Skip to content


# AlignFrames

VTKEx/Cxx/PolyData/AlignFrames

Other languages

See (CSharp)

Question

If you have a simple question about this example contact us at VTKExProject If your question is more complex and may require extended discussion, please use the VTK Discourse Forum

### Code

AlignFrames.cxx

    #include <vtkLandmarkTransform.h>
    #include <vtkMath.h>
    #include <vtkPolyData.h>
    #include <vtkPoints.h>
    #include <vtkSmartPointer.h>
    #include <vtkTransform.h>
    #include <vtkVertexGlyphFilter.h>
    #include <vtkXMLPolyDataWriter.h>
    #include <vtkTransformFilter.h>

    struct Frame
    {
      Frame(float o[3], float x[3], float y[3], float z[3])
      {
        this->SetOrigin(o);
        this->SetXDirection(x);
        this->SetYDirection(y);
        this->SetZDirection(z);

        std::cout << "Origin: " << this->origin[0] << " " << this->origin[1] << " " << this->origin[2] << std::endl;
        std::cout << "xDirection: "<< this->xDirection[0] << " " << this->xDirection[1] << " " << this->xDirection[2] << std::endl;
        std::cout << "yDirection: "<< this->yDirection[0] << " " << this->yDirection[1] << " " << this->yDirection[2] << std::endl;
        std::cout << "zDirection: "<< this->zDirection[0] << " " << this->zDirection[1] << " " << this->zDirection[2] << std::endl;
      }

      void ApplyTransform(vtkTransform* transform, std::string filename)
      {
        vtkSmartPointer<vtkPolyData> polydata =
          vtkSmartPointer<vtkPolyData>::New();
        CreatePolydata(polydata);

        vtkSmartPointer<vtkTransformFilter> transformFilter =
          vtkSmartPointer<vtkTransformFilter>::New();
        transformFilter->SetInputData(polydata);
        transformFilter->SetTransform(transform);
        transformFilter->Update();

        vtkSmartPointer<vtkXMLPolyDataWriter> writer =
          vtkSmartPointer<vtkXMLPolyDataWriter>::New();
        writer->SetFileName(filename.c_str());
        writer->SetInputConnection(transformFilter->GetOutputPort());
        writer->Write();
      }

      void CreatePolydata(vtkPolyData* polydata)
      {
        vtkSmartPointer<vtkPoints> points =
          vtkSmartPointer<vtkPoints>::New();

        points->InsertNextPoint(this->origin);
        float x[3];
        vtkMath::Add(this->origin, this->xDirection, x);
        points->InsertNextPoint(x);
        float y[3];
        vtkMath::Add(this->origin, this->yDirection, y);
        points->InsertNextPoint(y);
        float z[3];
        vtkMath::Add(this->origin, this->zDirection, z);
        points->InsertNextPoint(z);

        polydata->SetPoints(points);

        vtkSmartPointer<vtkVertexGlyphFilter> vertexGlyphFilter =
          vtkSmartPointer<vtkVertexGlyphFilter>::New();
        vertexGlyphFilter->AddInputData(polydata);
        vertexGlyphFilter->Update();

        polydata->ShallowCopy(vertexGlyphFilter->GetOutput());
      }

      void Write(std::string filename)
      {
        vtkSmartPointer<vtkPolyData> polydata =
          vtkSmartPointer<vtkPolyData>::New();
        CreatePolydata(polydata);

        vtkSmartPointer<vtkXMLPolyDataWriter> writer =
          vtkSmartPointer<vtkXMLPolyDataWriter>::New();
        writer->SetFileName(filename.c_str());
        writer->SetInputData(polydata);
        writer->Write();
      }

      float origin[3];
      float xDirection[3];
      float yDirection[3];
      float zDirection[3];

      void SetOrigin(float o[3])
      {
        this->origin[0] = o[0];
        this->origin[1] = o[1];
        this->origin[2] = o[2];
      }

      void SetXDirection(float direction[3])
      {
        vtkMath::Normalize(direction);
        this->xDirection[0] = direction[0];
        this->xDirection[1] = direction[1];
        this->xDirection[2] = direction[2];
      }

      void SetYDirection(float direction[3])
      {
        vtkMath::Normalize(direction);
        this->yDirection[0] = direction[0];
        this->yDirection[1] = direction[1];
        this->yDirection[2] = direction[2];
      }

      void SetZDirection(float direction[3])
      {
        vtkMath::Normalize(direction);
        this->zDirection[0] = direction[0];
        this->zDirection[1] = direction[1];
        this->zDirection[2] = direction[2];
      }

    };

    void AlignFrames(Frame sourceFrame, Frame destinationFrame, vtkTransform* transform);

    int main(int, char *[])
    {
      float frame1origin[3] = {0,0,0};
      float frame1XDirection[3] = {1,0,0};
      float frame1YDirection[3] = {0,1,0};
      std::cout << frame1YDirection[0] << " " << frame1YDirection[1] << " " << frame1YDirection[2] << std::endl;
      float frame1ZDirection[3] = {0,0,1};
      Frame frame1(frame1origin, frame1XDirection, frame1YDirection, frame1ZDirection);
      frame1.Write("frame1.vtp");

      float frame2origin[3] = {0,0,0};
      float frame2XDirection[3] = {.707f,.707f,0};
      float frame2YDirection[3] = {-.707f,.707f,0};
      float frame2ZDirection[3] = {0,0,1};
      Frame frame2(frame2origin, frame2XDirection, frame2YDirection, frame2ZDirection);
      frame2.Write("frame2.vtp");

      vtkSmartPointer<vtkTransform> transform =
        vtkSmartPointer<vtkTransform>::New();
      AlignFrames(frame2, frame1, transform); // Brings frame2 to frame1

      //std::cout << *transform << std::endl;

      frame2.ApplyTransform(transform, "transformed.vtp");

      return EXIT_SUCCESS;
    }

    void AlignFrames(Frame sourceFrame, Frame targetFrame, vtkTransform* transform)
    {
      // This function takes two frames and finds the matrix M between them.

      vtkSmartPointer<vtkLandmarkTransform> landmarkTransform =
        vtkSmartPointer<vtkLandmarkTransform>::New();

      // Setup source points
      vtkSmartPointer<vtkPoints> sourcePoints =
        vtkSmartPointer<vtkPoints>::New();

      sourcePoints->InsertNextPoint(sourceFrame.origin);
      float sourceX[3];
      vtkMath::Add(sourceFrame.origin, sourceFrame.xDirection, sourceX);
      sourcePoints->InsertNextPoint(sourceX);
      float sourceY[3];
      vtkMath::Add(sourceFrame.origin, sourceFrame.yDirection, sourceY);
      sourcePoints->InsertNextPoint(sourceY);
      float sourceZ[3];
      vtkMath::Add(sourceFrame.origin, sourceFrame.zDirection, sourceZ);
      sourcePoints->InsertNextPoint(sourceZ);

      // Setup target points
      vtkSmartPointer<vtkPoints> targetPoints =
        vtkSmartPointer<vtkPoints>::New();

      targetPoints->InsertNextPoint(targetFrame.origin);
      float targetX[3];
      vtkMath::Add(targetFrame.origin, targetFrame.xDirection, targetX);
      targetPoints->InsertNextPoint(targetX);
      float targetY[3];
      vtkMath::Add(targetFrame.origin, targetFrame.yDirection, targetY);
      targetPoints->InsertNextPoint(targetY);
      float targetZ[3];
      vtkMath::Add(targetFrame.origin, targetFrame.zDirection, targetZ);
      targetPoints->InsertNextPoint(targetZ);

      landmarkTransform->SetSourceLandmarks(sourcePoints);
      landmarkTransform->SetTargetLandmarks(targetPoints);
      landmarkTransform->SetModeToRigidBody();
      landmarkTransform->Update();

      vtkMatrix4x4* M = landmarkTransform->GetMatrix();

      transform->SetMatrix(M);
    }

### CMakeLists.txt

    cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.3 FATAL_ERROR)

    project(AlignFrames)

    find_package(VTK COMPONENTS
      vtkCommonCore
      vtkCommonDataModel
      vtkCommonTransforms
      vtkFiltersGeneral
      vtkIOXML QUIET)
    if (NOT VTK_FOUND)
      message("Skipping AlignFrames: ${VTK_NOT_FOUND_MESSAGE}")
      return ()
    endif()
    message (STATUS "VTK_VERSION: ${VTK_VERSION}")
    if (VTK_VERSION VERSION_LESS "8.90.0")
      # old system
      include(${VTK_USE_FILE})
      add_executable(AlignFrames MACOSX_BUNDLE AlignFrames.cxx )
      target_link_libraries(AlignFrames PRIVATE ${VTK_LIBRARIES})
    else ()
      # include all components
      add_executable(AlignFrames MACOSX_BUNDLE AlignFrames.cxx )
      target_link_libraries(AlignFrames PRIVATE ${VTK_LIBRARIES})
      # vtk_module_autoinit is needed
      vtk_module_autoinit(
        TARGETS AlignFrames
        MODULES ${VTK_LIBRARIES}
        )
    endif ()

### Download and Build AlignFrames

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

    cd AlignFrames/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:

    ./AlignFrames

WINDOWS USERS

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