# VectorText

VTKExamples/Cxx/Visualization/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.

### Code

VectorText.cxx

    #include <vtkVectorText.h>
    #include <vtkPolyData.h>
    #include <vtkSmartPointer.h>
    #include <vtkPolyDataMapper.h>
    #include <vtkActor.h>
    #include <vtkRenderWindow.h>
    #include <vtkRenderer.h>
    #include <vtkRenderWindowInteractor.h>
    #include <vtkProperty.h>

    int main(int, char *[])
    {
      // Create text
      vtkSmartPointer<vtkVectorText> textSource =
        vtkSmartPointer<vtkVectorText>::New();
      textSource->SetText("Hello");
      textSource->Update();

      // Create a mapper and actor
      vtkSmartPointer<vtkPolyDataMapper> mapper =
        vtkSmartPointer<vtkPolyDataMapper>::New();
      mapper->SetInputConnection(textSource->GetOutputPort());

      vtkSmartPointer<vtkActor> actor =
        vtkSmartPointer<vtkActor>::New();
      actor->SetMapper(mapper);
      actor->GetProperty()->SetColor(1.0, 0.0, 0.0);

      // Create a renderer, render window, and interactor
      vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderer> renderer =
        vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderer>::New();
      vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderWindow> renderWindow =
        vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderWindow>::New();
      renderWindow->AddRenderer(renderer);
      vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderWindowInteractor> renderWindowInteractor =
        vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderWindowInteractor>::New();
      renderWindowInteractor->SetRenderWindow(renderWindow);

      // Add the actor to the scene
      renderer->AddActor(actor);
      renderer->SetBackground(1,1,1); // Background color white

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

      return EXIT_SUCCESS;
    }

### CMakeLists.txt

    cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8)

    PROJECT(VectorText)

    find_package(VTK REQUIRED)
    include(${VTK_USE_FILE})

    add_executable(VectorText MACOSX_BUNDLE VectorText.cxx )

    target_link_libraries(VectorText ${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 PLEASE NOTE: Be sure to add the VTK bin directory to your path. This will resolve the VTK dll's at run time.