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rtVTK
0.6.0
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As noted, rtVTK leverages layered visualization within the spatial domain of computation, enabling investigators to explore the computational elements of any ray-based renderer. These renderers utilize the RL API to record and process ray state, and rtVTK utilizes a configurable pipeline of loosely coupled components, implemented as plugins, to allow run-time control of the resulting visualization.
rtVTK comes with two standard plugins that are always loaded on start-up. The first is an OpenGL renderer with the ability to show edge lines and alpha blend faces. The other is a OpenGL based renderer that takes ray data and displays it to show how rays interact with the scene. Both of these standard plugins are loaded and are placed the pipeline at start-up. They cannot be unloaded but can be removed from the pipeline. A default scene is also included with rtVTK which loads on start-up empowering you to see how it works without having your own scene to load. If you do have your own scene, load it by File->Load.
rtVTK uses a visualization pipeline design which enables the user to have as many plugins rendering as they would like and they can select the order the plugins draw so that the desired effect is achieved. To do this, click the Configure button under "Visualization Pipeline:" in the right-hand pane. That will bring up the Pipeline Configuration dialog box displaying the currently loaded plugins that are not running on the left and the current rendering pipeline on the right. Once you have all the renderers you would like running on the right you can drag them to put them in the desired order.
The pipeline also has the ability to idle the plugins in the pipeline. This is useful for progressive renderers that you may wish to watch converge rather than wait with a black screen until the image is converged.
You can change set what the default scene is that will be loaded on start-up in Edit->Set Default Scene. Be advised that the default scene you choose must reside in the scenes directory of the program directory; rtVTK looks for the default scene there when started and will not be able to load a scene with location other than the scenes directory. If you do not provide a valid default scene, you will simply get an error message and be asked to select a valid scene
You may add plugins by copying the plugins into the plugins directory. If rtVTK is open, restart the program. rtVTK scrapes the directory during start-up and adds the custom plugins to the Plugins->Load menu. From there you may load the plugin into the program and can add it to the visualization pipeline manually. To unload a plugin from the program, go to Plugins->Unload.
Removing custom plugins just requires you to remove them out from the plugins directory (when rtVTK is not running), but be sure that the default plugins (glRenderer and rlRenderer) continue to reside in that directory. The program will not function without them.
The right-hand window pane of rtVTK holds the controls for controlling the image displayed. At the top are tabs (one for each plugin having options) holding the individual controls for each plugin. Below the plugin options is the pipeline configure button containing the list of plugins and in what order. The idle checkbox turns idling on and off for progressive renderers. We recommend leaving idle unchecked if on battery power because of the heavy CPU utilization that idling mode could have, depending on the plugins in the pipeline.
Controlling the camera is easy. To control the rotation of the camera simply left-click inside the display window and drag. Zoom (Dolly) is controlled by right-clicking and dragging up-right for in and down-left for out. Holding the middle mouse button and dragging enables you to move the camera. The sensitivity for these movements can be adjusted in the Advanced Settings on the right-window pane.
Camera controls take up the rest of the right-hand pane. There are two rotation options. Rotate about focal point keeps the focal point always in the same spot and will rotate around that spot. Rotate about camera position acts like a first person camera, for example, when you move around the scene the focal point will change. (If you are having problems with this glRenderer displays the camera position and focal point at the bottom of the render window.)
All sliders in the Advanced Settings adjust the speed or strength of the camera movement. The reset camera button repositions the camera back to the original position and focus point defined by the view currently loaded.