<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Hi Femi,<div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Here are some steps to get your started. If you get stuck, send an email and will try to help you out.<br><div><br></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">Download VTK</span></b></div><div><br><div>You can start by going to <a href="http://www.vtk.org/get-software.php">http://www.vtk.org/get-software.php</a> and download the vtk sources. Download the <a href="http://www.vtk.org/files/release/5.2/vtk-5.2.1.zip">vtk-5.2.1.zip</a> package. Also download the VTK data for running the examples <a href="http://www.vtk.org/files/release/5.2/vtkdata-5.2.1.zip">vtkdata-5.2.1.zip.</a></div><div><br></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">Download CMake</span></b></div><div><br></div><div>The vtk system will require the CMake package to create makefiles for your specific platform or IDE (e.g. Microsoft Visual Studio). So go to <a href="http://www.cmake.org/cmake/resources/software.html">http://www.cmake.org/cmake/resources/software.html</a> and download the CMake installed <a href="http://www.cmake.org/files/v2.6/cmake-2.6.2-win32-x86.zip">cmake-2.6.2-win32-x86.zip</a> </div><div><br></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">Download ActiveTCL</span></b></div><div><br></div><div>Most of the VTK examples are written using tcl and C/C++. So, to quickly run some of the samples you will need to have TCL installed. You can download it from <a href="http://www.activestate.com/Products/activetcl/index.mhtml">http://www.activestate.com/Products/activetcl/index.mhtml</a>. Download the <a href="http://downloads.activestate.com/ActiveTcl/Windows/8.5.5/ActiveTcl8.5.5.0.287690-win32-ix86-threaded.exe">AS package</a> for Windows. </div><div><br></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">Build VTK from sources</span></b></div><div><br></div><div>VTK is a set of C++ classes, with wrappers provided to interface it with other interpreted languages like Tcl and Java. So, the core VTK classes run at native speed, even when interfaced with Tcl or Java. </div><div><br></div><div>You first need to compile the VTK sources and create the VTK libraries (either static or dynamic link libraries). VTK uses the CMake system, which is cross platform make system, to generate a platform specific make file, in your case for Windows, probably using Visual Studio. </div><div><br></div><div>When configuring VTK with CMake, you will provide options, such as whether you want to create the Tcl, Java or Python language bindings, etc. </div><div><br></div><div>See this link for more information on how to do this: <a href="http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~jli023/vtk/BuildandinstallVTKbinaries.htm">http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~jli023/vtk/BuildandinstallVTKbinaries.htm</a></div><div><br></div><div>Its a bit out-dated, but the overall procedure remains the same. </div><div><br></div><div>Once you complete this, CMake will create a Visual Studio project and you can open it and build the VTK libraries.</div><div><br></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">Using VTK</span></b></div><div><br></div><div>You can quickly check out the VTK examples by running the Tcl scripts, or you can compile one of the C/C++ examples. When trying to create a C/C++ VTK application, be aware that you need to specify the path to the required VTK include files and the VTK library files. </div><div><br></div><div>So, in essence, you need to write you C++ application that uses the VTK libraries, and link to those libraries.</div><div><br></div><div>At this stage, I would highly recommend ordering the VTK books. It is very nicely written and will save you a lot of time. VTK is a great system. The books you should consider buying are</div><div>a. The VTK User Guide</div><div>b. The Visualization Toolkit - 4th Edition. </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Best regards,</div><div><br></div><div>Elvis Dowson</div></div></div></body></html>