The Visualization Toolkit: An Object Oriented Approach to 3D Graphics 3rd Edition

The theory and practice of visualization using the VTK Visualization Toolkit software. This textbook describes techniques for scalar, vector, and tensor field visualization, as well as texture-map based and modeling techniques. The book includes such important algorithms as color mapping, marching cubes, vector warping and coloring, polygon decimation and smoothing, streamline generation, modeling with implicit surfaces, boolean textures, hyperstreamlines, Delaunay triangulation, volume rendering and many more. Extensive descriptions of data structures and API's, and a succinct description of computer graphics for visualization are also covered. Each chapter contains complete references and exercises (the book is used in many college-level visualization and graphics courses), and algorithms are demonstrated using working VTK code (updated for VTK version 4.2 and published by Kitware).

The The Visualization Toolkit An Object-Oriented Approach To 3D Graphics 3rd Edition textbook is 496 pages, printed in full color, and comes with the VTK 4.2 CD. The The Visualization Toolkit text is a companion text to the VTK Users's Guide. While The Visualization Toolkit stresses algorithmic and data structure details, the VTK User's Guide stresses how to install, use and program with the software.

WILLIAM J. SCHROEDER is co-founder of Kitware, Inc. a small business providing commercial solutions based on VTK. Dr. Schroeder's research contributions include polygonal decimation, swept surface generation, stream polygons, and visualization system design.

KENNETH M. MARTIN is co-founder of Kitware, Inc. Ken has extensive practical knowledge of Java, VRML, Tcl/Tk, C/C++ and object-oriented design. Dr. Martin's technical contributions include algorithms in computer vision and imaging, vector field visualization, and computer learning.

WILLIAM E. LORENSEN is a graphics engineer at General Electric Global Research Center. Bill is best known for the marching cubes isosurfacing algorithnm, and has contributed numerous techniques to the graphics field including boolean textures, dividing cubes, and medical segmentation algorithms. Bill is also co-author of the best-selling text Object-Oriented Modeling and Design.