VTK/Examples/Cxx/IO/ConvertFile

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.

ConvertFile.cxx

#include <vtkSmartPointer.h>
#include <vtkPolyData.h>
#include <vtkXMLPolyDataReader.h>
#include <vtkPLYWriter.h>
	
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
  if(argc < 3)
    {
    std::cerr << "Required arguments: input.vtp output.ply" << std::endl;
    return EXIT_FAILURE;
    }

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

  vtkSmartPointer<vtkXMLPolyDataReader> reader = vtkSmartPointer<vtkXMLPolyDataReader>::New();
  reader->SetFileName(inputFileName.c_str());
  reader->Update();

  vtkSmartPointer<vtkPLYWriter> writer = vtkSmartPointer<vtkPLYWriter>::New();
  writer->SetFileName(outputFileName.c_str());
  writer->SetInputConnection(reader->GetOutputPort());
  writer->Update();
  
  return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

Please try the new VTKExamples website.

CMakeLists.txt

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8)

PROJECT(ConvertFile)

find_package(VTK REQUIRED)
include(${VTK_USE_FILE})

add_executable(ConvertFile MACOSX_BUNDLE ConvertFile.cxx)

if(VTK_LIBRARIES)
  target_link_libraries(ConvertFile ${VTK_LIBRARIES})
else()
  target_link_libraries(ConvertFile vtkHybrid vtkWidgets)
endif()

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