The Visualization Toolkit from Kitware is an open source project. This page is a manual for echocardiographers with programming experience in C++.
VTK is a freely available C++ library for 3D graphics and visualization.
Visualization data flows through a pipeline consisting of modules that perform operations on the data.
The pipeline can begin with a source object. A source object can read an echo image stack (obtained by pulling back a transesophageal echo probe, rotating a scanning plane, or performing a transthoracic transducer sweep). The source object can also generate its own data (a sphere, a cone, or a more complex model of cardiac anatomy created using a CAD program).
The pipeline works by passing output from the source to the next process. Filters and mappers can be used in the pipeline with the final output being a stereolithography file that can represent cardiac anatomy.
In addition to the C++ classes, VTK provides wrappers for scripting languages such as TCL and Python. Scripting eliminates the compile process and can shorten development and testing.
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e-mail:shindler@umdnj.edu
The contents and links on this page were last verified on October 23, 2002.