How to save a VTK render as a .vtk or .stl?

Question

I have created a render of a 3D network initially created in Networkx, however now that I have this render I would ultimately like to export it as a single .stl file. From the code below, how would I be able to combine the glyph, tubes, ball into one file. If it is not possible to export to .stl, .vtk would be fine too as it could be converted in Paraview.

    np[n]=node_pos[n] 
nodePoints = vtk.vtkPoints() 

i=0 

for (x,y,z) in np.values(): 
    nodePoints.InsertPoint(i, x, y, z) 
    i=i+1 

# Create a polydata to be glyphed. 
inputData = vtk.vtkPolyData() 
inputData.SetPoints(nodePoints) 

# Use sphere as glyph source. 
balls = vtk.vtkSphereSource() 
balls.SetRadius(.1) 
balls.SetPhiResolution(20) 
balls.SetThetaResolution(20) 

glyphPoints = vtk.vtkGlyph3D() 
glyphPoints.SetInputData(inputData) 
glyphPoints.SetSourceData(balls.GetOutput()) 

glyphMapper = vtk.vtkPolyDataMapper() 
glyphMapper.SetInputData(glyphPoints.GetOutput()) 

glyph = vtk.vtkActor() 
glyph.SetMapper(glyphMapper) 
glyph.GetProperty().SetDiffuseColor(plum) 
glyph.GetProperty().SetSpecular(.3) 
glyph.GetProperty().SetSpecularPower(30) 

# Generate the polyline for the spline. 
points = vtk.vtkPoints() 
edgeData = vtk.vtkPolyData() 

# Edges 

lines = vtk.vtkCellArray() 
i=0 
for e in G.edges: 

    u=e[0] 
    v=e[1] 

    lines.InsertNextCell(2) 

    for n in (u,v): 
        (x,y,z)=node_pos[n] 
        points.InsertPoint(i, x, y, z) 
        lines.InsertCellPoint(i) 
        i=i+1 

edgeData.SetPoints(points) 
edgeData.SetLines(lines) 


Tubes = vtk.vtkTubeFilter() 
Tubes.SetNumberOfSides(16) 
Tubes.SetInputData(edgeData) 
Tubes.SetRadius(0.05)       # edge RADIUS 

profileMapper = vtk.vtkPolyDataMapper() 
profileMapper.SetInputData(Tubes.GetOutput()) 

balls.Update()

glyphPoints.Update()

Tubes.Update()    


profile = vtk.vtkActor() 
profile.SetMapper(profileMapper) 
profile.GetProperty().SetDiffuseColor(banana) 
profile.GetProperty().SetSpecular(.3) 
profile.GetProperty().SetSpecularPower(30) 


ren = vtk.vtkRenderer() 
renWin = vtk.vtkRenderWindow() 
renWin.AddRenderer(ren) 

iren = vtk.vtkRenderWindowInteractor() 
iren.SetRenderWindow(renWin) 

ren.AddActor(glyph) 
ren.AddActor(profile) 

renWin.SetSize(1000, 1000) 

iren.Initialize() 
renWin.Render() 
iren.Start()

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 14 '21 at 14:42

VTK has Exporter classes that you can see here: https://vtk.org/doc/nightly/html/classvtkExporter.html

Of those, I'd say OBJ is the closest to STL. You could export your scene to OBJ and then use MeshLab to convert that OBJ to STL. VRML would work too.

How to save a VTK render as a .vtk or .stl?

1 Answers1