VTK with Java Wrapper with Ubuntu
As I had some problems to get started with the Visualization Toolkit (VTK) under Java and Ubuntu, here are some installation instructions:
JAVA
Of course you need JAVA installed: On the command line, type
sudo apt-get install openjdk-6-jdk
Cmake
You need Cmake to compile VTK. On the command line, type
sudo apt-get install cmake
OpenGL
You need the OpenGL Headers to use VTK. On the command line, type
sudo apt-get install freeglut3-dev libgl1-mesa-dev libglu1-mesa-dev libxt-dev mesa-common-dev xlibmesa-gl-dev libxmu-dev libxmu-headers liblut3-dev libglut3 libx11-dev xorg-dev libosmesa6-dev
VTK
Download the source code: http://www.vtk.org/VTK/resources/software.html#previous. I tested it with version 5.4.2. Unpack the downloaded archive in any folder you want. I will call this from now on $vtkfolder.
On the command line, move into $vtkfolder, then start Cmake in wizard mode: type
cmake -i
You will be asked if you want to see the advanced options, and you’ll answer with “yes”.
Cmake will ask a lot of parameters. Basically, you can enter everything as you want/need. I chose all default values except for the following two:
- I switched BUILD_SHARED_LIBS to “ON”
- I switched VTK_WRAP_JAVA to “ON”
As soon as Cmake is finished, type:
sudo make
Then wait.
If everything worked fine, you’ll find a file vtk.jar in $vtkfolder/bin.
Running JAVA/VTK applications
Ok, now you’re ready to go. Set up your build path. In eclipse, you can do this by right-clicking on the project, choose “Build path”, then “Add external archive”, and then choose the vtk.jar in $vtkfolder/bin.
If you now want to run a Java program using VTK, you’ll have to configure your run configurations. In eclipse, you can do this by right-clicking on the class you want to run, click “Run as” and then “Run configurations”. In the following dialogue, choose the tab “Environment” and click “New”. As variable name you enter “LD_LIBRARY_PATH”, as value you enter $vtkfolder/bin (of course you have to substitute $vtkfolder by your installation folder). Click “Apply”, than “Run”. Voila!
