# Welcome to VTK's documentation!

VTK is an open-source software system for image processing, 3D
graphics, volume rendering and visualization. VTK includes many
advanced algorithms (e.g., surface reconstruction, implicit modeling,
decimation) and rendering techniques (e.g., hardware-accelerated
volume rendering, LOD control).
VTK is used by academicians for teaching and research; by government
research institutions such as Los Alamos National Lab in the US or
CINECA in Italy; and by many commercial firms who use VTK to build or
extend products.
The origin of VTK is with the textbook "The Visualization Toolkit, an
Object-Oriented Approach to 3D Graphics" originally published by
Prentice Hall and now published by Kitware, Inc. (Third Edition ISBN
1-930934-07-6). VTK has grown (since its initial release in 1994) to a
world-wide user base in the commercial, academic, and research
communities.

```{toctree}
:maxdepth: 2
:caption: Contents
about
user_guide/index
developer_guide/index
```
