Output
Example Name Description Image
DelimitedTextWriter Write data to a delimited file.
SimplePointsWriter Write a simple ".xyz" file.
WritePLY Write PLY (.ply) files.
WriteSTL Write stereo lithography STL (.stl) files.
Exporters
Example Name Description Image
ExportPolyDataScene Export a polydata scene using multiblock datasets.

VTK Formats

Input
Example Name Description Image
ReadImageData Read a image data (.vti) file
ReadPolyData Read a polygonal data (.vtp) file
ReadRectilinearGrid Read a rectilinear grid (.vtr) file
ReadStructuredGrid Read a structured grid (.vts) file
ReadUnknownTypeXMLFile Read an XML file and later decide what kind it is
ReadUnstructuredGrid Read an unstructured grid (.vtu) file
Output
Example Name Description Image
ExodusIIWriter Write a time varying ExodusII file.
WriteVTI Write a .vti file. VTI is an "ImageData".
WriteVTP Write a .vtp file. VTP is a "PolyData". This format allows for the most complex geometric objects to be stored.
WriteVTU Write a .vtu file. VTU is an "Unstructured Grid". This format allows for 3D data to be stored.
XMLPImageDataWriter Write a .pvti file with 4 .vti pieces.
XMLPUnstructuredGridWriter Write a .pvtu with 4 .vtu pieces.
XMLStructuredGridWriter Write a .vts file from a vtkStructuredGrid.

Legacy VTK Formats

Example Name Description Image
GenericDataObjectReader Read any type of legacy .vtk file.
ReadLegacyUnstructuredGrid Read an unstructured grid that contains 11 linear cells.
StructuredGridReader Read a structured grid (.vtk) file.
StructuredPointsReader Read a structured points (.vtk) file.
WriteLegacyLinearCells Write each linear cell into a legacy UnstructuredGrid file.
WriteXMLLinearCells Write each linear cell into an XML UnstructuredGrid file (.vtu).

Image Format

Input

Example Name Description Image
HDRReader Read a high-dynamic-range imaging file.
ImageReader2Factory This class tries to find an appropriate reader. It is very convenient to use this when you don't know what kind of file to expect.
JPEGReader Read a JPEG image.
MetaImageReader Read .mha files.
PNGReader Read a PNG image.
ReadBMP Read BMP (.bmp) files.
ReadDICOM Read DICOM file
ReadDICOMSeries This example demonstrates how to read a series of DICOM images and scroll through slices
ReadPNM Read PNM (.pnm) files.
ReadTIFF Read TIFF (.tif) files.

Output

Example Name Description Image
ImageWriter Write an imagefile based on the file extension.
JPEGWriter Write a JPEG (.jpg) file.
MetaImageWriter Write a .mha/.mhd + .raw file.
PNGWriter Write a PNG (.png) file.
WriteBMP Write a BMP (.bmp) file.
WritePNM Write a PNM (.pnm) file.
WriteTIFF Write a TIFF (.tif) file.

Geometric Objects

Example Name Description Image
Axes
ColoredLines
Cube Manually build a polygonal cube.
Cube1 A nice simple example that demonstrates the operation of the VTK pipeline.
Dodecahedron Create a dodecahedron using vtkPolyhedron.
EllipticalCylinder Create an elliptical cylinder using extrusion.
EllipticalCylinderDemo Show the base and extrusion vector.
GeometricObjectsDemo A demonstration of all geometric objects that work the same way.
OpenVRCone Show a cone in VR using OpenVR.
OpenVRCube Show a cube in VR using OpenVR.
OpenVRCylinder Show a cylinder in VR using OpenVR.
OpenVRFrustum Show a frustum in VR using OpenVR.
OpenVROrientedArrow Show an oriented arrow in VR using OpenVR.
OpenVROrientedCylinder Show an oriented cylinder in VR using OpenVR.
OpenVRSphere Show a sphere in VR using OpenVR.
OpenVRTessellatedBoxSource Show a tesselated box in VR using OpenVR.
OpenXRCone Show a cone in VR using OpenXR.
PlaneSourceDemo Display the instance variables that define a vtkPlaneSource.
Planes
PlanesIntersection
PolygonIntersection Compute the intersection of a line segment with a polygon.
ShrinkCube Applying shrink filter to an object.
SourceObjectsDemo Examples of source objects that procedurally generate polygonal models. These nine images represent just some of the capability of VTK. From upper left in reading order: sphere, cone, cylinder, cube, plane, text, random point cloud, disk (with or without hole), and line source. Other polygonal source objects are available; check subclasses of vtkPolyDataAlgorithm.

Cells

Example Name Description Image
Cell3DDemonstration Demonstrate the use of vtkCell3D to construct geometric objects. Sample objects are generated from the classes derived from vtkCell3D and displayed.
CellTypeSource Generate tessellated cells.
ConvexPointSet Generate a ConvexPointSet cell.
Hexahedron
LinearCellsDemo Linear cell types found in VTK. The numbers define the ordering of the points making the cell.
LongLine Manually create a polyline.
Point
PolyLine
Polygon
Polyhedron Create an unstructured grid representation of a polyhedron (cube) and write it out to a file.
Pyramid
Quad
Tetrahedron
Triangle
Triangle strip
Vertex

Sources

Example Name Description Image
Arrow
Cone Display a cone
ConeDemo Disolay four different resolution cones.
Cylinder
Disk A circle with a hole in it.
EarthSource Create the Earth.
Frustum
Line
OrientedArrow Orient an arrow along an arbitrary vector.
OrientedCylinder Orient a cylinder along an arbitrary vector.
Plane
PlatonicSolids
PolyLine1 This example demonstrates how to create a polygon through several ordered points.
RegularPolygonSource
Sphere
TessellatedBoxSource Generate a box with tessellated sides.
TextActor 2D "HUD-type" text

Non Linear

Example Name Description Image
IsoparametricCellsDemo Nonlinear isoparametric cell types in VTK.
QuadraticHexahedron Create and tessellate a nonlinear cell.
QuadraticHexahedronDemo Interactively adjust chord error.
QuadraticTetra Create and tessellate a nonlinear cell.
QuadraticTetraDemo Interactively adjust chord error.

Parametric Objects

These examples demonstrate how to create an display one of the many vtkParametric objects. All of the classes listed can be used in an identical fashion.

Example Name Description Image
ParametricKuenDemo Interactively change the parameters for a Kuen Surface.
ParametricObjectsDemo Demonstrates the Parametric classes added by Andrew Maclean and additional classes added by Tim Meehan. The parametric spline is also included. Options are provided to display single objects, add backface, add normals and print out an image.
ParametricSuperEllipsoidDemo Interactively change the parameters for a SuperEllipsoid Surface.
ParametricSuperToroidDemo Interactively change the parameters for a SuperToroid Surface.

Implicit Functions and Iso-surfaces

Example Name Description Image
BandedPolyDataContourFilter Create filled contours.
BooleanOperationImplicitFunctions Demonstrate booleans of two different implicit functions
ContourTriangulator Create a contour from a structured point set (image) and triangulate it.
CutWithCutFunction Cut a surface with an implicit plane using vtkCutter.
CutWithScalars Cut a surface with scalars.
DiscreteMarchingCubes Generate surfaces from labeled data.
ExtractData Implicit functions used to select data: Two ellipsoids are combined using the union operation used to select voxels from a volume. Voxels are shrunk 50 percent.
ExtractLargestIsosurface Extract largest isosurface.
FilledContours Create filled contours (using vtkClipPolyData).
Hello Implicit modelling used to thicken a stroked font.
IceCream How to use boolean combinations of implicit functions to create a model of an ice cream cone.
ImplicitDataSet Convert an imagedata to an implicit function.
ImplicitQuadric Create an ellipsoid using an implicit quadric.
ImplicitSphere An implicit representation of a sphere.
ImplicitSphere1 Demonstrate sampling of a sphere implicit function.
IsoContours Visualize different isocontours using a slider.
Lorenz Visualizing a Lorenz strange attractor by integrating the Lorenz equations in a volume.
MarchingCases Explore the Marching Cubes cases.
MarchingCasesA The 256 possible cases have been reduced to 15 cases using symmetry.
MarchingCasesB Marching cubes complementary cases. Cases 3c, 6c, 7c, 10c, 12c and 13c are displayed.
MarchingCasesC Marching cubes, case 3 is rotated 90 degrees about the y-axis with no label.
MarchingCasesD Marching cubes. Case 7 is rotated 180 degrees about the y-axis with no label.
MarchingCubes Create a voxelized sphere.
MarchingSquares Create a contour from a structured point set (image).
SampleFunction Sample and visualize an implicit function.
ShepardInterpolation Interpolate scalar data.
SmoothDiscreteMarchingCubes Generate smooth surfaces from labeled data.

Working with 3D Data

Example Name Description Image
AlignFrames Align coordinate frames.
AlignTwoPolyDatas Align two vtkPolyData's.
AppendFilter Append different types of data,
BooleanOperationPolyDataFilter Perform boolean operations on two vtkPolyData objects.
Bottle Rotationally symmetric objects.
CappedSphere Rotate an arc to create a capped sphere.
CellCenters Compute points at the center of every cell.
CellCentersDemo Visualize points at the center of every cell.
CellEdgeNeighbors Determine which cells share an edge with a specific cell.
CellPointNeighbors Determine which cells share a single point with a specific cell.
CellsInsideObject Extract cells inside a closed surface.
CenterOfMass Compute the center of mass of the points.
Circle Create a circle by cutting through a sphere.
CleanPolyData Remove coincident points.
ColorCells Color individual cells of a polydata with scalar index.
ColorCellsWithRGB Color individual cells of a polydata with rgb colors.
ColoredPoints Add three points to a polydata and associate a color with each of them.
CombinePolyData Combine/Append PolyData.
ConnectivityFilter Color any dataset type based on connectivity.
ConnectivityFilterDemo Color any dataset type based on connectivity.
ContoursFromPolyData Create contours from PolyData.
ContoursToSurface Convert contours to a surface.
ConvexHull Convex hull using vtkHull.
ConvexHullShrinkWrap Convex hull using shrink wrapping.
CopyAllArrays Copy all arrays from one vtkPolyData to another.
Curvatures Compute Gaussian and Mean Curvatures.
CurvaturesAdjustEdges Get the Gaussian and Mean curvatures of a surface with adjustments for edge effects.
CurvaturesDemo Demonstrates how to get the Gaussian and Mean curvatures of a surface.
DataBounds Get the minimum and maximum value in each dimension. (Axis aligned bounding box)
DataSetSurfaceFilter Convert vtkUnstructuredGrid to vtkPolyData.
DecimatePolyline Decimate polyline.
DeleteCells Delete a cell from a vtkPolyData
DeletePoint
DetermineArrayDataTypes Determine data types of arrays.
DistancePolyDataFilter Compute the distance function from one vtkPolyData to another.
EmbedPointsIntoVolume Embed points into a volume.
ExternalContour Get the external contour of a PolyData object.
ExtractOutsideSurface Extract the outer surface of a multiple surface polydata.
ExtractPolyLinesFromPolyData Extract polylines from polydata.
ExtractSelection Extract selected points.
ExtractSelectionOriginalId Extract selection and find the correspondence between the new and original ids.
ExtractSelectionUsingCells Extract cell, select cell.
ExtractSelectionUsingPoints Extract points but bring cells that are still complete with them.
ExtractVisibleCells Extract and highlight visible cells.
FieldData Add Global Miscellaneous Data (FieldData) to a Polydata.
Finance Visualization of multidimensional financial data. The gray/wireframe surface represents the total data population. The red surface represents data points delinquent on loan payment.
FinanceFieldData Visualization of multidimensional financial data. The yellow surface represents the total data population. The red surface represents data points delinquent on loan payment.
FindAllArrayNames Get the names of all of the data arrays.
FitSplineToCutterOutput Fit a spline to cutter output.
GeometryFilter Convert vtkUnstructuredGrid to vtkPolyData (another way).
GetMiscCellData Get Miscellaneous Data from Cells in a Polydata.
GetMiscPointData Get Miscellaneous Data from Points in a Polydata.
GradientFilter Compute the gradient of a scalar field on a data set.
ImplicitBoolean Operations include intersection and union.
ImplicitBooleanDemo Demo Union, Difference and Intersection.
ImplicitModeller Compute the distance from an object to every point on a uniform grid.
ImplicitPolyDataDistance Compute the distance function in a space around a vtkPolyData.
InterpolateMeshOnGrid Interpolate a mesh over a grid.
InterpolateTerrain vtkProbeFilter Interpolate terrain.
IntersectionPolyDataFilter Compute the intersection of two vtkPolyData objects.
IterateOverLines Iterate through the lines of a PolyData.
KMeansClustering KMeans Clustering
KochanekSpline Create an Kochanek spline on a set of points.
KochanekSplineDemo Interactively change the parameters of the Kochanek spline.
LinearExtrusion Extrude a shape.
LoopBooleanPolyDataFilter Perform boolean operations on two vtkPolyData objects.
MaskPoints Select a subset (mask) of a point set.
MergePoints Remove duplicate (merge) points.
MergeSelections Merge selected points.
MiscCellData Add Miscellaneous Data to Cells in a Polydata.
MiscPointData Add Miscellaneous Data to Points in a Polydata.
MultiBlockMergeFilter Combine MultiBlockDataSets.
NullPoint Set everything in PointData at a specified index to NULL.
OrientedBoundingCylinder Create an oriented cylinder that encloses a vtkPolyData. The axis of the cylinder is aligned with the longest axis of the vtkPolyData.
Outline Draw the bounding box of the data.
PKMeansClustering Parallel KMeans Clustering.
ParametricSpline Create a Cardinal spline on a set of points.
PerlinNoise
PointCellIds Generate point and cell id arrays.
PointInsideObject Check if a point is inside an object.
PointInsideObject2 This uses a Delaunay triangulation to compute a volume. This gives more of an "is inside convex hull" effect than an "is inside object".
PointsProjectedHull Convex hull of points projected onto the coordinate planes.
PolyDataCellNormals Add/Get Normals to/from cells in a Polydata.
PolyDataContourToImageData Generate a binarized image from a closed contour.
PolyDataExtractNormals Extract Normals from a Polydata.
PolyDataGetPoint Get point locations/coordinates from a vtkPolyData.
PolyDataIsoLines Iso lines on the surface of a polydata
PolyDataPointNormals Add/Get Normals to/from points in a Polydata.
PolyDataPointSampler Sample the edges or surfaces of a polydata.
PolyDataToImageData Generate a binarized volume from a closed surface.
ProcrustesAlignmentFilter Align point sets.
ProgrammableFilter Create a custom filter without subclassing.
ProgrammableSource Create points using a programmable source. Generates points for a strange attractor.
ProjectSphere Unroll a sphere or spherical-like model.
QuantizePolyDataPoints Snap (quantize) points to a grid.
Reflection Mirror a DataSet.
RemoveOutsideSurface Remove the outer surface of a multiple surface polydata.
RemoveVertices
ResampleAppendedPolyData Resample a flat terrain containing multiple objects.
ResamplePolyLine
ReverseSense Flip normals.
RibbonFilter
RotationAroundLine Rotation around a line.
RuledSurfaceFilter Create a surface between lines.
SCurveSpline Create an SCurve spline on a set of points.
SelectVisiblePoints Select visible points.
SelectionSource Specify a selection.
ShrinkPolyData Move all items in a PolyData towards their centroid.
Silhouette
Spring Rotation in combination with linear displacement and radius variation.
Stripper Convert triangles to triangle strips.
ThinPlateSplineTransform
ThresholdCells Thresholding Cells.
ThresholdPoints Thresholding Points.
TransformFilter Transform a data set.
TransformOrderDemo Demonstrate how the order of applying transforms affects the result.
TransformPipeline Combining the transformation, in order to manipulate a group of vtkActor. Shown in the example robot arm motion.
TransformPolyData Apply a Transformation to a PolyData.
TriangleArea Compute the area of all triangles in a polydata.
TriangleColoredPoints Set the color of each point of a triangle. You will be able to interpolate the colors across the triangle.
TriangleSolidColor Create a solid colored triangle.
TubeFilter Give lines a thickness (produce a cylinder around lines.
VectorFieldNonZeroExtraction Extract non-zero vectors from a vtkImageData.
VertexConnectivity Get a list of vertices attached (through an edge) to a vertex.
WarpScalar Move vertices along normals.
WarpSurface Warp a surface along its normal.
WarpTo Bend an object.
WarpVector

Data Types

Example Name Description Image
CompositePolyDataMapper
Generate2DAMRDataSetWithPulse Generates sample 2-D AMR dataset.
Generate3DAMRDataSetWithPulse Generates sample 3-D AMR dataset.
MultiBlockDataSet Demonstrates how to make and use VTK's MultiBlock type data
OverlappingAMR Demonstrates how to create and populate a VTK's Overlapping AMR Grid type Data

Data Type Conversions

Example Name Description Image
PolyDataToUnstructuredGrid Convert a vtkPolyData to a vtkUnstructuredGrid.

Point Cloud Operations

Example Name Description Image
ColorIsosurface Color an isosurface with a data array.
CompareExtractSurface Compare three extract surface algorithms.
DensifyPoints Add points to a point cloud.
DownsamplePointCloud Down sample a point cloud. Remove points so that there are no points within a tolerance of any point.
ExtractClusters From a set of randomly distributed spheres, extract connected clusters.
ExtractEnclosedPoints Extract points inside a vtkPolyData surface.
ExtractPointsDemo Extract points inside an implicit function.
ExtractSurface Create a surface from unorganized points using point filters.
ExtractSurfaceDemo Create a surface from unorganized points using point filters (DEMO).
FitImplicitFunction Extract points within a distance to an implicit function.
MaskPointsFilter Extract points within an image mask.
NormalEstimation Estimate the normals of a random points that lie on a sphere.
PointOccupancy Show which voxels contain points.
PointSource Generate a random point cloud.
PoissonExtractSurface Create a surface from Unorganized Points using the PoissonReconstruction algorithm.
PowercrustExtractSurface Create a surface from Unorganized Points using the Powercrust algorithm.
RadiusOutlierRemoval Remove outliers.
SignedDistance Compute signed distance to a point cloud.
UnsignedDistance Compute unsigned distance to a point cloud.

Working with Meshes

Example Name Description Image
AddCell Add a cell to an existing mesh.
BoundaryEdges Find the edges that are used by only one face.
CellEdges Get edges of cells.
ClosedSurface Check if a surface is closed.
ColorDisconnectedRegions Color each disconnected region of a vtkPolyData a different color.
ColorDisconnectedRegionsDemo Color each disconnected region of a vtkPolyData a different color for any vtkPolyData.
ColoredElevationMap Color a mesh by height.
Decimation Reduce the number of triangles in a mesh.
DeformPointSet Deform a point set with a control polyhedra.
DelaunayMesh Two-dimensional Delaunay triangulation of a random set of points. Points and edges are shown highlighted with sphere glyphs and tubes.
DijkstraGraphGeodesicPath Find the shortest path between two points on a mesh.
ElevationFilter Color a mesh by height.
ExtractEdges
FillHoles Close holes in a mesh.
FitToHeightMap Drape a polydata over an elevation map.
GreedyTerrainDecimation Create a mesh from an ImageData
HighlightBadCells
IdentifyHoles Close holes in a mesh and identify the holes.
ImplicitSelectionLoop Select a region of a mesh with an implicit function.
InterpolateFieldDataDemo Resample a fine grid and interpolate field data.
LargestRegion Extract the largest connected region in a polydata.
MatrixMathFilter Compute various quantities on cell and points in a mesh.
MeshQuality
OBBDicer Breakup a mesh into pieces.
PointInterpolator Plot a scalar field of points onto a PolyData surface.
PolygonalSurfaceContourLineInterpolator Interactively find the shortest path between two points on a mesh.
QuadricClustering Reduce the number of triangles in a mesh.
QuadricDecimation Reduce the number of triangles in a mesh.
SelectPolyData Select a region of a mesh.
SimpleElevationFilter Color a mesh by dotting a vector from the origin to each point with a specified vector.
SmoothPolyDataFilter Laplacian smoothing.
SpecifiedRegion Extract a specific (specified) connected region in a polydata.
SplitPolyData Breakup a mesh into pieces and save the pieces into files
Subdivision Increase the number of triangles in a mesh.
SubdivisionDemo Subdivision of any vtkPolyData
Triangulate Convert all polygons in a mesh to triangles.
WeightedTransformFilter
WindowedSincPolyDataFilter Smooth a mesh (windowed sinc filter).

Clipping

Example Name Description Image
BoxClipStructuredPoints Clip vtkStructuredPoints with a box. The results are unstructured grids with tetrahedra.
BoxClipUnstructuredGrid Clip a vtkUnstructuredGrid with a box. The results are unstructured grids with tetrahedra.
CapClip Cap a clipped polydata with a polygon.
ClipClosedSurface Clip a surface with multiple planes.
ClipDataSetWithPolyData Clip a vtkRectilinearGrid with arbitrary polydata. In this example, use a vtkConeSource to generate polydata to slice the grid, resulting in an unstructured grid. Contrast this with the next example.
ClipFrustum Clip a vtkPolyData with the vtkCamera's view frustum.
GenericClip
ImplicitDataSetClipping Clip using an implicit data set.
SolidClip Create a "solid" clip. The "ghost" of the part clipped away is also shown.
TableBasedClipDataSetWithPolyData Clip a vtkRectilinearGrid with arbitrary polydata. In this example, use a vtkConeSource to generate polydata to slice the grid, resulting in an unstructured grid. Contrast this with the previous example.
TableBasedClipDataSetWithPolyData2 Clip a vtkRectilinearGrid with a checkerboard pattern.

Working with Structured 3D Data

This section includes vtkImageData vtkStructuredGrid and vtkRectilinearGrid.

"ImageData" is not the traditional "flat, 2D image" you are used to. It is a special VTK data structure in the collection of 3D data structures provided by VTK. Here is an overview of these data structures. Image data can represent at typical 2D image, but also, a 3D volume.

vtkImageData

Example Name Description Image
CellIdFromGridCoordinates Get the id of a cell from its grid coordinates.
ClipVolume Clip a volume and produce a vtkUnhstructuredGrid.
ExtractVOI Extract a volume of interest (subvolume).
GetCellCenter Get the coordinates of the center of a cell.
ImageIterator
ImageIteratorDemo Demonstrate using an iterator to access pixels in a region.
ImageNormalize Normalize an image.
ImageReslice Resize a vtkImageData.
ImageTranslateExtent Change the extent of a vtkImageData.
ImageWeightedSum Add two or more images.
IntersectLine Intersect a line with all cells of a vtkImageData.
IterateImageData Iterating over a vtkImageData.

Conversions

Example Name Description Image
ImageDataGeometryFilter Convert a vtkImageData to a vtkPolyData
ImageDataToPointSet Convert a vtkImageData to a vtkStructuredGrid.

vtkExplicitStructuredGrid

Example Name Description Image
CreateESGrid Create an explicit structured grid and convert this to an unstructured grid or vice versa.
LoadESGrid Load a VTU file and convert the dataset to an explicit structured grid.

vtkStructuredGrid

Example Name Description Image
BlankPoint Blank a point of a vtkStructuredGrid.
GetLinearPointId Get the linear point id of a point in a grid.
SGrid Creating a structured grid dataset of a semi-cylinder. Vectors are created whose magnitude is proportional to radius and oriented in tangential direction.
StructuredGrid Reads and writes points into a structured grid. The grid is also colored by point data and how to iterate through the structured grid is demonstrated.
StructuredGridOutline Visualize the outline of a structured grid.
VisualizeStructuredGrid Visualize the points of a structured grid.
VisualizeStructuredGridCells Visualize the cells of a structured grid.

vtkStructuredPoints

Example Name Description Image
StructuredPointsToUnstructuredGrid Convert a vtkStructuredPoints to a vtkUnstructuredGrid.
Vol Creating a image data dataset. Scalar data is generated from the equation for a sphere. Volume dimensions are 26 x 26 x 26.

vtkRectilinearGrid

Example Name Description Image
RGrid Creating a rectilinear grid dataset. The coordinates along each axis are defined using an instance of vtkDataArray.
RectilinearGrid Create a rectilinear grid.
RectilinearGridToTetrahedra Convert a vtkRectilinearGrid to a vtkUnstructuredGrid mesh.
VisualizeRectilinearGrid Visualize the cells of a rectilinear grid.

Working with Unstructured 3D Data

This section includes vtkUnstructuredGrid.

vtkUnstructuredGrid

Example Name Description Image
ClipUnstructuredGridWithPlane Clip a UGrid with a plane.
ClipUnstructuredGridWithPlane2 Clip a UGrid with a plane.
UGrid Creation of an unstructured grid.

Registration

Example Name Description Image
IterativeClosestPointsTransform Iterative Closest Points (ICP) Transform.
LandmarkTransform Landmark Transform.

Medical

Example Name Description Image
GenerateCubesFromLabels Create cubes from labeled volume data.
GenerateModelsFromLabels Create models from labeled volume data.
MedicalDemo1 Create a skin surface from volume data.
MedicalDemo2 Create a skin and bone surface from volume data.
MedicalDemo3 Create skin, bone and slices from volume data.
MedicalDemo4 Create a volume rendering.
TissueLens Cut a volume with a sphere.

Surface reconstruction

Example Name Description Image
Delaunay3D Create a solid mesh from Unorganized Points.
Delaunay3DDemo Interactively adjust Alpha for Delaunay3D.
ExtractSurface Create a surface from Unorganized Points using Point filters.
ExtractSurfaceDemo Create a surface from Unorganized Points using Point filters (DEMO).
GaussianSplat Create a surface from Unorganized Points (Gaussian Splat).
SurfaceFromUnorganizedPoints Create a surface from Unorganized Points.
SurfaceFromUnorganizedPointsWithPostProc Create a surface from Unorganized Points (with post processing).
TriangulateTerrainMap Generate heights (z values) on a 10x10 grid (a terrain map) and then triangulate the points to form a surface.

Utilities

Example Name Description Image
BoundingBox Bounding Box construction.
BoundingBoxIntersection Box intersection and Inside tests.
Box Intersect a box with a ray.
BrownianPoints Produce a random vector at each point in a dataset.
CardinalSpline Cardinal spline Interpolation.
Casting Casting VTK objects.
CheckVTKVersion Check VTK Version and provide alternatives for different VTK versions
ColorLookupTable Color Lookup Table.
ColorMapToLUT Use vtkDiscretizableColorTransferFunction to generate a VTK colormap.
ColorTransferFunction Color Transfer Function.
CommandSubclass Instead of using a callback function, it is more powerful to subclass vtkCommand.
ConstrainedDelaunay2D Perform a 2D Delaunay triangulation on a point set respecting a specified boundary.
Coordinate Coordinate system conversions.
DeepCopy Deep copy a VTK object.
Delaunay2D Perform a 2D Delaunay triangulation on a point set.
DetermineActorType Determine the type of an actor.
DiscretizableColorTransferFunction Discretizable Color Transfer Function.
ExtractFaces Extract faces froam vtkUnstructuredGrid.
FileOutputWindow Write errors to a log file instead of the usual vtk pop-up window.
FilenameFunctions Do things like get the file extension, strip the file extension, etc.
FilterSelfProgress Monitor a filters progress.
ForLoop Demonstrating various ways of implementing a for loop in VTK.
FrameRate Get the frame rate of the rendering.
FullScreen Maximize/full screen a vtkRenderWindow.
FunctionParser String function parser.
GetClassName Determine the type of a VTK variable.
GetDataRoot Find the path of VTK_DATA_ROOT.
LUTUtilities A utility class for vtkLookupTable allowing you to output the table contents or to compare tables.
MassProperties Compute volume and surface area of a closed, triangulated mesh.
MultipleRenderWindows Multiple Render Windows.
MultipleViewports Multiple Viewports.
OffScreenRendering Off Screen Rendering.
PCADemo Project 2D points onto the best 1D subspace using PCA values.
PCAStatistics Compute Principal Component Analysis (PCA) values.
PassThrough Pass input along to outpu.
PiecewiseFunction Interpolation using a piecewise function.
PointInPolygon Point inside polygon test.
RenderScalarToFloatBuffer Demonstrates how to render scalars in a vtkPolyData object into a vtkFloatArray buffer for further processing.
RescaleReverseLUT Demonstrate how to adjust a colormap so that the colormap scalar range matches the scalar range on the object. You can optionally reverse the colors.
ResetCameraOrientation Reset camera orientation to a previously saved orientation.
ReportRenderWindowCapabilities Report the capabilities of a render window.
SaveSceneToFieldData Save a vtkCamera's state in a vtkDataSet's vtkFieldData and restore it.
SaveSceneToFile Save a vtkCamera's state in a file and restore it.
Screenshot
ShallowCopy Shallow copy a VTK object.
ShareCamera Share a camera between multiple renderers.
ShepardMethod Shepard method interpolation.
SideBySideViewports Side by side viewports.
TimeStamp Time stamp.
Timer
TimerLog Timer log.
Variant Convert between data types.
Vector Mathematical vector class.
ViewportBorders Draw a border around each viewport.
VisualDebugging Update the screen from inside an algorithm.
ZBuffer zbuffer.

Arrays

Example Name Description Image
2DArray 2D Array.
3DArray 3D Array.
ArrayCalculator Perform in-place operations on arrays.
ArrayLookup Find the location of a value in a vtkDataArray.
ArrayRange Get the bounds (min,max) of a vtk array.
ArrayToTable Convert a vtkDenseArray to a vtkTable.
ArrayWriter Write a DenseArray or SparseArray to a file.
ConstructTable A table is a 2D array of any type of elements. They do not all have to be the same type. This is achieved using vtkVariant.
CustomDenseArray Custom type Dense (2D) Array.
DenseArrayRange Get the bounds of a vtkDenseArray.
ExtractArrayComponent Extract a component of an array.
KnownLengthArray Known Length Array.
SortDataArray Reorder array values based on an ordering (key) array.
SparseArray Sparse Array.
UnknownLengthArray Unknown Length Array.
VectorArrayKnownLength Array of Vectors (Known Length).
VectorArrayUnknownLength Array of Vectors (Unknown Length).

Events

Example Name Description Image
CameraModifiedEvent Catch the camera modified event.
ObserveError Catch errors and warnings.
WindowModifiedEvent Catch the window modified event.

CMake Techniques

Example Name Description Image
Check if a specific module is present

Math Operations

Example Name Description Image
1DTupleInterpolation A simple example demonstrating how functions defined by sparsely distributed supporting points can be interpolated at arbitrary positions.
EigenSymmetric Compute eigenvalues and eigenvectors of a symmetric matrix.
HomogeneousLeastSquares Homogeneous Least Squares.
LUFactorization LU Factorization.
LeastSquares Least Squares.
MatrixInverse Matrix inverse.
MatrixTranspose Matrix transpose.
NormalizeVector Normalize a vector.
PerpendicularVector Get a vector perpendicular to another vector.
VectorDot
VectorNorm Get the lengths of an array of vectors.

Graphs

Example Name Description Image
AdjacencyMatrixToEdgeTable Convert an adjacency matrix to an edge table.
AdjacentVertexIterator Get all vertices connected to a specified vertex.
BoostBreadthFirstSearchTree Breadth first search tree. Can also be used to convert a graph to a tree.
BreadthFirstDistance Distance from origin.
ColorEdges Color edges.
ColorVertexLabels Set the color of vertex labels.
ColorVerticesLookupTable Color vertices.
ConnectedComponents Find connected components of a graph.
ConstructGraph Construct a graph.
ConstructTree Construct a tree.
CreateTree Create a tree and label the vertices and edges.
DepthFirstSearchAnimation Depth First Search Animation.
DepthFirstSearchIterator Depth First Search iterator.
EdgeListIterator Iterate over edges of a graph.
EdgeWeights Edge weights.
GraphPoints Manually set coordinates of vertices in a graph.
GraphToPolyData Convert a graph to a PolyData.
InEdgeIterator Iterate over edges incoming to a vertex.
LabelVerticesAndEdges Label vertices and edges.
MinimumSpanningTree Minimum spanning tree of a graph.
MutableGraphHelper Create either a vtkMutableDirectedGraph or vtkMutableUndirectedGraph.
NOVCAGraph Create a graph & visualize it in ParaView/VisIt.
OutEdgeIterator Iterate over edges outgoing from a vertex.
RandomGraphSource Create a random graph.
RemoveIsolatedVertices Remove vertices of degree 0 from a vtkGraph.
ScaleVertices Size/scale vertices based on a data array.
SelectedVerticesAndEdges Get a list of selected vertices and edges.
SelectedVerticesAndEdgesObserver Get a list of selected vertices and edges using an observer of AnnotationChangedEvent.
ShortestPath Find the shortest path on a graph.
SideBySideGraphs Display two graphs side by side.
TreeBFSIterator Breadth First Search iterator.
VertexSize Set the size of vertices.
VisualizeDirectedGraph Visualize a directed graph.
VisualizeGraph Visualize a graph.

Graph Conversions

Example Name Description Image
DirectedGraphToMutableDirectedGraph vtkDirectedGraph to vtkMutableDirectedGraph.
MutableDirectedGraphToDirectedGraph vtkMutableDirectedGraph to vtkDirectedGraph.
TreeToMutableDirectedGraph vtkTree to vtkMutableDirectedGraph

Data Structures

Example Name Description Image
AttachAttributes Attach attributes to a VTK array
CellLocator Project a point onto a mesh. Closest point on a mesh.Efficient 3D cell query.
CellLocatorVisualization Visualization of the tree of a vtkCellLocator.
CellTreeLocator Points on an object using vtkCellTreeLocator.
PointLocator Efficient 3D point query.
PointLocatorRadius Find all points within a radius of a specified point.
PointLocatorVisualization Visualization of the tree of a vtkPointLocator.

Timing Demonstrations

Example Name Description Image
KDTreeTimingDemo Plot the runtime vs MaxLevel (doesn't seem correct)
ModifiedBSPTreeTimingDemo Plot the runtime vs MaxLevel
OBBTreeTimingDemo Plot the runtime vs MaxLevel
OctreeTimingDemo Plot the runtime vs MaxPointsPerRegionOctree timing demo.

KD-Tree

Example Name Description Image
BuildLocatorFromKClosestPoints
ClosestNPoints Find the closest N points to a query point.
DataStructureComparison Illustrates, side by side, the differences between several spatial data structures
KDTree
KDTreeAccessPoints Access the points of a KDTree.
KDTreeFindPointsWithinRadius Find points within a specified radius of a query point.
KDTreeFindPointsWithinRadiusDemo Find points within a range of radii.
KdTreePointLocatorClosestPoint Find the closest point to a query point.
OctreeFindPointsWithinRadiusDemo Find points within a range of radii.
PointLocatorFindPointsWithinRadiusDemo Find points within a range of radii.
StaticLocatorFindPointsWithinRadiusDemo Find points within a range of radii.
VisualizeKDTree Visualize levels of the tree.

Oriented Bounding Box (OBB) Tree

Example Name Description Image
OBBTreeExtractCells Intersect a line with an OBB Tree and display all intersected cells.
OBBTreeIntersectWithLine Intersect a line with a vtkOBBTree.
VisualizeOBBTree Visualize levels of the tree.

Octree

Example Name Description Image
BuildOctree Create an octree.
IncrementalOctreePointLocator Insert points into an octree without rebuilding it.
OctreeClosestPoint Find the closest point to a query point.
OctreeFindPointsWithinRadius Find the points within a sphere of specified radius to a query point.
OctreeKClosestPoints Find the K closest points to a query point.
OctreeVisualize Visualize levels of the tree.

Modified BSP Tree

Example Name Description Image
ModifiedBSPTreeExtractCells Intersect a line with a modified BSP Tree and display all intersected cells.
ModifiedBSPTreeIntersectWithLine Intersect a line with a modified BSP Tree.
VisualizeModifiedBSPTree Visualize levels of the tree.

HyperTreeGrid

Example Name Description Image
HyperTreeGridSource Create a vtkHyperTreeGrid.

VTK Concepts

Example Name Description Image
Scalars Attach a scalar value to each point (PointData) or cell (CellData) in a data set.

Rendering

Example Name Description Image
AmbientSpheres Demonstrates the effect of ambient lighting on spheres.
CameraBlur Example of a scene rendered with focal depth.
ColoredSphere A simple sphere.
Cone3 Four frames of output, based on the VTK example Cone3.cxx.
Cone4 Modifying properties and transformation matrix based on the VTK example Cone4.cxx.
DiffuseSpheres Demonstrates the effect of diffuse lighting on spheres.
FlatVersusGouraud Flat and Gouraud shading. Different shading methods can dramatically improve the look of an object represented with polygons. On the top, flat shading uses a constant surface normal across each polygon. On the bottom, Gouraud shading interpolates normals from polygon vertices to give a smoother look.
GradientBackground Demonstrates the background shading options.
HiddenLineRemoval Hidden lines removed.
InterpolateCamera Use vtkCameraInterpolator to generate a smooth interpolation between camera views.
LayeredActors Demonstrates the use of two linked renderers. The orientation of objects in the non active layer is linked to those in the active layer.
Mace An example of multiple inputs and outputs.
Model Illustrative diagram of graphics objects.
MotionBlur Example of motion blur.
MultipleLayersAndWindows Demonstrates the use of four renderers in two layers.
OutlineGlowPass Demonstrates how to render a object in a scene with a glowing outline.
PBR_Anisotropy Render spheres with different anisotropy values.
PBR_Clear_Coat Render a cube with custom texture mapping and a coat normal texture.
PBR_Edge_Tint Render spheres with different edge colors using a skybox as image based lighting.
PBR_HDR_Environment Renders spheres with different materials using a skybox as image based lighting.
PBR_Mapping Render a cube with custom texture mapping.
PBR_Materials Renders spheres with different materials using a skybox as image based lighting.
PBR_Materials_Coat Render spheres with different coat materials using a skybox as image based lighting.
PBR_Skybox Demonstrates physically based rendering, a skybox and image based lighting.
PBR_Skybox_Texturing Demonstrates physically based rendering, a skybox, image based lighting and texturing.
PBR_Skybox_Anisotropy Demonstrates physically based rendering, a skybox, image based lighting, and anisotropic texturing.
Rainbow Use and manipulation of vtkLookupTables.
Rotations Rotations of a cow about her axes.
RotationsA Perform six rotations of a cow about her x-axis (Figure 3-31a).
RotationsB Perform six rotations of a cow about her y-axis (Figure 3-31b).
RotationsC Perform six rotations of a cow about her z-axis (Figure 3-31c).
RotationsD First a rotation of a cow about her x-axis, then six rotations about her y-axis (Figure 3-31d).
Shadows Draw model with shadows.
SpecularSpheres Demonstrates the effect of specular lighting on spheres.
StippledLine Draw a stippled line.
StringToImageDemo Demonstrates how to generate images from strings.
StripFran Triangle strip examples. (a) Structured triangle mesh consisting of 134 strips each of 390 triangles. (b) Unstructured triangle mesh consisting of 2227 strips of average length 3.94, longest strip 101 triangles. Images are generated by displaying every other triangle strip.
TransformSphere The addition of a transform filter to ColoredSphere.
TransparentBackground Demonstrates the use of two renderers. Notice that the second (and subsequent) renderers will have a transparent background.
WalkCow This generates Figs. 3-32, 3-33 found in VTKTextbook.pdf.
WalkCowA This generates Fig. 3-33a found in VTKTextbook.pdf.
WalkCowB This generates Fig. 3-33b found in VTKTextbook.pdf.
WebGPU_PointCloudMapper Demonstrates how to use the WebGPU point cloud mapper.

Lighting

Example Name Description Image
Light Add a directional light to a scene.
LightActor Display the location and direction of a light.
ShadowsLightsDemo Show lights casting shadows.
SpotLights Create two positional(spot) lights.

Shaders

Example Name Description Image
BozoShader Modify the shader to load and use noise functions for color selection.
BozoShaderDemo Show the bozo shader on a variety of polydata models.
ColorByNormal Modify the shader to color based on model normal.
CubeMap Modify the Vertex and Frament shaders to apply a 6-sided cube map.
MarbleShader Modify the shader to load and use noise functions for color selection.
MarbleShaderDemo Explore parameter space with sliders.
SpatterShader Modify the shader to load and use noise functions for color selection.
SphereMap Modify the Vertex and Frament shaders to apply a spherical map.

Annotation

Example Name Description Image
MultiLineText Display multiline text.
TextOrigin The 3D text always faces the active camera.
XYPlot Display line probes.

Texture Mapping

Example Name Description Image
AnimateVectors One frame from a vector field animation using texture maps (animVectors.tcl).
BackgroundTexture Use a texture for the background of a vtkRenderer.
ClipArt Generate 3D clip art from an image.
ProjectedTexture Project a texture onto ovtkPolyData.
TextureCutQuadric Cut a quadric with boolean textures.
TextureCutSphere Cut a sphere using texture coordinates.
TextureMapImageData Texture map an ImageData.
TextureMapPlane Texture map a plane.
TextureMapQuad Texture map a quad.
TexturePlane Example of texture mapping.
TextureThreshold Demonstrate the use of scalar thresholds to show values of flow density on three planes.
TexturedSphere Texture a sphere.

Tutorial

If you are new to VTK then these tutorials will help to get you started.

Tutorial Description Image
Step 1 Create a cone, render it and rotate it through 360°.
Step 2 Adding an observer.
Step 3 Using multiple renderers within a render window.
Step 4 The creation of multiple actors and the manipulation of their properties and transformations.
Step 5 Introducing the concept of interaction.
Step 6 Using a 3D widget.

Visualization

See this tutorial for a brief explanation of the VTK terminology of mappers, actors, etc.

Example Name Description Image
AlphaFrequency Linearly extrude fonts to show letter frequencies in text.
AnatomicalOrientation Show a labelled set of anatomical planes transecting a human figure.
AnnotatedCubeActor Annotated cube.
Arbitrary3DCursor Track a 3D cursor.
AssignCellColorsFromLUT Demonstrates how to assign colors to cells in a vtkPolyData structure using lookup tables.
AxisActor Generate a single axis.
BackfaceCulling Backface culling.
BackgroundColor Background color.
BackgroundGradient Background gradient.
BillboardTextActor3D Label points with billboards.
BlobbyLogo Blobby logo from VTK textbook.
Blow Ten frames from a blow molding finite element analysis.
BluntStreamlines Demonstrates airflow around a blunt fin using streamlines.
Camera Positioning and aiming the camera.
CameraActor Visualize a camera (frustum) in a scene.
CameraModel1 Illustrate camera movement around the focal point.
CameraModel2 Illustrate camera movement centered at the camera position.
CaptionActor2D Draw a caption/bubble pointing to a particular point.
CarotidFlow Visualizing blood flow in the human carotid arteries. Streamtubes of flow velocity are generated.
CarotidFlowGlyphs Visualizing blood flow in human carotid arteries. Cone glyphs indicate flow direction and magnitude.
ChooseTextColor Choose a text color that contrasts with a background color.
ChooseTextColorDemo Create a grid of random colored viewpports and pick a good text color.
ClipSphereCylinder A plane clipped with a sphere and an ellipse. The two transforms place each implicit function into the appropriate position. Two outputs are generated by the clipper.
CloseWindow Close a render window.
CollisionDetection Collison between two spheres.
ColorActorEdges Color the edges of an Actor.
ColorAnActor Color an Actor.
ColorGlyphs Color glyphs.
ColorSeriesPatches Creates a HTML file called VTKColorSeriesPatches
ColoredAnnotatedCube How to color the individual faces of an annotated cube.
CombineImportedActors Combine actors from a scene into one actor.
CombustorIsosurface Generate an isosurface of constant flow density.
ComplexV ComplexV from the VTK Textbook.
ContourQuadric Contouring a quadric function.
CornerAnnotation Write text in the corners of a window.
CorrectlyRenderTranslucentGeometry Correctly Rendering Translucent Geometry.
CreateBFont A scanned image clipped with a scalar value of 1/2 its maximum intensity produces a mixture of quadrilaterals and triangles.
CreateColorSeriesDemo Create a custom vtkColorSeries.
CubeAxesActor Display three orthogonal axes with labels.
CubeAxesActor2D This example uses the vtkCubeAxesActor2D to show your scene with axes to indicate the spatial extent of your data.
Cursor2D
Cursor3D
CursorShape Change the shape of the cursor.
CurvatureBandsWithGlyphs Demonstrates the coloring of a surface by partitioning the gaussian curvature of a surface into bands and using arrows to display the normals on the surface.
CurvedReformation Sample a volume with a curved surface. In medical imaging, this is often called curved multi planar reformation.
CutStructuredGrid Cut through structured grid with plane. The cut plane is shown solid shaded. A computational plane of constant k value is shown in wireframe for comparison. The colors correspond to flow density. Cutting surfaces are not necessarily planes: implicit functions such as spheres, cylinders, and quadrics can also be used.
Cutter How to use vtkCutter by cutting through a cube.
DataSetSurface Cutting a hexahedron with a plane. The red line on the surface shows the cut.
DecimateFran Examples of decimation algorithm. (a) Decimation of laser digitizer data.
DecimateHawaii Examples of decimation algorithm. (b) Decimation of terrain data.
DepthSortPolyData Poly Data Depth Sorting.
DisplacementPlot Show modal lines for a vibrating beam.
DisplayCoordinateAxes Display coordinate axes.
DisplayQuadricSurfaces Display Quadric Surfaces.
DistanceToCamera
DrawText Display Text.
EdgePoints Generate points along an edge.
ElevationBandsWithGlyphs Demonstrates the coloring of a surface by partitioning the elevation into bands and using arrows to display the normals on the surface.
ExponentialCosine Carpet plots. Visualization of an exponential cosine function. Function values are indicated by surface displacement. Colors indicate derivative values.
ExtrudePolyDataAlongLine Extrude a 2D polydata along a line in 3D space.
FastSplatter Convolve a splat image with every point in an input image.
FindCellIntersections Find the intersection of a line and the cells in an unstructured dataset
FireFlow Combine geometry from a VRML file and a solution from a vtkUnstructuredGrid file.
FireFlowDemo Combine geometry from a VRML file and a solution from a vtkUnstructuredGrid file (interactive).
FlatShading
FlyingHeadSlice Flying edges used to generate contour lines.
Follower Draw text that stays right side up.
FontFile Use an external font.
FrogBrain The frog’s brain. Model extracted without smoothing (left) and with smoothing (right).
FroggieSurface Construct surfaces from a segmented frog dataset. Up to fifteen different surfaces may be extracted. You can turn on and off surfaces and control the camera position.
FroggieView View surfaces of a segmented frog dataset using preprocessed *.vtk tissue files. You can turn on and off surfaces, control their opacity through the use of sliders and control the camera position.
FrogSlice Photographic slice of frog (upper left), segmented frog (upper right) and composite of photo and segmentation (bottom). The purple color represents the stomach and the kidneys are yellow.
Glyph2D
Glyph3D
Glyph3DImage Glyph the points in a vtkImageData.
Glyph3DMapper
Hanoi Towers of Hanoi.
HanoiInitial Towers of Hanoi - Initial configuration.
HanoiIntermediate Towers of Hanoi - Intermediate configuration.
Hawaii Visualize elevations by coloring the scalar values with a lookup table.
HeadBone Marching cubes surface of human bone.
HeadSlice Marching squares used to generate contour lines.
HedgeHog Create oriented lines (hedgehogs) from vector data.
HideActor visible
HideAllActors Hide all actors.
HyperStreamline Example of hyperstreamlines, the four hyperstreamlines shown are integrated along the minor principle stress axis. A plane (colored with a different lookup table) is also shown.
IronIsoSurface Marching cubes surface of iron-protein.
IsosurfaceSampling Demonstrates how to create point data on an isosurface.
Kitchen Demonstrates stream tracing in a kitchen.
KochSnowflake Use recursion to represent a Koch snowflake fractal.
LODProp3D Level of detail rendering.
LOx Streamtubes created by using the computational grid just in front of the post as a source for seeds.
LOxGrid Portion of computational grid for the LOx post.
LOxSeeds Streamlines seeded with spherical cloud of points. Four separate cloud positions are shown.
LabelContours Label Contours.
LabelPlacementMapper Display a non-overlapping text label at each point.
LabeledDataMapper Display the point ID at each point.
LabeledMesh Label Mesh.
Legend
LegendScaleActor Display the scale of a scene.
LineWidth Change the width/thickness of lines in an actor.
LoopShrink A network with a loop. VTK 5.0 does not allow you to execute a looping visualization network; this was possible in previous versions of VTK.
Morph3D Interpolate between datasets.
Motor Texture cut used to reveal internal structure of a motor. Two cut planes are used in combination with transparent texture.
MovableAxes Movable axes.
MoveActor Moving an Actor.
MoveCamera Moving the Camera.
MultipleActors Multiple Actors.
NamedColorPatches Creates a HTML file called VTKNamedColorPatches
NamedColors Demonstrate the use of the vtkNamedColors class.
NoShading
NormalsDemo Demo different options to generate normals.
Office Using random point seeds to create streamlines.
OfficeA Corresponds to Fig 9-47(a) in the VTK textbook.
OfficeTube The stream polygon. Sweeping a polygon to form a tube.
Opacity Transparency, transparent.
OrientedGlyphs Create oriented glyphs from vector data.
PineRootConnectivity Applying the connectivity filter to remove noisy isosurfaces.
PineRootConnectivityA The isosurface, with no connectivity filter applied.
PineRootDecimation Applying the decimation and connectivity filters to remove noisy isosurfaces and reduce data size.
PlateVibration Demonstrates the motion of a vibrating beam.
PointDataSubdivision Demonstrates the use of the vtkLinearSubdivisionFilter and vtkButterflySubdivisionFilter.
PointSize
ProbeCombustor Probing data in a combustor. Probes are regular arrays of 50 by 50 points that are then passed through a contouring filter.
ProgrammableGlyphFilter Generate a custom glyph at each point.
ProteinRibbons Display pdb ribbons.
PseudoVolumeRendering Here we use 20 cut planes, each with an opacity of of 0.25. They are then rendered back-to-front to simulate volume rendering.
QuadraticSurface Display a quadratic surface.
QuadricLODActor Level of detail adjustment.
QuadricVisualization Visualizing a quadric function.
RandomProbe Demonstrates how to probe a dataset with random points and select points inside the data set.
RenderLargeImage Render a large image, larger than a window.
RenderView A little bit easier rendering.
ReverseAccess Demonstrates how to access the source (e.g. vtkSphereSource) of an actor reversely.
RotateActor Rotate an Actor.
ScalarBarActor Display a color bar.
ScalarBarActorColorSeries Display a color bar with a color series lookup table.
ScalarVisibility Switch between coloring the actor and coloring the data.
ScaleGlyphs Scale glyphs.
SceneBounds Get the bounds of the whole scene.
SelectWindowRegion Select a region of a window.
SingleSplat Elliptical splatting. (a) Single elliptical splat with eccentricity E=10. Cone shows orientation of vector.
SpikeFran Glyphs indicate surface normals on model of human face. Glyph positions are randomly selected.
SplatFace Elliptical splatting. (b) Surface reconstructed using elliptical splats into 100^3 volume followed by isosurface extraction. Points regularly subsampled and overlaid on original mesh.
Stocks Two views from the stock visualization script. The top shows closing price over time; the bottom shows volume over time.
StreamLines Seed streamlines with vectors from a structured grid.
StreamlinesWithLineWidget Using the vtkLineWidget to produce streamlines in the combustor dataset. The StartInteractionEvent turns the visibility of the streamlines on; the InteractionEvent causes the streamlines to regenerate themselves.
StructuredDataTypes Demonstration of structured data types.
TensorAxes Display the scaled and oriented principal axes of the stress tensor.
TensorEllipsoids Display the scaled and oriented principal axes as tensor ellipsoids representing the stress tensor.
TensorGlyph Draw a rotated/scaled glyph at each point.
TextSource Display text.
TransformActor Transform an Actor.
TransformActorCollection Transform an actor collection.
TubesFromSplines Create tubes from interpolated points and scalars.
TubesWithVaryingRadiusAndColors Create tubes with varying radius and colors.
VectorField
VectorOfActors Multiple Actors in a Vector.
VectorText Display high resolution text.
VelocityProfile Warping the geometry of three planes to show flow momentum.
VertexGlyphFilter Add a vertex to each point.
Visualize2DPoints Visualize a 2D Set of Points.
VisualizeImageData Visualize the points of an ImageData.
VisualizeVTP Visualize a VTP File.
VoxelsOnBoundary Extract voxels on the border of an isosurface.
WarpCombustor Carpet plots of combustor flow energy in a structured grid. Colors and plane displacement represent energy values.
WindowSize Change the size of a window.
WindowTitle Change the title of a window.
Wireframe

Volume Rendering

Example Name Description Image
FixedPointVolumeRayCastMapperCT Volume render DICOM or Meta volumes with various vtkColorTransferFunction's.
HAVS
IntermixedUnstructuredGrid A mix of poly data and unstructured grid volume mapping.
MinIntensityRendering Min intensity rendering.
OpenVRVolume Render synthetic volume dataset in VR using OpenVR.
RayCastIsosurface Isosufaces produced by volume rendering.
SimpleRayCast Volume rendering of a high potential iron protein.
SmartVolumeMapper Smart volume mapper.
MultiBlockVolumeMapper Using a vtkMultiBlockVolumeMapper to render a vtkMultiBlockDataSet containing eight subvolumes.

User Interaction

Example Name Description Image
AreaPicking Area Picking.
Assembly Combine/group actors into an assembly.
CallBack Setting up a callback with client data. Two different methods are demonstrated.
CallData Pass an observer a value (via CallData).
CellPicking Cell Picking.
ClientData Give an observer access to an object (via ClientData).
DoubleClick Catch a double click.
EllipticalButton Create an elliptical button.
Game Move a cube into a sphere.
HighlightPickedActor Highlight a picked actor by changing its color.
HighlightSelectedPoints Highlight Selected Points.
HighlightSelection Highlight selection.
HighlightWithSilhouette Highlight a picked actor by adding a silhouette.
ImageClip Demonstrates how to interactively select and display a region of an image.
ImageRegion Select a region of an image.
InteractorStyleTerrain Terrain mode.
InteractorStyleUser Create a completely custom interactor style (no default functionality is provided)
KeypressEvents Handle keypress events.
KeypressObserver This uses a callback function rather than a derived interactor class. Handle keypress events (lightweight).
MouseEvents Subclass the interactor style. Handle mouse events.
MouseEventsObserver Use an observer. Handle mouse events (light weight).
MoveAGlyph Drag a glyph around.
MoveAVertexUnstructuredGrid Click and drag a vertex of a vtkUnstructuredGrid.
ObserverMemberFunction Set observers to be class member functions.
PickableOff Disallow interaction with a specific actor.
Picking Get the world coordinate of the mouse click (if you clicked an actor)
PointPicker Get the coordinates of the closest point in the data set to the mouse click.
RubberBand2D
RubberBand2DObserver RubberBand2D Observer.
RubberBand3D
RubberBandPick
RubberBandZoom
SelectAVertex Click and drag a vertex of a vtkPolyData.
SelectAnActor Select an actor.
ShiftAndControl Hold/holding down a key. Check if shift or control is being held.
StyleSwitch Choose between multiple interaction modes.
TrackballActor Trackball actor mode.
TrackballCamera Trackball camera mode.
UserEvent Simple observer. Create, invoke, and handle a custom event.
WorldPointPicker Get world coordinates of mouse click.

Working with Images

Example Name Description Image
Actor2D 2D actor and mapper.
BackgroundImage Display an image as the background of a scene.
BorderPixelSize Set the size of border pixels.
CannyEdgeDetector Perform Canny edge detection on an image.
Cast Cast an image to a different type.
DotProduct Compute the pixel-wise dot product of two vector images.
DrawOnAnImage Drawing on an image.
DrawShapes Drawing shapes in an image.
ExtractComponents Extract components of an image. This can be used to get, for example, the red channel of an image.
FillWindow Fit imageSetup the camera to fill the window with an image.
ImageAccumulateGreyscale Display a grey scale histogram.
ImageCheckerboard Visually Compare Two Images.
ImageCityBlockDistance Compute the Manhattan distance from every point to every black point in a binary image.
ImageDilateErode3D Dilate or erode an image.
ImageExport Export an image to a C array.
ImageGridSource Create a image of a grid.
ImageHistogram Compute the histogram of an image.
ImageHybridMedian2D Median filter an image.
ImageIdealHighPass High pass filter an image.
ImageImport Import an image from a C array.
ImageIslandRemoval2D Remove small patches from an image.
ImageMagnify Supersample and stretch an image.
ImageMandelbrotSource Create a Mandelbrot image.
ImageMapper Display an image in 2D.
ImageMask Mask a region of an image.
ImageMathematics Perform mathematical operations on an image.
ImageMedian3D Median filter a 3d or 2d image.
ImageMirrorPad Pad the edges of an extended image by mirror existing pixels.
ImageNonMaximumSuppression Find peaks in an image using non maximum suppression.
ImageOpenClose3D Open or close (morphologically) an image.
ImageOrder Determine the display order of a stack of images.
ImageOrientation Orientation of the view of an image.
ImageRFFT Inverse FFT.
ImageRange3D Replace every pixel with the range of its neighbors according to a kernel.
ImageRotate Rotate a 2D image. This is even more powerful than vtkImageSliceMapper. It can also do oblique slices.
ImageSeparableConvolution Convolve a separable kernel with an image.
ImageShiftScale Shift and scale an image.
ImageSinusoidSource Create a sinusoidal image.
ImageSlice Visualize and interact with an image. This is even more powerful than vtkImageSliceMapper. It can also do oblique slices.
ImageSliceMapper Visualize and interact with an image. This is the new way to do this. It is much more powerful.
ImageStack Display layers of images.
ImageStencil Copy one image into another image.
ImageText Draw text in an image.
ImageThreshold Threshold an image.
ImageToPolyDataFilter Convert a vtkImageData to a vtkPolyData.
ImageToStructuredPoints Convert a vtkImageData to a vtkStructuredPoints.
ImageTransparency Set transparency of image pixels.
InteractWithImage Visualize and interact with an image.
Interpolation Set the interpolation type for the display of an image. If pixels look blurry instead of sharp when zoomed in, change this.
MarkKeypoints Mark keypoints in an image.
NegativeIndices A very powerful feature of vtkImageData is that you can use negative indices.
PickPixel Picking a pixel.
PickPixel2 Picking a pixel 2 - modified version for exact pixel values.
RTAnalyticSource An image source that can be used for regression testing
StaticImage This will display the image, but not allow you to interact with it.
Transparency Make part of an image transparent.

Image Processing

Example Name Description Image
Attenuation This MRI image illustrates attenuation that can occur due to sensor position. The artifact is removed by dividing by the attenuation profile determined manually.
CenterAnImage Center an image.
Colored2DImageFusion Blending 2D images with different color maps.
CombineImages Combine two images.
CombiningRGBChannels Combine layers into an RGB image.
EnhanceEdges High-pass filters can extract and enhance edges in an image. Subtraction of the Laplacian (middle) from the original image (left) results in edge enhancement or a sharpening operation (right).
Flip Flip an image.
GaussianSmooth Low-pass filters can be implemented as convolution with a Gaussian kernel.
Gradient Compute the gradient vector at every pixel.
HybridMedianComparison Comparison of median and hybrid-median filters. The hybrid filter preserves corners and thin lines, better than the median filter.
IdealHighPass This figure shows two high-pass filters in the frequency domain. The Butterworth high-pass filter has a gradual attenuation that avoids ringing produced by the ideal high-pass filter with an abrupt transition.
ImageAccumulate Histogram
ImageAnisotropicDiffusion2D Anisotropic diffusion (2D).
ImageContinuousDilate3D Dilate an image.
ImageContinuousErode3D Erode an image.
ImageConvolve Convolve an image with a kernel.
ImageCorrelation Correlate two images.
ImageDifference Compute the difference image of two images.
ImageDivergence Divergence of a vector field.
ImageEllipsoidSource Create an image of an ellipsoid.
ImageFFT Compute the FFT of an image.
ImageGaussianSmooth Smooth an image.
ImageGradient Create an imaging pipeline to visualize gradient information.
ImageGradientMagnitude Compute the magnitude of the gradient at each pixel of an image.
ImageLaplacian Compute the Laplacian of an image.
ImageLuminance Convert RGB image to greyscale (luminance).
ImageMagnitude grayscaleConvert RGB image to grey scale.
ImageMapToColors Use a lookup table to map scalar (gray scale) values to colorsConvert grey scale image to RGB.
ImageNoiseSource Create an image of noise.
ImagePermute Switch axes of an image.
ImageShrink3D Resample an image.
ImageSobel2D Sobel edge detection 2D.
ImageValueRange Get the range of image pixel values (min/max).
ImageVariance3D Construct a new image consisting of the variance of the input image at each pixel.
ImageWarp Combine the imaging and visualization pipelines to deform an image in the z-direction. The vtkMergeFilter is used to combine the warped surface with the original color data.
IsoSubsample This figure demonstrates aliasing that occurs when a high-frequency signal is subsampled. High frequencies appear as low frequency artifacts. The left image is an isosurface of a skull after subsampling. The right image used a low-pass filter before subsampling to reduce aliasing.
MedianComparison Comparison of Gaussian and Median smoothing for reducing low-probability high-amplitude noise.
MorphologyComparison This figure demonstrates various binary filters that can alter the shape of segmented regions.
Pad Convolution in frequency space treats the image as a periodic function. A large kernel can pick up features from both sides of the image. The left image has been padded with a constant to eliminate wraparound during convolution. On the right, mirror padding has been used to remove artificial edges introduced by borders.
RGBToHSI Convert RGB to HSI.
RGBToHSV Convert RGB to HSV.
RGBToYIQ Convert RGB to YIQ.
RescaleAnImage Rescale an image
ResizeImage Resize an image using a sinc interpolator.
ResizeImageDemo Demonstrate allsinc interpolators to resize an image.
VTKSpectrum The discrete Fourier transform changes an image from the spatial domain into the frequency domain, where each pixel represents a sinusoidal function. This figure shows an image and its power spectrum displayed using a logarithmic transfer function.

Widgets

Example Name Description Image
AffineWidget Apply an affine transformation interactively.
AngleWidget
AngleWidget2D vtkAngleWidget + vtkAngleRepresentation2D.
BalloonWidget
BiDimensionalWidget Used to measure a 2D (X, Y) size of some aspect of an object.
BorderWidget 2D selection, 2D box.
BoxWidget
BoxWidget2
CameraOrientationWidget Demonstrates a 3D camera orientation widget.
CaptionWidget
CheckerboardWidget Compare two images using a checkerboard.
CompassWidget Draws an interactive compass.
ContourWidget Create a contour from a set of points and dynamically change the contour using the points as control points.
DistanceWidget
HoverWidget How to detect a hover?
ImagePlaneWidget
ImageTracerWidget Scribble on an image.
ImageTracerWidgetInsideContour Highlight pixels inside a non-regular region scribbled on an image.
ImageTracerWidgetNonPlanar Draw on a non-planar surface.
ImplicitConeWidget An interactive implicit cone widget.
ImplicitPlaneWidget2 Clip polydata with an implicit plane.
LineWidget2
LogoWidget Logo widget.
OrientationMarkerWidget Draws two cubes. One of them can be clicked to be rotated, and will rotate the second one. The second one has annotations on it, and can also be moved.
OrientationMarkerWidget1 Display a polydata as an orientation icon.
PlaneWidget Interact with a plane.
PolygonalSurfacePointPlacer Used in conjunction with vtkContourWidget to draw curves on a surface.
RectilinearWipeWidget Compare two images.
ScalarBarWidget The ScalarBarWidget displays a scalar bar that is movable and changes orientation automatically when close to the borders of the image. It needs a ScalarBarActor
SeedWidget Seed widget.
SeedWidgetImage How to start the interaction?
SeedWidgetWithCustomCallback How to place points in a scene using a custom callback.
Slider 3D Slider.
Slider2D 2D Slider.
SphereWidget Sphere widget.
SphereWidget2
SphereWidgetEvents Sphere widget events.
SplineWidget
TextWidget Draw movable text.
TexturedButtonWidget Create a textured 2D button.

Plotting

Example Name Description Image
AreaPlot Plot the area between two curves.
BarChart Bar chart.
BoxChart Box plot.
ChartMatrix Create a marix of plots.
ChartsOn3DScene Draw a chart in a 3D scene.
CompareRandomGeneratorsCxx Compare STL random number generators.
Diagram Draw a custom diagram.
FunctionalBagPlot Functional Bag Plot.
Histogram2D 2D Histogram of a vtkImageData.
HistogramBarChart Histogram using bar chart.
LinePlot2D Line plot of 2D data.
LinePlot3D Line plot of 3D data.
MultiplePlots Display multiple plots by using viewports in a single render window.
ParallelCoordinates Parallel coordinates.
PieChart Pie chart.
PieChartActor Pie chart.
ScatterPlot Scatter plot.
SpiderPlot Spider plot.
StackedBar Stacked bar.
StackedPlot Stacked plot.
SurfacePlot SurfacePlot.

Animation

Example Name Description Image
AnimateActors Animate actors.
Animation Move a sphere across a scene.
AnimationScene Animation (the right way). Zoom in on a sphere.
DataAnimation Data Animation. Update points in a dataset every specified interval.
DataAnimationSubclass Update points in a dataset every specified interval (using a vtkCommand subclass instead of a callback function.
RotatingSphere A rotating sphere.

InfoVis

Example Name Description Image
ParallelCoordinatesView Parallel coordinates.
TreeMapView Tree map.
WordCloud Create a word cloud.

Qt

Click here for a tutorial on how to setup Qt.

Example Name Description Image
BarChartQt Bar chart.
BorderWidgetQt 2D selection, 2D box.
EventQtSlotConnect Connect a VTK event to a Qt slot.
ImageDataToQImage Convert a vtkImageData to a QImage.
MinimalQtVTKApp A minimal Qt/VTK application.
QImageToImageSource Convert a QImage to a vtkImageData.
RenderWindowNoUiFile This is a very basic example that shows how to create a Qt window. Typically, one would want to design a form in the QtDesigner (this is shown in RenderWindowUISingleInheritance).
RenderWindowUISingleInheritance Using a QVTKOpenGLWidget with the Qt Single Inheritance model.
ShareCameraQt Share the camera between QVTKOpenGLWidgets.
ShowEvent Use QMainWindow::showEvent event to do things that you might want to do in the constructor
SideBySideRenderWindowsQt Side by side render windows.

Matlab

You must turn on VTK_USE_MATLAB_MEX to use these.

Example Name Description Image
MatlabEngineFilter

Databases

SQL

If you have any trouble or errors with the following examples, please troubleshoot using these instructions.

Example Name Description Image
ConnectAndRead Connect to and read a MySQL database.
CreateDatabase Create a MySQL database.
WriteToDatabase Write to a MySQL database.

RenderMan

RenderMan is a high quality rendering system created by Pixar. VTK can export RenderMan RIB files for rendering by prman. In the spring of 2015, Pixar released a non-commercial version of its RenderMan products.

Example Name Description Image
PolyDataRIB Apply a RenderMan Shader to a PolyData.