Creating Widgets

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Goal

In this tutorial you will learn how to

• Create your own widgets using WidgetAccessor and VTK.
• Show your widget in the visualization window.

Code

You can download the code from here.

 
#ifndef USE_VTK
#include <iostream>
int main()
{
 std::cout << "This sample requires direct compilation with VTK. Stop" << std::endl;
 return 0;
}
#else
#include <opencv2/viz.hpp>
#include <opencv2/viz/widget_accessor.hpp>
#include <iostream>
 
#include <vtkPoints.h>
#include <vtkTriangle.h>
#include <vtkCellArray.h>
#include <vtkPolyData.h>
#include <vtkPolyDataMapper.h>
#include <vtkIdList.h>
#include <vtkActor.h>
#include <vtkProp.h>
 
using namespace cv;
using namespace std;
 
static void help()
{
 cout
 << "--------------------------------------------------------------------------" << endl
 << "This program shows how to create a custom widget. You can create your own "
 << "widgets by extending Widget2D/Widget3D, and with the help of WidgetAccessor." << endl
 << "Usage:" << endl
 << "./creating_widgets" << endl
 << endl;
}
 
class WTriangle : public viz::Widget3D
{
 public:
 WTriangle(const Point3f &pt1, const Point3f &pt2, const Point3f &pt3, const viz::Color & color = viz::Color::white());
};
 
WTriangle::WTriangle(const Point3f &pt1, const Point3f &pt2, const Point3f &pt3, const viz::Color & color)
{
 // Create a triangle
 vtkSmartPointer<vtkPoints> points = vtkSmartPointer<vtkPoints>::New();
 points->InsertNextPoint(pt1.x, pt1.y, pt1.z);
 points->InsertNextPoint(pt2.x, pt2.y, pt2.z);
 points->InsertNextPoint(pt3.x, pt3.y, pt3.z);
 
 vtkSmartPointer<vtkTriangle> triangle = vtkSmartPointer<vtkTriangle>::New();
 triangle->GetPointIds()->SetId(0,0);
 triangle->GetPointIds()->SetId(1,1);
 triangle->GetPointIds()->SetId(2,2);
 
 vtkSmartPointer<vtkCellArray> cells = vtkSmartPointer<vtkCellArray>::New();
 cells->InsertNextCell(triangle);
 
 // Create a polydata object
 vtkSmartPointer<vtkPolyData> polyData = vtkSmartPointer<vtkPolyData>::New();
 
 // Add the geometry and topology to the polydata
 polyData->SetPoints(points);
 polyData->SetPolys(cells);
 
 // Create mapper and actor
 vtkSmartPointer<vtkPolyDataMapper> mapper = vtkSmartPointer<vtkPolyDataMapper>::New();
#if VTK_MAJOR_VERSION <= 5
 mapper->SetInput(polyData);
#else
 mapper->SetInputData(polyData);
#endif
 
 vtkSmartPointer<vtkActor> actor = vtkSmartPointer<vtkActor>::New();
 actor->SetMapper(mapper);
 
 // Store this actor in the widget in order that visualizer can access it
 viz::WidgetAccessor::setProp(*this, actor);
 
 // Set the color of the widget. This has to be called after WidgetAccessor.
 setColor(color);
}
 
int main()
{
 help();
 
 viz::Viz3d myWindow("Creating Widgets");
 
 WTriangle tw(Point3f(0.0,0.0,0.0), Point3f(1.0,1.0,1.0), Point3f(0.0,1.0,0.0), viz::Color::red());
 
 myWindow.showWidget("TRIANGLE", tw);
 
 myWindow.spin();
 
 return 0;
}
#endif

Explanation

Here is the general structure of the program:

• Extend Widget3D class to create a new 3D widget.

  class WTriangle : public viz::Widget3D
  {
   public:
   WTriangle(const Point3f &pt1, const Point3f &pt2, const Point3f &pt3, const viz::Color & color = viz::Color::white());
  };

• Assign a VTK actor to the widget.

  // Store this actor in the widget in order that visualizer can access it
  viz::WidgetAccessor::setProp(*this, actor);

• Set color of the widget.

  // Set the color of the widget. This has to be called after WidgetAccessor.
  setColor(color);

• Construct a triangle widget and display it in the window.

   
  WTriangle tw(Point3f(0.0,0.0,0.0), Point3f(1.0,1.0,1.0), Point3f(0.0,1.0,0.0), viz::Color::red());
   
  myWindow.showWidget("TRIANGLE", tw);

Results

Here is the result of the program.