Python Examples

Please see this page to learn how to setup your environment to use VTK in Python.

It would be appreciated if there are any Python VTK experts who could convert any of the c++ examples to Python!

Info

This table shows the VTK classes covered by the examples.

Info

This table shows VTK classes that do not have an example. Please add examples in your area of expertise!

Hello World

Example Name Classes Demonstrated Description Image
Cylinder vtkPolyDataMapper vtkActor vtkRenderer vtkRenderWindow vtkRenderWindowInteractor Cylinder example from the VTK Textbook and source code. A hello world example

Simple Operations

Example Name Classes Demonstrated Description Image
DistanceBetweenPoints vtkMath::Distance2BetweenPoints

Input and Output

Output

Example Name Classes Demonstrated Description Image
PLYWriter vtkPLYWriter
STLWriter vtkSTLWriter

Input

Example Name Classes Demonstrated Description Image
STLReader vtkSTLReader
UnstructuredGridReader vtkUnstructuredGridReader Using vtkUnstructuredGridReader to read a (legacy) *.vtk file
VTPsReader

Working with Arrays

Example Name Classes Demonstrated Description Image
GetValues GetTuple3
RenameArray SetName

Geometric Objects

Display

Example Name Classes Demonstrated Description Image
Arrow vtkArrowSource
Axes vtkAxesActor
Cell3DDemonstration vtkHexagonalPrism vtkHexahedron vtkPentagonalPrism vtkPolyhedron vtkPyramid vtkTetra vtkVoxel vtkWedge vtkUnstructuredGrid Sample objects are generated from the classes derived from vtkCell3D and displayed.
ColoredLines vtkCellData vtkLine
Cone vtkConeSource
Cube vtkCubeSource
Cylinder vtkCylinderSource
DataSetSurface vtkDataSetSurfaceFilter
Disk vtkDiskSource A circle with a hole in it.
Frustum vtkFrustumSource
GeometricObjectsDemo
Hexahedron vtkHexahedron
LineSource vtkLineSource
LongLine vtkLine
OrientedArrow vtkArrowSource
Plane vtkPlaneSource
PlanesIntersection vtkPlanesIntersection
Planes vtkPlanes vtkHull We create a convex hull of the planes for display purposes.
PlatonicSolid vtkPlatonicSolidSource All five platonic solids are displayed.
PointSource vtkPointSource
Point vtkPoints
Polyline vtkPolyLine This example demonstrates how to create a polygon through several ordered points.
PolygonIntersection vtkPolygon IntersectWithLine()
Polygon vtkPolygon
Pyramid vtkPyramid
Quad vtkQuad
RegularPolygonSource vtkRegularPolygonSource
Sphere vtkSphereSource
Tetrahedron vtkTetra
TextActor vtkTextActor 2D "HUD-type" text
TriangleStrip vtkTriangleStrip
Triangle vtkTriangle
Vertex vtkVertex

Parametric Objects

Example Name Classes Demonstrated Description Image
ParametricObjectsDemo vtkParametricBoy vtkParametricConicSpiral vtkParametricCrossCap vtkParametricDini vtkParametricEllipsoid vtkParametricEnneper vtkParametricFigure8Klein vtkParametricKlein vtkParametricMobius vtkParametricRandomHills vtkParametricRoman vtkParametricSpline vtkParametricSuperEllipsoid vtkParametricSuperToroid vtkParametricTorus Demonstration of of the vtkParametric classes added by Andrew Maclean. All the objects are displayed in a 4X4 array.
ParametricObjects Uncomment the object that you wish to be displayed.

Implicit Functions

Example Name Classes Demonstrated Description Image
Boolean vtkImplicitBoolean Demonstrate booleans of two different implicit functions
Quadric vtkQuadric Create an ellipsoid using an implicit quadric
Sphere vtkSphere Demonstrate sampling of a sphere implicit function

Working with PolyData

Example Name Classes Demonstrated Description Image
BooleanOperationPolyDataFilter vtkBooleanOperationPolyDataFilter This example performs a boolean operation (Intersection, Union, Difference) of two PolyData
ColoredTriangle vtkTriangle
CombinePolyData vtkAppendPolyData This example combines Polydata objects, and displays the result to the screen.
Cube vtkPolyData
CurvaturesDemo vtkCurvatures vtkColorTransferFunction Demonstrates how to get the Gaussian and Mean curvatures of a surface.
DottedLine
FilledPolygon vtkCutter
ImplicitPolyDataDistance vtkImplicitPolyDataDistance
IterativeClosestPoints vtkIterativeClosestPointTransform
KochSnowflake vtkPolyData vtkCellArray vtkPoints vtkPolyLine This example draws a Koch snowflake fractal using recursive functions and some of the convenient tools in the toolkit.
LineOnMesh vtkCellLocator vtkParametricSpline
MeshLabelImageColor vtkDiscreteMarchingCubes
Outline vtkOutlineFilter
PolyDataContourToImageData vtkLinearExtrusionFilter vtkPolyDataToImageStencil
PolyDataToImageDataStencil vtkPolyDataToImageStencil
RotationAroundLine vtkTransformPolyDataFilter
RuledSurfaceFilter vtkRuledSurfaceFilter
SmoothMeshGrid vtkLoopSubdivisionFilter vtkButterflySubdivisionFilter
SolidColoredTriangle vtkTriangle
TriangleColoredPoints vtkUnsignedCharArray
TriangleCornerVertices vtkCellArray
TriangleCorners vtkXMLPolyDataWriter
WarpVector vtkLine vtkDoubleArray vtkPolyData vtkWarpVector This example warps/deflects a line.
WriteTriangleToFile vtkTriangle

Working with 3D Data

Example Name Classes Demonstrated Description Image
ExtractSelection vtkExtractSelection
ExtractSelectionCells vtkExtractSelection Extract cell, select cell.

Working with Structured 3D Data

This section includes vtkImageData, vtkStructuredGrid, and vtkRectilinearGrid.

Example Name Classes Demonstrated Description Image
RectilinearGrid vtkRectilinearGrid create a rectilinear grid

Working with Meshes

This section includes examples of manipulating meshes.

Example Name Classes Demonstrated Description Image
ClipDataSetWithPolydata vtkClipDataSet vtkImplicitPolyDataDistance vtkRectilinearGrid clip a vtkRectilinearGrid with arbitrary polydata. In this example, use a vtkConeSource to generate polydata to slice the grid, resulting in an unstructured grid.

Miscellaneous

Example Name Classes Demonstrated Description Image
BackgroundImage vtkJPEGReader vtkImageCanvasSource2D vtkImageActor vtkSuperquadricSource
Cutter vtkCutter
ImplicitDataSet vtkImplicitDataSet vtkIdType n/a. This is just a typedef, Python, you can use a python "int" or "long" for vtkIdType.
Screenshot vtkWindowToImageFilter
Variant vtkVariant
vtkVersion

Rendering

Example Name Classes Demonstrated Description Image
Rotations vtkActor::RotateX,Y,Z vtkRenderer::EraseOff Rotations of a cow about her axes.
WalkCow vtkBYUReader renWin::EraseOff() vtkActor This generates Figs. 3-31, 3-32, 3-33 found in VTKTextbook.pdf.

Visualization

Example Name Classes Demonstrated Description Image
Animation vtkTimerCallback
AssignCellColorsFromLUT vtkNamedColors vtkPlaneSource vtkLookupTable vtkColorTransferFunction Demonstrates how to assign colors to cells in a vtkPolyData structure using lookup tables.
Camera vtkCamera
ClampGlyphSizes vtkGlyph3D Use vtkGlyph3D with ClampingOn to limit glyph sizes
ColorActor vtkActor::GetProperty()::SetColor
CubeAxesActor vtkCubeAxesActor
CurvatureBandsWithGlyphs vtkCurvatures vtkBandedPolyDataContourFilter vtkLookupTable vtkColorSeries vtkGlyph3D 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.
ElevationBandsWithGlyphs vtkBandedPolyDataContourFilter vtkLookupTable vtkColorSeries vtkGlyph3D Demonstrates the coloring of a surface by partitioning the elevation into bands and using arrows to display the normals on the surface.
GlyphTable vtkGlyph3D Vary the shapes of glyphed points using a glyph table
HardwareSelector vtkHardwareSelector
InteractorStyleTrackballActor vtkInteractorStyleTrackBallActor
InteractorStyleTrackballCamera vtkInteractorStyleTrackBallCamera
MultipleViewports vtkRenderer::SetViewport
NamedColorPatches vtkNamedColors Creates a HTML file called VTKNamedColorPatches Demonstrates how to use the vtkNamedColor class
OrientedGlyphs vtkGlyph3D Create oriented glyphs from vector data.
PointDataSubdivision vtkLinearSubdivisionFilter Vary the shapes of glyphed points using a programmable glyph filter
QuadraticSurface vtkQuadric
SphereTexture vtkTextureMapToSphere Apply an ImageData texture to an sphere
Streamlines vtkStreamLine Seed streamlines with vectors from a structured grid
TextSource vtkTextSource
UnstructuredTransientVolumeRendering vtkUnstructuredGridVolumeRayCastMapper
WindowTitle vtkRenderWindow::SetWindowName

Working with vtkImageData

Example Name Classes Demonstrated Description Image
ImageWeightedSum vtkImageWeightedSum
SumVTKImages vtkImageWeightedSum A function to simplify the summing of images, where you can pass a list of images and
WriteReadVtkImageData vtkImageData vtkXMLImageDataReader vtkXMLImageDataWriter

Working with ExodusII Data

Example Name Classes Demonstrated Description Image
ReadExodusData vtkExodusIIReader A simple script for reading and viewing ExodusII data interactively.

Graphs

Example Name Classes Demonstrated Description Image
EdgeWeights vtkMutableDirectedGraph vtkGraphLayoutView
NOVCAGraph vtkUnstructuredGrid vtkXMLUnstructuredGridWriter
SelectedVerticesAndEdges vtkAnnotationLink vtkGraphLayoutView
VisualizeGraph vtkMutableDirectedGraph vtkGraphLayoutView

User Interaction

Example Name Classes Demonstrated Description Image
HighlightPickedActor vtkPropPicker vtkInteractorStyleTrackballCamera Pick and highlight an actor based on mouse clicks.
MouseEventsObserver vtkCallbackCommand Use an observer.
MouseEvents vtkInteractorStyleTrackballCamera Subclass the interactor style.

Infovis

Example Name Classes Demonstrated Description Image
ParallelCoordinatesExtraction vtkExtractSelection vtkAnnotationLink Extract data based on a selection in a Parallel Coordinates View
ParallelCoordinatesView vtkRTAnalyticSource vtkParallelCoordinatesView vtkParallelCoordinatesRepresentation Plotting data attributes in a Parallel Coordinates View
ScatterPlot vtkChartXY
SelectedGraphIDs vtkAnnotationLink vtkRandomGraphSource vtkGraphLayoutView Callback on vtkAnnotationLink in a Graph Layout View when selection is changed
SpiderPlot vtkSpiderPlotActor

Geovis

Example Name Classes Demonstrated Description Image
GeoAssignCoordinates vtkGeoAssignCoordinates vtkMutableDirectedGraph vtkGraphMapper Draws a sphere, based on longituds and latitudes.

Widgets

Example Name Classes Demonstrated Description Image
BalloonWidget vtkBalloonWidget vtkBalloonRepresentation Uses a vtkBalloonWidget to draw labels when the mouse stays above an actor.
BoxWidget vtkBoxWidget This 3D widget defines a region of interest that is represented by an arbitrarily oriented hexahedron with interior face angles of 90 degrees (orthogonal faces). The object creates 7 handles that can be moused on and manipulated.
CompassWidget vtkCompassWidget vtkCompassRepresentation Draws an interactive compass.
ContourWidget vtkContourWidget vtkOrientedGlyphContourRepresentation Draw a contour (line) which can be deformed by the user
OrientationMarkerWidget vtkAnnotatedCubeActor vtkOrientationWidget 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.
ScalarBarWidget vtkScalarBarWidget 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
SphereWidget vtkSphereWidget This 3D widget defines a sphere that can be interactively placed in a scene.
TextWidget vtkTextWidget Annotate a VTK image with movable text

Utilities

Example Name Classes Demonstrated Description Image
Delaunay2D vtkDelaunay2D
LUTUtilities vtkLookupTable vtkColorSeries A utility class for vtkLookupTable allowing you to output the table contents or to compare tables.

PyQt

Example Name Classes Demonstrated Description Image
EmbedInPyQt vtkRenderWindowInteractor Shows how to easily embed VTK in PyQt with QVTKRenderWindowInteractor, first example
EmbedInPyQt2 vtkRenderWindowInteractor Shows how to embed VTK in PyQt with QVTKRenderWindowInteractor, second example