Arrow

vtk-examples/Cxx/GeometricObjects/Arrow

Description¶

vtkArrowSource object appends a cylinder to a cone to form an arrow.

The shaft base is always at (0,0,0). The arrow tip is always at (1,0,0). If "Invert" is true, then the ends are flipped i.e. tip is at (0,0,0) while base is at (1, 0, 0).

The resolution of the cone and shaft can be set and default to 6.

The radius of the cone and shaft can be set and default to 0.03 and 0.1. The length of the tip can also be set, and defaults to 0.35.

Other languages

See (Python), (Java), (CSharp)

Question

If you have a question about this example, please use the VTK Discourse Forum

Code¶

Arrow.cxx

#include <vtkActor.h>
#include <vtkArrowSource.h>
#include <vtkNamedColors.h>
#include <vtkNew.h>
#include <vtkPolyDataMapper.h>
#include <vtkRenderWindow.h>
#include <vtkRenderWindowInteractor.h>
#include <vtkRenderer.h>

int main(int, char*[])
{
  vtkNew<vtkNamedColors> colors;

  // Create an arrow.
  vtkNew<vtkArrowSource> arrowSource;
  // arrowSource->SetShaftRadius(1.0);
  // arrowSource->SetTipLength(1.0);
  arrowSource->Update();

  // Create a mapper and actor
  vtkNew<vtkPolyDataMapper> mapper;
  mapper->SetInputConnection(arrowSource->GetOutputPort());
  vtkNew<vtkActor> actor;
  actor->SetMapper(mapper);

  // Visualize
  vtkNew<vtkRenderer> renderer;
  vtkNew<vtkRenderWindow> renderWindow;
  renderWindow->SetWindowName("Arrow");
  renderWindow->AddRenderer(renderer);
  vtkNew<vtkRenderWindowInteractor> renderWindowInteractor;
  renderWindowInteractor->SetRenderWindow(renderWindow);

  renderer->AddActor(actor);
  renderer->SetBackground(colors->GetColor3d("MidnightBlue").GetData());

  renderWindow->SetWindowName("Arrow");
  renderWindow->Render();
  renderWindowInteractor->Start();

  return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

CMakeLists.txt¶

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.12 FATAL_ERROR)

project(Arrow)

find_package(VTK COMPONENTS 
)

if (NOT VTK_FOUND)
  message(FATAL_ERROR "Arrow: Unable to find the VTK build folder.")
endif()

# Prevent a "command line is too long" failure in Windows.
set(CMAKE_NINJA_FORCE_RESPONSE_FILE "ON" CACHE BOOL "Force Ninja to use response files.")
add_executable(Arrow MACOSX_BUNDLE Arrow.cxx )
  target_link_libraries(Arrow PRIVATE ${VTK_LIBRARIES}
)
# vtk_module_autoinit is needed
vtk_module_autoinit(
  TARGETS Arrow
  MODULES ${VTK_LIBRARIES}
)

Download and Build Arrow¶

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

cd Arrow/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:

./Arrow

WINDOWS USERS

Be sure to add the VTK bin directory to your path. This will resolve the VTK dll's at run time.