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Axes

Repository source: Axes

Description

This example shows how to position an vtkAxesActor in 3D. Notice that position and orientation of the vtkAxesActor is done with a user transform.

Seealso

DisplayCoordinateAxes.

Other languages

See (Python), (CSharp)

Question

If you have a question about this example, please use the VTK Discourse Forum

Code

Axes.cxx

#include <vtkActor.h>
#include <vtkAxesActor.h>
#include <vtkCamera.h>
#include <vtkCaptionActor2D.h>
#include <vtkNamedColors.h>
#include <vtkNew.h>
#include <vtkPolyDataMapper.h>
#include <vtkRenderWindow.h>
#include <vtkRenderWindowInteractor.h>
#include <vtkRenderer.h>
#include <vtkSphereSource.h>
#include <vtkTextProperty.h>
#include <vtkTransform.h>

int main(int, char*[])
{
  vtkNew<vtkNamedColors> colors;

  vtkNew<vtkSphereSource> sphereSource;
  sphereSource->SetCenter(0.0, 0.0, 0.0);
  sphereSource->SetRadius(0.5);

  // create a mapper
  vtkNew<vtkPolyDataMapper> sphereMapper;
  sphereMapper->SetInputConnection(sphereSource->GetOutputPort());

  // create an actor
  vtkNew<vtkActor> sphereActor;
  sphereActor->SetMapper(sphereMapper);

  // a renderer and render window
  vtkNew<vtkRenderer> renderer;
  vtkNew<vtkRenderWindow> renderWindow;
  renderWindow->SetWindowName("Axes");
  renderWindow->AddRenderer(renderer);
  renderWindow->SetSize(300, 300);

  // an interactor
  vtkNew<vtkRenderWindowInteractor> renderWindowInteractor;
  renderWindowInteractor->SetRenderWindow(renderWindow);

  // add the actors to the scene
  renderer->AddActor(sphereActor);
  renderer->SetBackground(colors->GetColor3d("SlateGray").GetData());

  vtkNew<vtkTransform> transform;
  transform->Translate(1.0, 0.0, 0.0);

  vtkNew<vtkAxesActor> axes;

  // The axes are positioned with a user transform
  axes->SetUserTransform(transform);

  // properties of the axes labels can be set as follows
  // this sets the x axis label to red
  // axes->GetXAxisCaptionActor2D()->GetCaptionTextProperty()->SetColor(
  //  colors->GetColor3d("Red").GetData());

  // the actual text of the axis label can be changed:
  // axes->SetXAxisLabelText("test");

  renderer->AddActor(axes);

  renderer->GetActiveCamera()->Azimuth(50);
  renderer->GetActiveCamera()->Elevation(-30);

  renderer->ResetCamera();
  renderWindow->SetWindowName("Axes");
  renderWindow->Render();

  // begin mouse interaction
  renderWindowInteractor->Start();

  return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

CMakeLists.txt

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.12 FATAL_ERROR)

project(Axes)

find_package(VTK COMPONENTS 
  CommonColor
  CommonCore
  CommonTransforms
  FiltersSources
  InteractionStyle
  RenderingAnnotation
  RenderingContextOpenGL2
  RenderingCore
  RenderingFreeType
  RenderingGL2PSOpenGL2
  RenderingOpenGL2
)

if (NOT VTK_FOUND)
  message(FATAL_ERROR "Axes: Unable to find the VTK build folder.")
endif()

# Prevent a "command line is too long" failure in Windows.
set(CMAKE_NINJA_FORCE_RESPONSE_FILE "ON" CACHE BOOL "Force Ninja to use response files.")
add_executable(Axes MACOSX_BUNDLE Axes.cxx )
  target_link_libraries(Axes PRIVATE ${VTK_LIBRARIES}
)
# vtk_module_autoinit is needed
vtk_module_autoinit(
  TARGETS Axes
  MODULES ${VTK_LIBRARIES}
)

Download and Build Axes

Click here to download Axes and its CMakeLists.txt file. Once the tarball Axes.tar has been downloaded and extracted,

cd Axes/build

If VTK is installed:

cmake ..

If VTK is not installed but compiled on your system, you will need to specify the path to your VTK build:

cmake -DVTK_DIR:PATH=/home/me/vtk_build ..

Build the project:

make

and run it:

./Axes

WINDOWS USERS

Be sure to add the VTK bin directory to your path. This will resolve the VTK dll's at run time.