VTK Setup (+FEA)

One very exciting feature of IMAT its FEM and result visualization capabilities that utilize The Visualization Toolkit (VTK). VTK is an open-source, freely available cross-platform software system for 3D computer graphics, image processing and visualization developed by Kitware. VTK allows IMAT to display and animate very large FEMs. VTK also includes many powerful and advanced visualization tools such as transparency and clipping planes.

VTK Setup

Several setup steps are required.

Update librarypath.txt

This step is performed during the installation on Windows platforms, if the toggle was selected (which is the default). On Linux and Mac, this step must be performed manually.

To enable the use of VTKPLOT, make sure that the appropriate vtklib directory (vtklib/pcwin64, vtklib/glnxa64, etc) is included as an entry in the librarypath.txt file, found in the toolbox/local directory of your MATLAB installation. If this directory is not included, an error message will appear when VTK is first used. Note that on Windows the installer will automatically update your librarypath.txt file, so you should not have to perform this step.

Increase Java heap space

Depending on the size of models that will be viewed, it may be necessary to increase the size of the Java heap.

In MATLAB 2010a and higher: go to File | Preferences | General | Java Heap Memory and adjust the slider bar as needed (no problems have been seen when moving the slider all the way to the right).

In earlier versions of MATLAB, this is done by creating a file called java.opts in your MATLAB userpath directory (usually $HOME/MATLAB). The userpath directory can be found by typing userpath at the MATLAB command prompt. Add the line

-Xmx2048m

The number in this line is the maximum amount of RAM in megabytes that can be allocated in the MATLAB Java heap. This number can be changed based on your system capabilities and processing requirements. Alternately, for multiple users this file can be placed in the <matlabroot>/bin/win64 directory (or similar for other systems).

More information on this procedure can be found on The MathWorks website.

http://www.mathworks.com/support/solutions/en/data/1-18I2C/

Known Issues

There are some known issues in VTK that we are still working to resolve.

All platforms

• If an out-of-memory error is encountered, the culprit is likely that the maximum Java heap space is not large enough. If this occurs then follow the directions here.
• In rare cases, a vtkplot window will go blank when creating multiple vtkplot instances. To prevent this from happening, assign the output of each vtkplot call to different variables (i.e. pl1=vtkplot(…); pl2=vtkplot(…); ).
• When using dialog boxes (e.g. Visibility Options), if the vtkplot window is closed before the dialog box, MATLAB may crash.

Windows

Linux

• vtkplot may have stability issues on Linux platforms. Use with caution as MATLAB may crash. Using 3D hardware-accelerated graphics drivers will improve performance and stability.

VTK License

VTK is an open-source toolkit licensed under the BSD license.

Copyright (c) 1993-2008 Ken Martin, Will Schroeder, Bill Lorensen

All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

• Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
• Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
• Neither name of Ken Martin, Will Schroeder, or Bill Lorensen nor the names of any contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.