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VectorText

Repository source: VectorText

Description

This example displays a red "Hello" in 3D space. For an example where the text always faces the camera, see Follower.

If you want to draw text in 2D rather than 3D, take a look at TextWidget or DrawText.

Other languages

See (Python)

Question

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

Code

VectorText.cxx

#include <vtkActor.h>
#include <vtkNamedColors.h>
#include <vtkNew.h>
#include <vtkPolyDataMapper.h>
#include <vtkProperty.h>
#include <vtkRenderWindow.h>
#include <vtkRenderWindowInteractor.h>
#include <vtkRenderer.h>
#include <vtkVectorText.h>

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

  // Create text.
  vtkNew<vtkVectorText> textSource;
  textSource->SetText("Hello");
  textSource->Update();

  // Create a mapper and actor.
  vtkNew<vtkPolyDataMapper> mapper;
  mapper->SetInputConnection(textSource->GetOutputPort());

  vtkNew<vtkActor> actor;
  actor->SetMapper(mapper);
  actor->GetProperty()->SetColor(colors->GetColor3d("DarkSlateGray").GetData());

  // Create a renderer, render window, and interactor.
  vtkNew<vtkRenderer> renderer;
  vtkNew<vtkRenderWindow> renderWindow;
  renderWindow->AddRenderer(renderer);
  renderWindow->SetWindowName("VectorText");

  vtkNew<vtkRenderWindowInteractor> renderWindowInteractor;
  renderWindowInteractor->SetRenderWindow(renderWindow);

  // Add the actor to the scene.
  renderer->AddActor(actor);
  renderer->SetBackground(colors->GetColor3d("Bisque").GetData());

  // Render and interact.
  renderWindow->Render();
  renderWindowInteractor->Start();

  return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

CMakeLists.txt

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.12 FATAL_ERROR)

project(VectorText)

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

if (NOT VTK_FOUND)
  message(FATAL_ERROR "VectorText: 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(VectorText MACOSX_BUNDLE VectorText.cxx )
  target_link_libraries(VectorText PRIVATE ${VTK_LIBRARIES}
)
# vtk_module_autoinit is needed
vtk_module_autoinit(
  TARGETS VectorText
  MODULES ${VTK_LIBRARIES}
)

Download and Build VectorText

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

cd VectorText/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:

./VectorText

WINDOWS USERS

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