# ParticleReader

VTKExamples/Cxx/IO/ParticleReader

### Description

This example reads ascii files where each line consists of points with its position (x,y,z) and (optionally) one scalar or binary files in RAW 3d file format.

### Code

ParticleReader.cxx

    //
    // This example reads ascii files where each line consists of points with its position (x,y,z)
    // and (optionally) one scalar or binary files in RAW 3d file format.
    //
    // some standard vtk headers
    #include <vtkSmartPointer.h>
    #include <vtkRenderWindow.h>
    #include <vtkRenderWindowInteractor.h>
    #include <vtkRenderer.h>
    #include <vtkActor.h>
    #include <vtkProperty.h>

    // headers needed for this example
    #include <vtkParticleReader.h>
    #include <vtkPolyDataMapper.h>

    // needed to easily convert int to std::string
    int main(int argc, char* argv[])
    {
       // Verify input arguments
       if ( argc != 2 )
       {
          std::cout << "Usage: " << argv[0]
          << " Filename(.raw)" << std::endl;
          return EXIT_FAILURE;
       }

       std::string filePath = argv[1];
       // Particles.raw supplied by VTK is big endian encoded
       //std::string filePath = "C:\\VTK\\vtkdata-5.8.0\\Data\\Particles.raw";
       // Read the file
       vtkSmartPointer<vtkParticleReader> reader =
          vtkSmartPointer<vtkParticleReader>::New();

       reader->SetFileName ( filePath.c_str() );
       // if nothing gets displayed or totally wrong, swap the endianness
       reader->SetDataByteOrderToBigEndian();
       reader->Update();

       // Visualize
       vtkSmartPointer<vtkPolyDataMapper> mapper =
          vtkSmartPointer<vtkPolyDataMapper>::New();
       mapper->SetInputConnection(reader->GetOutputPort());
       std::cout << "number of pieces: " << mapper->GetNumberOfPieces() << std::endl;
       mapper->SetScalarRange(4, 9);

       vtkSmartPointer<vtkActor> actor =
          vtkSmartPointer<vtkActor>::New();

       actor->SetMapper(mapper);
       actor->GetProperty()->SetPointSize(4);

       vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderer> renderer =
          vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderer>::New();
       vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderWindow> renderWindow =
          vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderWindow>::New();
       renderWindow->AddRenderer(renderer);
       vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderWindowInteractor> renderWindowInteractor =
          vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderWindowInteractor>::New();
       renderWindowInteractor->SetRenderWindow(renderWindow);

       renderer->AddActor(actor);
       renderer->SetBackground(.2, .3, .4);

       renderWindow->Render();
       renderWindowInteractor->Start();

       return EXIT_SUCCESS;
    }

### CMakeLists.txt

    cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8)

    PROJECT(ParticleReader)

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

    add_executable(ParticleReader MACOSX_BUNDLE ParticleReader.cxx )

    target_link_libraries(ParticleReader ${VTK_LIBRARIES})

### Download and Build ParticleReader

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

    cd ParticleReader/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:

    ./ParticleReader

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.