ConvertFile

Description¶

This example demonstrates how to read a file and then write it to a different type of file. In this example, we read a vtp file and write a ply file, but simply by changing the reader/writer classes instantiated, different behavior can be achieved.

Other languages

See (Java), (CSharp)

Question

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

Code¶

ConvertFile.cxx

#include <vtkNew.h>
#include <vtkPLYWriter.h>
#include <vtkXMLPolyDataReader.h>

int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
  if (argc < 3)
  {
    std::cerr << "Required arguments: input.vtp output.ply e.g. Bunny.vtp "
                 "ConvertFile.ply"
              << std::endl;
    return EXIT_FAILURE;
  }

  std::string inputFileName = argv[1];
  std::string outputFileName = argv[2];

  vtkNew<vtkXMLPolyDataReader> reader;
  reader->SetFileName(inputFileName.c_str());
  reader->Update();

  vtkNew<vtkPLYWriter> writer;
  writer->SetFileName(outputFileName.c_str());
  writer->SetInputConnection(reader->GetOutputPort());
  writer->Update();

  return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

CMakeLists.txt¶

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.12 FATAL_ERROR)

project(ConvertFile)

find_package(VTK COMPONENTS 
)

if (NOT VTK_FOUND)
  message(FATAL_ERROR "ConvertFile: 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(ConvertFile MACOSX_BUNDLE ConvertFile.cxx )
  target_link_libraries(ConvertFile PRIVATE ${VTK_LIBRARIES}
)
# vtk_module_autoinit is needed
vtk_module_autoinit(
  TARGETS ConvertFile
  MODULES ${VTK_LIBRARIES}
)

Download and Build ConvertFile¶

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

cd ConvertFile/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:

./ConvertFile

WINDOWS USERS

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