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!

Hello World¶

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

Simple Operations¶

Input and Output¶

Graph Formats¶

3D File Formats¶

Standard Formats¶

Input¶

Example Name	Classes Demonstrated	Description	Image
ReadSLC(cxx)	vtkSLCReader	Read an SLC file.
ReadSTL(cxx)	vtkSTLReader	Read an STL file.
ReadVTP	vtkXMLPolyDataReader	Needs fixing.
ReadUnstructuredGrid(cxx)	vtkUnstructuredGridReader	Using vtkUnstructuredGridReader to read a (legacy) *.vtk file

Importers¶

Example Name	Classes Demonstrated	Description	Image
3DSImporter(cxx)	vtk3DSImporter	Import a 3D Studio scene that includes multiple actors.

Output¶

Example Name	Classes Demonstrated	Description	Image
WritePLY(cxx)	vtkPLYWriter
WriteSTL(cxx)	vtkSTLWriter

VTK Formats¶

Input¶

Output¶

Legacy VTK Formats¶

Example Name	Classes Demonstrated	Description	Image
ReadLegacyUnstructuredGrid(cxx)	vtkUnstructuredGridReader	Read an unstructured grid that contains 11 linear cells.
WriteLegacyLinearCells(cxx)	vtkUnstructuredGridWriter	Write each linear cell into a legacy UnstructuredGrid file.
WriteXMLLinearCells(cxx)	vtkXMLDataSetWriter	Write each linear cell into an XML UnstructuredGrid file (.vtu).

Image Format¶

Input¶

Output¶

Example Name	Classes Demonstrated	Description	Image
ImageWriter(cxx)	vtkBMPWriter vtkJPEGWriter vtkPNMWriter vtkPostScriptWriter vtkTIFFWriter vtkPNGWriter vtkWindowToImageFilter	Write an imagefile based on the file extension.

Geometric Objects¶

Example Name	Classes Demonstrated	Description	Image
Axes(cxx)	vtkAxesActor
ColoredLines(cxx)	vtkCellData vtkLine
Circle(cxx)	vtkRegularPolygonSource	A disk is shown however this can be modified to show a circle.
Dodecahedron(cxx)	vtkPolyhedron	Create a dodecahedron using vtkPolyhedron.
EllipticalCylinder(cxx)	vtkLinearExtrusionFilter	Create an elliptical cylinder using extrusion.
EllipticalCylinderDemo(cxx)	vtkLinearExtrusionFilter	Show the base and extrusion vector.
GeometricObjectsDemo(cxx)
Planes(cxx)	vtkPlanes vtkHull	We create a convex hull of the planes for display purposes.
PlanesIntersection(cxx)	vtkPlanesIntersection
PolygonIntersection(cxx)	vtkPolygon	IntersectWithLine()
SourceObjectsDemo(cxx)	vtkSphereSource vtkConeSource vtkCylinderSource vtkCubeSource vtkPlaneSource vtkTextSource vtkPointSource vtkDiskSource vtkLineSource	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	Classes Demonstrated	Description	Image
Cell3DDemonstration(cxx)	vtkHexagonalPrism vtkHexahedron vtkPentagonalPrism vtkPolyhedron vtkPyramid vtkTetra vtkVoxel vtkWedge vtkUnstructuredGrid	Sample objects are generated from the classes derived from vtkCell3D and displayed.
CellTypeSource(cxx)	vtkCellTypeSource vtkTessellatorFilter	Generate tessellated cells.
ConvexPointSet(cxx)	vtkConvexPointSet	Generate a ConvexPointSetCell.
Hexahedron(cxx)	vtkHexahedron
LinearCellDemo(cxx)	vtkCell vtkCell3D	Linear cell types in VTK.
LongLine(cxx)	vtkLine	Manually create a polyline.
Point(cxx)	vtkPoints
PolyLine(cxx)	vtkPolyLine
Polygon(cxx)	vtkPolygon
Polyhedron(cxx)	vtkPolyhedron	Create an unstructured grid representation of a polyhedron (cube) and write it out to a file.
Pyramid(cxx)	vtkPyramid
Quad(cxx)	vtkQuad
Tetrahedron(cxx)	vtkTetra
Triangle(cxx)	vtkTriangle
TriangleStrip(cxx)	vtkTriangleStrip
Vertex(cxx)	vtkVertex

Sources¶

Example Name	Classes Demonstrated	Description	Image
Arrow(cxx)	vtkArrowSource
Cone(cxx)	vtkConeSource
ConeA	vtkConeSource
Cube(cxx)	vtkCubeSource
Cube1	vtkCubeSource
Cylinder(cxx)	vtkCylinderSource
Disk(cxx)	vtkDiskSource	A circle with a hole in it.
Frustum(cxx)	vtkFrustumSource
Line(cxx)	vtkLineSource
OrientedArrow(cxx)	vtkArrowSource	Orient an arrow along an arbitrary vector.
OrientedCylinder(cxx)	vtkCylinderSource	Orient a cylinder along an arbitrary vector.
Plane(cxx)	vtkPlaneSource
PlatonicSolids(cxx)	vtkPlatonicSolidSource	All five platonic solids are displayed.
PolyLine1(cxx)	vtkPolyLine	This example demonstrates how to create a polygon through several ordered points.
RegularPolygonSource(cxx)	vtkRegularPolygonSource
Sphere(cxx)	vtkSphereSource
TessellatedBoxSource(cxx)	vtkTessellatedBoxSource	Generate a box with tessellated sides.
TextActor(cxx)	vtkTextActor	2D "HUD-type" text

Non Linear¶

Example Name	Classes Demonstrated	Description	Image
IsoparametricCellsDemo(cxx)	vtkNonLinearCell	Nonlinear isoparametric cell types in VTK.
QuadraticHexahedron(cxx)	vtkQuadraticHexahedron vtkTessellatorFilter	Create and tessellate a nonlinear cell.
QuadraticHexahedronDemo(cxx)	vtkQuadraticHexahedron vtkTessellatorFilter	Interactively adjust chord error.
QuadraticTetra(cxx)	vtkQuadraticTetra vtkTessellatorFilter	Create and tessellate a nonlinear cell.
QuadraticTetraDemo(cxx)	vtkQuadraticTetra vtkTessellatorFilter	Interactively adjust chord error.

Parametric Objects¶

Example Name	Classes Demonstrated	Description	Image
ParametricKuenDemo(cxx)	vtkParametricKuen	Interactively change the parameters for a Kuen Surface.
ParametricObjects(cxx)		Uncomment the object that you wish to be displayed.
ParametricObjectsDemo(cxx)	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.
ParametricObjectsDemo2(cxx)	vtkParametricBohemianDome vtkParametricBour vtkParametricCatalanMinimal vtkParametricHenneberg vtkParametricKuen vtkParametricPluckerConoid vtkParametricPseudosphere	Demonstration of additional vtkParametric* classes added by Tim Meehan. All the objects are displayed in a 4X2 array.
ParametricSuperEllipsoidDemo(cxx)	vtkParametricSuperEllipsoid	Interactively change the parameters for a SuperEllipsoid Surface.
ParametricSuperToroidDemo(cxx)	vtkParametricSuperToroid	Interactively change the parameters for a SuperToroid Surface.

Implicit Functions and Iso-surfaces¶

Example Name	Classes Demonstrated	Description	Image
Boolean	vtkImplicitBoolean	Demonstrate booleans of two different implicit functions
CutWithScalars(cxx)	vtkContourFilter	Cut a surface with scalars.
ExtractData(cxx)	vtkSampleFunction	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.
Hello(cxx)	vtkImplicitModeller	Implicit modelling used to thicken a stroked font.
IceCream(cxx)	vtkImplicitBoolean vtkSampleFunction	How to use boolean combinations of implicit functions to create a model of an ice cream cone.
ImplicitDataSet(cxx)	vtkImplicitDataSet	A cube is used to define an implicit function (through vtkImplicitDataSet) which is then used to clip a sphere.
ImplicitSphere(cxx)	vtkSphere	An implicit representation of a sphere.
Lorenz(cxx)	vtkContourFilter	Visualizing a Lorenz strange attractor by integrating the Lorenz equations in a volume.
MarchingCases(cxx)	vtkMarchingCubes	Explore the Marching Cubes cases.
MarchingCasesA(cxx)	vtkMarchingCubes	The 256 possible cases have been reduced to 15 cases using symmetry.
MarchingCasesB(cxx)	vtkMarchingCubes	Marching cubes complementary cases. Cases 3c, 6c, 7c, 10c, 12c and 13c are displayed.
MarchingCasesC(cxx)	vtkMarchingCubes	Marching cubes, case 3 is rotated 90 degrees about the y-axis with no label.
MarchingCasesD(cxx)	vtkMarchingCubes	Marching cubes, case 7 is rotated 180 degrees about the y-axis with no label.
Quadric	vtkQuadric	Create an ellipsoid using an implicit quadric
Sphere	vtkSphere	Demonstrate sampling of a sphere implicit function
SampleFunction(cxx)	vtkSampleFunction	Sample and visualize an implicit function.

Working with 3D Data¶

Example Name	Classes Demonstrated	Description	Image
BooleanOperationPolyDataFilter(cxx)	vtkBooleanOperationPolyDataFilter	This example performs a boolean operation (Intersection, Union, Difference) of two PolyData
Bottle(cxx)	vtkRotationalExtrusionFilter	Rotationally symmetric objects.
ColoredTriangle	vtkTriangle	Creates a file TriangleColored.vtp.
CombinePolyData(cxx)	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.
ExtractSelection(cxx)	vtkExtractSelection
ExtractSelectionCells(cxx)	vtkExtractSelection	Extract cell, select cell.
FilledPolygon	vtkCutter
Finance(cxx)	vtkGaussianSplatter	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(cxx)	vtkGaussianSplatter	Visualization of multidimensional financial data. The yellow surface represents the total data population. The red surface represents data points delinquent on loan payment.
ImplicitPolyDataDistance(cxx)	vtkImplicitPolyDataDistance
IterativeClosestPoints	vtkIterativeClosestPointTransform
LineOnMesh	vtkCellLocator vtkParametricSpline
MeshLabelImageColor	vtkDiscreteMarchingCubes
Outline(cxx)	vtkOutlineFilter
PolyDataContourToImageData(cxx)	vtkLinearExtrusionFilter vtkPolyDataToImageStencil
PolyDataToImageDataStencil	vtkPolyDataToImageStencil
RotationAroundLine(cxx)	vtkTransformPolyDataFilter
RuledSurfaceFilter(cxx)	vtkRuledSurfaceFilter
SmoothMeshGrid	vtkLoopSubdivisionFilter vtkButterflySubdivisionFilter
SolidColoredTriangle	vtkTriangle	Writes out a file TriangleSolidColor.vtp.
Spring(cxx)	vtkRotationalExtrusionFilter	Rotation in combination with linear displacement and radius variation.
TriangleColoredPoints(cxx)	vtkUnsignedCharArray
TriangleCornerVertices	vtkCellArray
TriangleCorners	vtkXMLPolyDataWriter
WarpVector(cxx)	vtkLine vtkDoubleArray vtkPolyData vtkWarpVector	This example warps/deflects a line.
WriteTriangleToFile	vtkTriangle

Data Types¶

Data Type Conversions¶

Point Cloud Operations¶

Example Name	Classes Demonstrated	Description	Image
PointSource	vtkPointSource

Working with Meshes¶

This section includes examples of manipulating meshes.

Example Name	Classes Demonstrated	Description	Image
ClipDataSetWithPolyData(cxx)	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.
DelaunayMesh(cxx)	vtkDelaunay2D vtkMinimalStandardRandomSequence vtkExtractEdges vtkGlyph3D vtkTubeFilter	Two-dimensional Delaunay triangulation of a random set of points. Points and edges are shown highlighted with sphere glyphs and tubes.

Clipping¶

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.

vtkImageData¶

Example Name	Classes Demonstrated	Description	Image
ImageWeightedSum(cxx)	vtkImageWeightedSum	Add two or more images.

Conversions¶

vtkStructuredGrid¶

Example Name	Classes Demonstrated	Description	Image
SGrid(cxx)	vtkStructuredGrid	Creating a structured grid dataset of a semi-cylinder. Vectors are created whose magnitude is proportional to radius and oriented in tangential direction.

vtkStructuredPoints¶

Example Name	Classes Demonstrated	Description	Image
Vol(cxx)	vtkStructuredPoints vtkContourFilter	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	Classes Demonstrated	Description	Image
RGrid(cxx)	vtkRectilinearGrid	Creating a rectilinear grid dataset. The coordinates along each axis are defined using an instance of vtkDataArray.
RectilinearGrid(cxx)	vtkRectilinearGrid	create a rectilinear grid

Working with Unstructured 3D Data¶

This section includes vtkUnstructuredGrid.

vtkUnstructuredGrid¶

Example Name	Classes Demonstrated	Description	Image
UGrid(cxx)	vtkUnstructuredGrid	Creation of an unstructured grid.

Registration¶

Medical¶

Example Name	Classes Demonstrated	Description	Image
MedicalDemo1(cxx)	vtkMarchingCubes	Create a skin surface from volume data
MedicalDemo2(cxx)	vtkMarchingCubes	Create a skin and bone surface from volume data
MedicalDemo3(cxx)	vtkMarchingCubes	Create skin, bone and slices from volume data
MedicalDemo4(cxx)	vtkFixedPointVolumeRayCastMapper	Create a volume rendering

Surface reconstruction¶

Utilities¶

Example Name	Classes Demonstrated	Description	Image
Delaunay2D(cxx)	vtkDelaunay2D
LUTUtilities(cxx)	vtkLookupTable vtkColorSeries	A utility class for vtkLookupTable allowing you to output the table contents or to compare tables.
MultipleViewports(cxx)	vtkRenderer::SetViewport
SaveSceneToFieldData(cxx)	vtkCamera	Save a vtkCamera's state in a vtkDataSet's vtkFieldData and restore it.
SaveSceneToFile(cxx)	vtkCamera	Save a vtkCamera's state in a file and restore it.
Screenshot(cxx)	vtkWindowToImageFilter
VTKVersion	vtkVersion
VTKWithNumpy	vtkImageImport
Variant(cxx)	vtkVariant

Arrays¶

Events¶

Math Operations¶

Graphs¶

Graph Conversions¶

Data Structures¶

Timing Demonstrations¶

KD-Tree¶

Oriented Bounding Box (OBB) Tree¶

Octree¶

Modified BSP Tree¶

HyperTreeGrid¶

VTK Concepts¶

Rendering¶

Example Name	Classes Demonstrated	Description	Image
CameraBlur(cxx)		Example of a scene rendered with focal depth.
ColoredSphere(cxx)	vtkSphereSource vtkElevationFilter	A simple sphere.
Cone3(cxx)	vtkRenderWindow	Four frames of output, based on the VTK example Cone3.py.
Cone4(cxx)	vtkRenderWindow	Modifying properties and transformation matrix based on the VTK example Cone4.py.
DottedLine		This needs a re-work, see StippledLine.cxx
FlatVersusGouraud(cxx)	vtkProperty::SetInterpolationToFlat vtkProperty::SetInterpolationToGouraud	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.
Mace(cxx)		An example of multiple inputs and outputs.
Model(cxx)	vtkRenderer vtkRenderWindow vtkRenderWindowInteractor	Illustrative diagram of graphics objects.
MotionBlur(cxx)	vtkRenderStepsPass vtkSimpleMotionBlurPass	Example of motion blur.
Rainbow(cxx)	vtkLookupTable	Use and manipulation of vtkLookupTables.
Rotations(cxx)	vtkActor::RotateX,Y,Z vtkRenderer::EraseOff	Rotations of a cow about her axes.
RotationsA(cxx)	vtkActor::RotateX,Y,Z vtkRenderer::EraseOff	Perform six rotations of a cow about her x-axis (Figure 3-31a).
RotationsB(cxx)	vtkActor::RotateX,Y,Z vtkRenderer::EraseOff	Perform six rotations of a cow about her y-axis (Figure 3-31b).
RotationsC(cxx)	vtkActor::RotateX,Y,Z vtkRenderer::EraseOff	Perform six rotations of a cow about her z-axis (Figure 3-31c).
RotationsD(cxx)	vtkActor::RotateX,Y,Z vtkRenderer::EraseOff	First a rotation of a cow about her x-axis, then six rotations about her y-axis (Figure 3-31d).
SpecularSpheres(cxx)	vtkProperty	Demonstrates the effect of specular lighting on spheres.
StripFran(cxx)	vtkDecimatePro vtkStripper	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(cxx)	vtkSphereSource vtkElevationFilter vtkTransform vkTransformFilter	The addition of a transform filter to ColoredSphere.
WalkCow(cxx)	vtkBYUReader vtkRenderWindow::EraseOff() vtkActor	This generates Figs. 3-32, 3-33 found in VTKTextbook.pdf.
WalkCowA(cxx)	vtkBYUReader vtkRenderWindow::EraseOff() vtkActor	This generates Fig. 3-33a found in VTKTextbook.pdf.
WalkCowB(cxx)	vtkBYUReader vtkRenderWindow::EraseOff() vtkActor	This generates Fig. 3-33b found in VTKTextbook.pdf.

Lighting¶

Texture Mapping¶

Example Name	Classes Demonstrated	Description	Image
AnimateVectors(cxx)	vtkTexture vtkGlyph3D	One frame from a vector field animation using texture maps.
TextureCutQuadric(cxx)	vtkBooleanTexture vtkImplicitTextureCoords	Cut a quadric with boolean textures.
TextureCutSphere(cxx)	vtkImplicitTextureCoords	Examples of texture thresholding. (b) Boolean combination of two planes to cut nested spheres.
TexturePlane(cxx)	vtkTexture	Example of texture mapping.
TextureThreshold(cxx)	vtkTexture vtkThresholdTextureCoords vtkStructuredGridGeometryFilter	Demonstrate the use of scalar thresholds to show values of flow density on three planes.

Visualization¶

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

Example Name	Classes Demonstrated	Description	Image
AlphaFrequency(cxx)	vtkLinearExtrusionFilter vtkVectorText	Linearly extrude fonts to show letter frequencies in text.
AnatomicalOrientation(cxx)	vtkAnnotatedCubeActor vtkAxesActor vtkOrientationMarkerWidget vtkTransform	Show a labelled set of anatomical planes transecting a human figure.
AssignCellColorsFromLUT(cxx)	vtkNamedColors vtkPlaneSource vtkLookupTable vtkColorTransferFunction	Demonstrates how to assign colors to cells in a vtkPolyData structure using lookup tables.
BlobbyLogo(cxx)	vtkImplicitModeller	A logo created with vtkImplicitModeller.
Blow(cxx)	vtkUnstructuredGridReader vtkWarpVector vtkConnectivityFilter	Ten frames from a blow molding finite element analysis.
BluntStreamlines(cxx)	vtkStructuredGridGeometryFilter vtkStreamTracer	Demonstrates airflow around a blunt fin using streamlines.
Camera(cxx)	vtkCamera	Positioning and aiming the camera.
CameraModel1(cxx)	vtkCameraActor	Illustrate camera movement.
CameraModel2(cxx)	vtkCameraActor	Illustrate camera movement.
CarotidFlow(cxx)	vtkStreamTracer vtkThresholdPoints	Visualizing blood flow in the human carotid arteries. Streamtubes of flow velocity are generated.
CarotidFlowGlyphs(cxx)	vtkGlyph3D vtkThresholdPoints	Visualizing blood flow in human carotid arteries. Cone glyphs indicate flow direction and magnitude.
ClampGlyphSizes	vtkGlyph3D	Use vtkGlyph3D with ClampingOn to limit glyph sizes
ClipSphereCylinder(cxx)	vtkImplicitBoolean vtkClipPolyData	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.
ColorActor	vtkActor::GetProperty()::SetColor	Colour the actor.
CombustorIsosurface(cxx)	vtkContourFilter	Marching cubes surface of flow density.
ComplexV(cxx)	vtkHedgeHog	ComplexV from the VTK Textbook.
ContourQuadric(cxx)	vtkQuadric vtkSampleFunction vtkContourFilter	Contouring a quadric function.
CreateBFont(cxx)	vtkClipPolyData vtkImageDataGeometryFilter	A scanned image clipped with a scalar value of 1/2 its maximum intensity produces a mixture of quadrilaterals and triangles.
CreateColorSeriesDemo(cxx)	vtkColorSeries vtkLookupTable	Create a custom vtkColorSeries.
CubeAxesActor(cxx)	vtkCubeAxesActor
CurvatureBandsWithGlyphs(cxx)	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.
CutStructuredGrid(cxx)	vtkCutter	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(cxx)	vtkCutter	How to use vtkCutter by cutting through a cube.
DataSetSurface(cxx)	vtkDataSetSurfaceFilter	Cutting a hexahedron with a plane. The red line on the surface shows the cut.
DecimateFran(cxx)	vtkDecimatePro	Examples of decimation algorithm. (a) Decimation of laser digitizer data.
DecimateHawaii(cxx)	vtkDecimatePro	Examples of decimation algorithm. (b) Decimation of terrain data.
DisplacementPlot(cxx)	vtkColorTransferFunction vtkWarpVector vtkVectorDot	Show modal lines for a vibrating beam.
DisplayCoordinateAxes(cxx)	vtkOrientationMarkerWidget	Display coordinate axes.
ElevationBandsWithGlyphs(cxx)	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.
ExponentialCosine(cxx)	vtkWarpScalar	Carpet plots. Visualization of an exponential cosine function. Function values are indicated by surface displacement. Colors indicate derivative values.
FlyingFrogSkinAndTissue(cxx)	vtkMetaImageReader vtkFlyingEdges3D vtkWindowedSincPolyDataFilter vtkImageGaussianSmooth	All frog parts and translucent skin.
FlyingHeadSlice(cxx)	vtkFlyingEdges2D	Flying edges used to generate contour lines.
FrogSlice(cxx)	vtkMetaImageReader	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.
GlyphTable	vtkGlyph3D	Vary the shapes of glyphed points using a glyph table
Hanoi(cxx)		Towers of Hanoi.
HanoiInitial(cxx)		Towers of Hanoi - Initial configuration.
HanoiIntermediate(cxx)		Towers of Hanoi - Intermediate configuration.
HardwareSelector	vtkHardwareSelector
Hawaii(cxx)	vtkElevationFilter vtkColorSeries vtkLookupTable	Visualize elevations by coloring the scalar values with a lookup table.
HeadBone(cxx)	vtkMarchingCubes	Marching cubes surface of human bone.
HeadSlice(cxx)	vtkContourFilter	Marching squares used to generate contour lines.
HyperStreamline(cxx)	vtkHyperStreamline	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.
InteractorStyleTrackballActor	vtkInteractorStyleTrackBallActor
InteractorStyleTrackballCamera	vtkInteractorStyleTrackBallCamera
IronIsoSurface(cxx)	vtkContourFilter	Marching cubes surface of iron-protein.
Kitchen(cxx)	vtkStreamTracer vtkStructuredGrid	Demonstrates stream tracing in a kitchen.
KochSnowflake(cxx)	vtkPolyData vtkCellArray vtkPoints vtkPolyLine	This example draws a Koch snowflake fractal using recursive functions and some of the convenient tools in the toolkit.
LOx(cxx)	vtkStreamTracer vtkTubeFilter	Streamtubes created by using the computational grid just in front of the post as a source for seeds.
LOxGrid(cxx)	vtkStreamTracer vtkTubeFilter	Portion of computational grid for the LOx post.
LOxSeeds(cxx)	vtkStreamTracer vtkTubeFilter	Streamlines seeded with spherical cloud of points. Four separate cloud positions are shown.
LoopShrink(cxx)		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.
Motor(cxx)	vtkBYUReader vtkStructuredPointsReader vtkTexture vtkImplicitTextureCoords	Texture cut used to reveal internal structure of a motor. Two cut planes are used in combination with transparent texture.
NamedColorPatches(cxx)	vtkNamedColors	Creates a HTML file called VTKNamedColorPatches
NamedColors(cxx)	vtkNamedColors	Demonstrates how to use the vtkNamedColors class.
NormalsDemo(cxx)	vtkPolyDataNormals	Demo different options to generate normals.
Office(cxx)	vtkPointSource vtkStreamTracer	Using random point seeds to create streamlines.
OfficeA(cxx)	vtkPointSource vtkStreamTracer	Corresponds to Fig 9-47(a) in the VTK textbook.
OfficeTube(cxx)	vtkStreamTracer vtkTubeFilter	The stream polygon. Sweeping a polygon to form a tube.
OrientedGlyphs(cxx)	vtkGlyph3D	Create oriented glyphs from vector data.
PineRootConnectivity(cxx)	vtkMCubesReader vtkPolyDataConnectivityFilter	Applying the connectivity filter to remove noisy isosurfaces.
PineRootConnectivityA(cxx)	vtkMCubesReader vtkPolyDataConnectivityFilter	The isosurface, with no connectivity filter applied.
PineRootDecimation(cxx)	vtkMCubesReader vtkDecimatePro vtkConnectivityFilter	Applying the decimation and connectivity filters to remove noisy isosurfaces and reduce data size.
PlateVibration(cxx)	vtkWarpVector vtkVectorDot	Demonstrates the motion of a vibrating beam.
PointDataSubdivision(cxx)	vtkLinearSubdivisionFilter	Vary the shapes of glyphed points using a programmable glyph filter
PointSize(cxx)	vtkActor
ProbeCombustor(cxx)	vtkProbeFilter	Probing data in a combustor. Probes are regular arrays of 50 by 50 points that are then passed through a contouring filter.
ProgrammableGlyphs	vtkProgrammableGlyphFilter	Generate programmable glyphs.
PseudoVolumeRendering(cxx)	vtkCutter vtkContourFilter	100 cut planes with opacity of 0.05. Rendered back-to-front to simulate volume rendering.
QuadraticSurface(cxx)	vtkQuadric
QuadricVisualization(cxx)	vtkQuadric vtkSampleFunction vtkContourFilter	Visualizing a quadric function.
SingleSplat(cxx)	vtkGaussianSplatter	Elliptical splatting. (a) Single elliptical splat with eccentricity E=10. Cone shows orientation of vector.
SphereTexture	vtkTextureMapToSphere	Apply an ImageData texture to an sphere
SpikeFran(cxx)	vtkGlyph3D	Glyphs indicate surface normals on model of human face. Glyph positions are randomly selected.
SplatFace(cxx)	vtkGaussianSplatter	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(cxx)	vtkRibbonFilter vtkLinearExtrusionFilter	Two views from the stock visualization script. The top shows closing price over time; the bottom shows volume over time.
StreamLines(cxx)	vtkStreamLine	Seed streamlines with vectors from a structured grid
StreamlinesWithLineWidget(cxx)	vtkCallbackCommand vtkLineWidget	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.
TensorAxes(cxx)	vtkPointLoad vtkTensorGlyph	Display the scaled and oriented principal axes of the stress tensor.
TensorEllipsoids(cxx)	vtkPointLoad vtkTensorGlyph	Display the scaled and oriented principal axes as tensor ellipsoids representing the stress tensor.
TextSource(cxx)	vtkTextSource
UnstructuredTransientVolumeRendering	vtkUnstructuredGridVolumeRayCastMapper
VectorText(cxx)	vtkVectorText	Display high resolution text.
VelocityProfile(cxx)	vtkMultiBlockPLOT3DReader vtkStructuredGridGeometryFilter vtkAppendPolyData vtkWarpVector	Warping the geometry of three planes to show flow momentum.
ViewFrog(cxx)	vtkMetaImageReader vtkMarchingCubes vtkImageGaussianSmooth vtkWindowedSincPolyDataFilter	The complete frog without skin.
ViewFrogA(cxx)	vtkMetaImageReader vtkMarchingCubes vtkImageGaussianSmooth vtkWindowedSincPolyDataFilter	The complete frog without skin or skeleton.
ViewFrogBoth(cxx)	vtkMetaImageReader vtkMarchingCubes vtkImageGaussianSmooth vtkImageGaussianSmooth	The frog’s brain. Model extracted without smoothing (left) and with smoothing (right).
ViewFrogSkinAndTissue(cxx)	vtkMetaImageReader vtkMarchingCubes vtkWindowedSincPolyDataFilter vtkImageGaussianSmooth	All frog parts and translucent skin.
WarpCombustor(cxx)	vtkWarpScalar vtkMultiBlockPLOT3DReader	Carpet plots. Carpet plot of combustor flow energy in a structured grid. Colors and plane displacement represent energy values.
WindowTitle(cxx)	vtkRenderWindow::SetWindowName

Working with vtkImageData¶

Working with ExodusII Data¶

Graphs¶

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

Volume Rendering¶

Example Name	Classes Demonstrated	Description	Image
SimpleRayCast(cxx)	vtkFixedPointVolumeRayCastMapper	Volume rendering of a high potential iron protein.

User Interaction¶

Example Name	Classes Demonstrated	Description	Image
CallBack(cxx)	vtkCallbackCommand vtkOrientationMarkerWidget	Setting up a callback with client data. Two different methods are demonstrated.
HighlightPickedActor	vtkPropPicker vtkInteractorStyleTrackballCamera	Pick and highlight an actor based on mouse clicks.
MouseEvents(cxx)	vtkInteractorStyleTrackballCamera	Subclass the interactor style.
MouseEventsObserver(cxx)	vtkCallbackCommand	Use an observer.

Working with Images¶

Example Name	Classes Demonstrated	Description	Image
BackgroundImage(cxx)	vtkJPEGReader vtkImageCanvasSource2D vtkImageActor vtkSuperquadricSource	Display an image as the "background" of a scene, and render a superquadric in front of it.

Image Processing¶

Example Name	Classes Demonstrated	Description	Image
Attenuation(cxx)	vtkImageGaussianSmooth vtkImageMathematics vtkImageShiftScale	This MRI image illustrates attenuation that can occur due to sensor position. The artifact is removed by dividing by the attenuation profile determined manually.
EnhanceEdges(cxx)	vtkImageLaplacian vtkImageMathematics	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).
GaussianSmooth(cxx)	vtkImageGaussianSmooth	Low-pass filters can be implemented as convolution with a Gaussian kernel.
HybridMedianComparison(cxx)	vtkImageHybridMedian2D vtkImageMedian3D	Comparison of median and hybrid-median filters. The hybrid filter preserves corners and thin lines, better than the median filter.
IdealHighPass(cxx)	vtkImageFFT vtkImageRFFT vtkImageIdealHighPass vtkImageButterworthHighPass	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.
ImageGradient(cxx)	vtkImageMagnify vtkImageGaussianSmooth vtkImageGradient vtkImageEuclideanToPolar vtkImageExtractComponents vtkImageHSVToRGB	Create an imaging pipeline to visualize gradient information.
ImageWarp(cxx)	vtkBMPReader vtkImageLuminance vtkWarpScalar vtkMergeFilter	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(cxx)	vtkImageMarchingCubes vtkImageShrink3D vtkImageGaussianSmooth	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(cxx)	vtkImageGaussianSmooth vtkImageMedian3D vtkImageNoiseSource	Comparison of Gaussian and Median smoothing for reducing low-probability high-amplitude noise.
MorphologyComparison(cxx)	vtkImageDilateErode3D vtkImageSeedConnectivity	This figure demonstrates various binary filters that can alter the shape of segmented regions.
Pad(cxx)	vtkImageConstantPad vtkImageMirrorPad	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 lower-left image has been padded with zeros to eliminate wraparound during convolution. On the right, mirror padding has been used to remove artificial edges introduced by borders.
VTKSpectrum(cxx)	vtkImageFFT vtkImageFourierCenter vtkImageLogarithmicScale vtkImageMagnitude	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	Classes Demonstrated	Description	Image
BalloonWidget(cxx)	vtkBalloonWidget vtkBalloonRepresentation	Uses a vtkBalloonWidget to draw labels when the mouse stays above an actor.
BoxWidget(cxx)	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.
ContourWidget(cxx)	vtkContourWidget vtkOrientedGlyphContourRepresentation	Draw a contour (line) which can be deformed by the user
OrientationMarkerWidget(cxx)	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(cxx)	vtkSphereWidget	This 3D widget defines a sphere that can be interactively placed in a scene.
TextWidget(cxx)	vtkTextWidget	Annotate a VTK image with movable text

Plotting¶

Example Name	Classes Demonstrated	Description	Image
ScatterPlot(cxx)	vtkChartXY
SpiderPlot(cxx)	vtkSpiderPlotActor

Animation¶

Example Name	Classes Demonstrated	Description	Image
Animation(cxx)	vtkRenderWindowInteractor	Move a sphere across a scene.

Annotation¶

Geographic Visualization (Geovis)¶

Example Name	Classes Demonstrated	Description	Image
CompassWidget	vtkCompassWidget vtkCompassRepresentation	Draws an interactive compass.
GeoAssignCoordinates(cxx)	vtkGeoAssignCoordinates vtkMutableDirectedGraph vtkGraphMapper	Draws a sphere, based on longituds and latitudes.
ParallelCoordinatesView(cxx)	vtkRTAnalyticSource vtkParallelCoordinatesView vtkParallelCoordinatesRepresentation	Plotting data attributes in a Parallel Coordinates View

InfoVis¶

Example Name	Classes Demonstrated	Description	Image
ParallelCoordinatesExtraction	vtkExtractSelection vtkAnnotationLink	Extract data based on a selection in a Parallel Coordinates View
SelectedGraphIDs	vtkAnnotationLink vtkRandomGraphSource vtkGraphLayoutView	Callback on vtkAnnotationLink in a Graph Layout View when selection is changed

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