Using VTKWidget (interactive widget in 3D)

A step by step on how to add an interactive 3D VTK widget in the default 3D viewer in an action.

VTK widgets are useful for 3D interactive actions. They can be easily added in CamiTK actions. This page gives you a step by step to add an interactive VTK widget in the default 3D viewer in an action.

Creating a class for your widget

The first step is the creation of a class for the VTK widget. This class must inherit from the vtkCommand class.

Example with a vtkImplicitPlaneWidget :

using namespace camitk;
class PlaneWidget : public vtkCommand {
    public:
        PlaneWidget();
        virtual ~PlaneWidget();
        vtkSmartPointer<vtkImplicitPlaneWidget> planeWidget; // Your VTK Widget
        virtual void Execute(vtkObject *caller, unsigned long, void *); // Inherited from vtkCommand
};

Adding your widget to your CamiTK action

Once your VTK widget is created, you need to add it in your header file :

class YourAction : public camitk::Action {
    public:
        YourAction(ActionExtension *); // The constructor.
        virtual QWidget *getWidget(); // Method called when the action when the action is triggered (i.e. started).
    public slots:
        virtual ApplyStatus apply(); // Method called when the action is applied.
    private:
        PlaneWidget *widget; // Your widget
};

Then, you must implement the getWidget() method :

QWidget *YourAction::getWidget() {
    // Creating the clipping plane widget (the first time getWidget() is called)
    if(!widget->planeWidget) {
        vtkRenderWindowInteractor *iren = InteractiveViewer::get3DViewer()->getRendererWidget()->GetRenderWindow()->GetInteractor();
        widget->planeWidget = vtkSmartPointer < vtkImplicitPlaneWidget >::New();
        widget->planeWidget->SetInteractor(iren);

        // Set the properties of the widget
        ...

        widget->planeWidget->AddObserver(vtkCommand::EndInteractionEvent,this->widget);
    }
    return Action::getWidget();
}