WriteSTL
VTKExamples/Cxx/IO/WriteSTL
Description¶
An [(file format)|STL file]]([wikipedia:STL) describes a triangulated three-dimensional surface by the unit normal and vertices (ordered by the right-hand rule) of the triangles. This example saves a 3D geometric data stored in a {{class|vtkPolyData}} to an STL file using {{class|vtkSTLWriter}}.
Code¶
WriteSTL.cxx
#include <vtkPolyData.h> #include <vtkSTLWriter.h> #include <vtkSTLReader.h> #include <vtkSphereSource.h> #include <vtkSmartPointer.h> #include <vtkPolyDataMapper.h> #include <vtkActor.h> #include <vtkRenderWindow.h> #include <vtkRenderer.h> #include <vtkRenderWindowInteractor.h> int main(int argc, char *argv[]) { if(argc != 2) { std::cout << "Required parameters: filename.stl" << std::endl; return EXIT_FAILURE; } std::string filename = argv[1]; vtkSmartPointer<vtkSphereSource> sphereSource = vtkSmartPointer<vtkSphereSource>::New(); sphereSource->Update(); vtkSmartPointer<vtkSTLWriter> stlWriter = vtkSmartPointer<vtkSTLWriter>::New(); stlWriter->SetFileName(filename.c_str()); stlWriter->SetInputConnection(sphereSource->GetOutputPort()); stlWriter->Write(); // Read and display for verification vtkSmartPointer<vtkSTLReader> reader = vtkSmartPointer<vtkSTLReader>::New(); reader->SetFileName(filename.c_str()); reader->Update(); vtkSmartPointer<vtkPolyDataMapper> mapper = vtkSmartPointer<vtkPolyDataMapper>::New(); mapper->SetInputConnection(sphereSource->GetOutputPort()); vtkSmartPointer<vtkActor> actor = vtkSmartPointer<vtkActor>::New(); actor->SetMapper(mapper); 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(.3, .6, .3); // Background color green renderWindow->Render(); renderWindowInteractor->Start(); return EXIT_SUCCESS; }
CMakeLists.txt¶
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8) PROJECT(WriteSTL) find_package(VTK REQUIRED) include(${VTK_USE_FILE}) add_executable(WriteSTL MACOSX_BUNDLE WriteSTL.cxx) target_link_libraries(WriteSTL ${VTK_LIBRARIES})
Download and Build WriteSTL¶
Danger
The generation of tar files has not been ported to the new VTKExamples. Some tarballs may be missing or out-of-date.
Click here to download WriteSTL and its CMakeLists.txt file. Once the tarball WriteSTL.tar has been downloaded and extracted,
cd WriteSTL/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:
./WriteSTL
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.