# Any alternative to Viz3D module?

**URL:** <https://forum.opencv.org/t/any-alternative-to-viz3d-module/7012>\
**Category:** Python\
**Tags:** build, viz, vtk\
**Created:** [January 6, 2022, 6:00pm UTC](https://forum.opencv.org/t/any-alternative-to-viz3d-module/7012 "2022-01-06T18:00:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 17\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dshem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@dshem](https://forum.opencv.org/u/dshem)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 6:00pm UTC](https://forum.opencv.org/t/any-alternative-to-viz3d-module/7012/1 "2022-01-06T18:00:57Z")

</div>

Hi!

Is there any good alternative to OpenCV’s Viz3D module for Python/C++ ? It’s broken since latest VTK update. I’ve reported it on Github but I don’t think it’s going to be fixed soon. What I look for is a simple 3D visualization library, that I could use to place cameras and update their positions in real-time.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![laurent.berger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ec9cab/32.png) [@laurent.berger](https://forum.opencv.org/u/laurent.berger)\
**Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 6:18pm UTC](https://forum.opencv.org/t/any-alternative-to-viz3d-module/7012/2 "2022-01-06T18:18:28Z")

</div>

What is broken ?  
I can use viz with vtk :

```auto
General configuration for OpenCV 4.5.5-dev =====================================
  Version control: 4.5.2-1068-g80c2fefc43

  GUI: WIN32UI
    Win32 UI: YES
    OpenGL support: YES (opengl32 glu32)
    VTK support: YES (ver 9.0.20210122)

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dshem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@dshem](https://forum.opencv.org/u/dshem)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2022, 9:12am UTC](https://forum.opencv.org/t/any-alternative-to-viz3d-module/7012/3 "2022-01-10T09:12:45Z")

</div>

I am using the latest version of both OpenCV and VTK:

```auto
General configuration for OpenCV 4.5.5 =====================================
  Version control: unknown

  Extra modules:
    Location (extra): /build/opencv/src/opencv_contrib-4.5.5/modules
    Version control (extra): unknown

  Platform:
    Timestamp: 2021-12-25T15:19:35Z
    Host: Linux 5.15.6-arch2-1 x86_64
    CMake: 3.22.1
    CMake generator: Unix Makefiles
    CMake build tool: /usr/bin/make
    Configuration: Release

  GUI: QT5
    QT: YES (ver 5.15.2 )
      QT OpenGL support: YES (Qt5::OpenGL 5.15.2)
    GTK+: NO
    OpenGL support: YES (/lib64/libGL.so /lib64/libGLU.so)
    VTK support: YES (ver 9.1.0)

```

With VTK 9.1.0, `viz.spinOnce` method is broken, so I am unable to preview animations.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![laurent.berger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ec9cab/32.png) [@laurent.berger](https://forum.opencv.org/u/laurent.berger)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2022, 9:33am UTC](https://forum.opencv.org/t/any-alternative-to-viz3d-module/7012/4 "2022-01-10T09:33:46Z")

</div>

What do you mean by broken ? can you post full error message as text?

I 'm trying to update my opencv with vtk 9.1.0

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dshem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@dshem](https://forum.opencv.org/u/dshem)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2022, 9:40am UTC](https://forum.opencv.org/t/any-alternative-to-viz3d-module/7012/5 "2022-01-10T09:40:58Z")

</div>

There is no actual error message. The preview window pops up, but it’s impossible to rotate the scene or have an animation. I already posted an [issue on github](https://github.com/opencv/opencv_contrib/issues/3102), there are steps to reproduce the bug and the error message I sometimes get.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![laurent.berger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ec9cab/32.png) [@laurent.berger](https://forum.opencv.org/u/laurent.berger)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2022, 10:56am UTC](https://forum.opencv.org/t/any-alternative-to-viz3d-module/7012/6 "2022-01-10T10:56:40Z")

</div>

I think that spinonce called vtkRenderWindowInteractor and in your configuration [QVTKInteractor](https://vtk.org/doc/nightly/html/classvtkRenderWindowInteractor.html)  
Can you check this [sample](https://github.com/opencv/opencv/tree/4.x/samples/opengl)?  
can you check this other [sample](https://github.com/opencv/opencv/blob/752f2323357a59b3865282219e0295486bebe4d7/samples/cpp/tutorial_code/viz/histo3D.cpp)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dshem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@dshem](https://forum.opencv.org/u/dshem)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2022, 12:18pm UTC](https://forum.opencv.org/t/any-alternative-to-viz3d-module/7012/7 "2022-01-10T12:18:11Z")

</div>

> [@laurent.berger](#):
>
> Can you check this [sample](https://github.com/opencv/opencv/tree/4.x/samples/opengl)?

This works perfectly.

> [@laurent.berger](#):
>
> can you check this other [sample](https://github.com/opencv/opencv/blob/752f2323357a59b3865282219e0295486bebe4d7/samples/cpp/tutorial_code/viz/histo3D.cpp)

The viz window opens and crashes immediately. I still have the other OpenCV window open and it looks like this:

 ![2022-01-10_13-15](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/opencv/original/2X/3/39af25f70079b0e7e1c42c4d1af1f270e9c753a4.jpeg)

Also, this error appears in the terminal:

```auto
[WARN:0@0.293] global /build/opencv/src/opencv-4.5.5/modules/highgui/src/window.cpp (697) createTrackbar UI/Trackbar(threshold@Image): Using 'value' pointer is unsafe and deprecated. Use NULL as value pointer. To fetch trackbar value setup callback.

```

But it doesn’t seem to be related to the VTK problem.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![laurent.berger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ec9cab/32.png) [@laurent.berger](https://forum.opencv.org/u/laurent.berger)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2022, 1:01pm UTC](https://forum.opencv.org/t/any-alternative-to-viz3d-module/7012/8 "2022-01-10T13:01:16Z")

</div>

I have not any problem on windows without qt for viz example using VTK 9.1.  
Did you build opencv with test? If yes you can run opencv\_test\_viz and post result?

Can you build opencv without qt and check viz?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dshem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@dshem](https://forum.opencv.org/u/dshem)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2022, 8:54am UTC](https://forum.opencv.org/t/any-alternative-to-viz3d-module/7012/9 "2022-01-11T08:54:18Z")

</div>

> [@laurent.berger](#):
>
> Did you build opencv with test

No, I installed it using `pacman` on Arch Linux, it comes with pretty much everything but no test. I’ll try to build the viz test separately.

> [@laurent.berger](#):
>
> Can you build opencv without qt and check viz

I am setting up a Docker container to test this. But VTK relies on Qt so wouldn’t that be a problem?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![laurent.berger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ec9cab/32.png) [@laurent.berger](https://forum.opencv.org/u/laurent.berger)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2022, 9:44am UTC](https://forum.opencv.org/t/any-alternative-to-viz3d-module/7012/10 "2022-01-11T09:44:44Z")

</div>

> [@dshem](#):
>
> I am setting up a Docker container to test this. But VTK relies on Qt so wouldn’t that be a problem?

no vtk relies [on opengl](https://vtk.org/about/#overview) no need of qt. I think you can use gtk

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dshem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@dshem](https://forum.opencv.org/u/dshem)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 2:11pm UTC](https://forum.opencv.org/t/any-alternative-to-viz3d-module/7012/11 "2022-01-12T14:11:23Z")

</div>

I built OpenCV 4.5.5 with VTK 9.0.3 and VTK 9.1.0 without Qt. VTK 9.0.3 works as expected, VTK 9.1.0 doesn’t, it still crashes when `spinOnce` is used.

Here is the Dockerfile I used, that contains all building information. I can provide the built Docker images, it takes quite a long time to build.

```auto
FROM ubuntu:21.04

WORKDIR /opt/build

ENV OPENCV_VERSION="4.5.5"
ENV VTK_VERSION="9.1.0"

RUN apt-get update && \
	apt-get upgrade -y &&\
	apt-get dist-upgrade -y &&\
	DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
	wget \
	xterm \
	curl \
	build-essential \
	libglu1-mesa-dev \
	freeglut3-dev\
	libgtkglext1-dev \
	libgl-dev \
	g++ \
	libgtk-3-dev \
	gcc \
	python3-dev \
	python3-pip \
	python3-numpy \
	libavcodec-dev \
	libavformat-dev \
	libswscale-dev \
	libgstreamer-plugins-base1.0-dev \
	libgstreamer1.0-dev \
	unzip \
	cmake \ 
	ninja-build \
	mesa-common-dev\
	mesa-utils \
	git \
	pkg-config \
	ca-certificates \
	vim 

RUN apt-get clean -y

RUN wget -O vtk.tar.gz https://www.vtk.org/files/release/9.1/VTK-${VTK_VERSION}.tar.gz
RUN tar xvzf vtk.tar.gz
RUN cd VTK-${VTK_VERSION} && \
	mkdir -p build && cd build && \
	cmake -GNinja -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
	-DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=ON \
	-DBUILD_EXAMPLES=ON \
	-DVTK_PYTHON_VERSION=3 \
	-DVTK_WRAP_PYTHON=ON \
	.. && \
	ninja -j &&\
	ninja install

RUN wget -O opencv.zip https://github.com/opencv/opencv/archive/${OPENCV_VERSION}.zip
RUN wget -O opencv_contrib.zip https://github.com/opencv/opencv_contrib/archive/${OPENCV_VERSION}.zip
RUN wget -O opencv_extra.zip https://github.com/opencv/opencv_extra/archive/${OPENCV_VERSION}.zip
RUN unzip opencv.zip && unzip opencv_contrib.zip && unzip opencv_extra.zip
RUN cd opencv-${OPENCV_VERSION} && mkdir -p build && cd build && \
	cmake -GNinja -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RELEASE \
	-DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local \
	-DWITH_VTK=ON \
	-DOPENCV_EXTRA_MODULES_PATH=../../opencv_contrib-${OPENCV_VERSION}/modules \
	-DOPENCV_TEST_DATA_PATH=../../opencv_extra-${OPENCV_VERSION}/testdata \
	-DWITH_QT=OFF \
	#-DWITH_OPENGL=ON \
	-DWITH_FFMPEG=ON \
	-DOPENCV_ENABLE_NONFREE=ON \
	-DWITH_TBB=ON \
	-DBUILD_TESTS=ON \
	-DBUILD_EXAMPLES=ON \
	-DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=ON \
	-DBUILD_opencv_python3=ON \
	-DOPENCV_GENERATE_PKGCONFIG=ON \
	.. && \
	ninja -j && ninja install

RUN cp /usr/local/lib/python3.9/site-packages/cv2/python-3.9/*.so /usr/local/lib/python3.9/dist-packages/
RUN ldconfig
CMD ["bash"]

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![laurent.berger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ec9cab/32.png) [@laurent.berger](https://forum.opencv.org/u/laurent.berger)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 3:02pm UTC](https://forum.opencv.org/t/any-alternative-to-viz3d-module/7012/12 "2022-01-12T15:02:23Z")

</div>

What’s about opencv\_test\_viz results?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dshem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@dshem](https://forum.opencv.org/u/dshem)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 7:15pm UTC](https://forum.opencv.org/t/any-alternative-to-viz3d-module/7012/13 "2022-01-12T19:15:13Z")

</div>

opencv\_test\_viz is OK, here is the output:

```auto
CTEST_FULL_OUTPUT
OpenCV version: 4.5.5
OpenCV VCS version: unknown
Build type: RELEASE
WARNING: build value differs from runtime: Release
Compiler: /usr/bin/c++ (ver 10.3.0)
Parallel framework: pthreads (nthreads=12)
CPU features: SSE SSE2 SSE3 *SSE4.1 *SSE4.2 *FP16 *AVX *AVX2 *AVX512-SKX?
Intel(R) IPP version: ippIP AVX2 (l9) 2020.0.0 Gold (-) Oct 19 2019
Intel(R) IPP features code: 0x8000
OpenCL is disabled
TEST: Skip tests with tags: 'mem_6gb', 'verylong'
[==========] Running 22 tests from 1 test case.
[----------] Global test environment set-up.
[----------] 22 tests from Viz
[RUN] Viz.tutorial3_global_view
[OK] Viz.tutorial3_global_view (689 ms)
[RUN] Viz.tutorial3_camera_view
[OK] Viz.tutorial3_camera_view (746 ms)
[RUN] Viz.show_cloud_bluberry
[OK] Viz.show_cloud_bluberry (722 ms)
[RUN] Viz.show_cloud_random_color
[OK] Viz.show_cloud_random_color (728 ms)
[RUN] Viz.show_cloud_masked
[OK] Viz.show_cloud_masked (720 ms)
[RUN] Viz.show_cloud_collection
[OK] Viz.show_cloud_collection (747 ms)
[RUN] Viz.show_painted_clouds
[OK] Viz.show_painted_clouds (736 ms)
[RUN] Viz.show_mesh
[OK] Viz.show_mesh (749 ms)
[RUN] Viz.show_mesh_random_colors
[OK] Viz.show_mesh_random_colors (825 ms)
[RUN] Viz.show_widget_merger
[OK] Viz.show_widget_merger (729 ms)
[RUN] Viz.show_textured_mesh
[OK] Viz.show_textured_mesh (679 ms)
[RUN] Viz.show_polyline
[OK] Viz.show_polyline (666 ms)
[RUN] Viz.show_sampled_normals
[OK] Viz.show_sampled_normals (840 ms)
[RUN] Viz.show_cloud_shaded_by_normals
[OK] Viz.show_cloud_shaded_by_normals (829 ms)
[RUN] Viz.show_trajectories
[OK] Viz.show_trajectories (1116 ms)
[RUN] Viz.show_trajectory_reposition
[OK] Viz.show_trajectory_reposition (617 ms)
[RUN] Viz.show_camera_positions
[OK] Viz.show_camera_positions (704 ms)
[RUN] Viz.show_overlay_image
[OK] Viz.show_overlay_image (1197 ms)
[RUN] Viz.show_image_method
[OK] Viz.show_image_method (2261 ms)
[RUN] Viz.show_image_3d
[OK] Viz.show_image_3d (1123 ms)
[RUN] Viz.show_simple_widgets
[OK] Viz.show_simple_widgets (731 ms)
[RUN] Viz.show_follower
[OK] Viz.show_follower (698 ms)
[----------] 22 tests from Viz (18854 ms total)

[----------] Global test environment tear-down
[==========] 22 tests from 1 test case ran. (18854 ms total)
[PASSED] 22 tests.

  YOU HAVE 2 DISABLED TESTS

```

But in the source code of the tests I only see `spinOnce` being used outside a `while` loop. When using it like in the python tutorials, it crashes.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![laurent.berger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ec9cab/32.png) [@laurent.berger](https://forum.opencv.org/u/laurent.berger)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 7:50pm UTC](https://forum.opencv.org/t/any-alternative-to-viz3d-module/7012/14 "2022-01-12T19:50:37Z")

</div>

I dig in the code using debugger for windows stack trace is

```auto
|>|vtkRenderingUI-9.1d.dll!vtkWin32RenderWindowInteractor::StartEventLoop() Line 154|C++|
|---|---|---|
| |vtkRenderingCore-9.1d.dll!vtkRenderWindowInteractor::Start() Line 231|C++|
| |opencv_viz455d.dll!cv::viz::Viz3d::VizImpl::spinOnce(int time, bool force_redraw) Line 198|C++|
| |opencv_viz455d.dll!cv::viz::Viz3d::spinOnce(int time, bool force_redraw) Line 102|C++|
| |example_viz_widget_pose.exe!main() Line 95|C++|

```

I think(may be I’m wrong) problem is in VTK.  
Can you set a breakpoint at line 230 in vtk\Rendering\Core\vtkRenderWindowInteractor.cxx and tell which function is called in your configuration?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dshem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@dshem](https://forum.opencv.org/u/dshem)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 5:44pm UTC](https://forum.opencv.org/t/any-alternative-to-viz3d-module/7012/15 "2022-01-13T17:44:41Z")

</div>

Not sure if I did it correctly. I used `gdb` and set a breakpoint at function `cv::viz::Viz3d::spinOnce`, then run until it and set a breakpoint for `vtkRenderWindowInteractor::Start` and did next a couple of times:

```auto
(gdb) break cv::viz::Viz3d::spinOnce(int, bool)
Breakpoint 1 at 0x3070
(gdb) run
Starting program: /home/dshem/test_c++/build/test 
[Thread debugging using libthread_db enabled]
Using host libthread_db library "/usr/lib/libthread_db.so.1".
[New Thread 0x7fffd9aa7640 (LWP 313757)]
[New Thread 0x7fffd16a6640 (LWP 313758)]
[New Thread 0x7fffd96a6640 (LWP 313759)]
[New Thread 0x7fffd92a5640 (LWP 313760)]
[New Thread 0x7fffd8ea4640 (LWP 313761)]
[New Thread 0x7fffd8aa3640 (LWP 313762)]
[New Thread 0x7fffd86a2640 (LWP 313763)]
[New Thread 0x7fffd3fff640 (LWP 313764)]
[New Thread 0x7fffd37fd640 (LWP 313766)]
[New Thread 0x7fffd3bfe640 (LWP 313765)]

Thread 1 "test" hit Breakpoint 1, 0x00007ffff72a0920 in cv::viz::Viz3d::spinOnce(int, bool) () from /usr/lib/libopencv_viz.so.405
(gdb) break vtkRenderWindowInteractor::Start()
Breakpoint 2 at 0x7ffff0595e70
(gdb) next
Single stepping until exit from function _ZN2cv3viz5Viz3d8spinOnceEib,
which has no line number information.
[New Thread 0x7fffd31fc640 (LWP 313950)]
0x00007ffff72a9380 in cv::viz::Viz3d::VizImpl::spinOnce(int, bool) () from /usr/lib/libopencv_viz.so.405
(gdb) next
Single stepping until exit from function _ZN2cv3viz5Viz3d7VizImpl8spinOnceEib,
which has no line number information.
[New Thread 0x7fffd2ad7640 (LWP 313986)]
[New Thread 0x7fffd22d6640 (LWP 313987)]
[New Thread 0x7fffd12a5640 (LWP 313988)]
[New Thread 0x7fffd0aa4640 (LWP 313989)]
[New Thread 0x7fffc2333640 (LWP 313990)]
[New Thread 0x7fffc1b32640 (LWP 313991)]
[New Thread 0x7fffc1331640 (LWP 313992)]
[New Thread 0x7fffc0b30640 (LWP 313993)]
[New Thread 0x7fffb57d1640 (LWP 313994)]
[New Thread 0x7fffb4fd0640 (LWP 313995)]
[New Thread 0x7fff8ffff640 (LWP 313996)]

Thread 1 "test" hit Breakpoint 2, 0x00007ffff0595e70 in vtkRenderWindowInteractor::Start() () from /usr/lib/libvtkRenderingCore.so.1
(gdb) next
Single stepping until exit from function _ZN25vtkRenderWindowInteractor5StartEv,
which has no line number information.
0x00007fffea4a3ff0 in vtkXRenderWindowInteractor::StartEventLoop() () from /usr/lib/libvtkRenderingUI.so.1
(gdb) next
Single stepping until exit from function _ZN26vtkXRenderWindowInteractor14StartEventLoopEv,
which has no line number information.
[Thread 0x7fff8ffff640 (LWP 313996) exited]
[New Thread 0x7fff8ffff640 (LWP 314053)]

```

I’m not very good with debugging tools, sorry if this isn’t what you were asking for.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![laurent.berger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ec9cab/32.png) [@laurent.berger](https://forum.opencv.org/u/laurent.berger)\
**Post date:** [January 16, 2022, 1:15pm UTC](https://forum.opencv.org/t/any-alternative-to-viz3d-module/7012/16 "2022-01-16T13:15:13Z")

</div>

May be you can try to copy this [file](https://github.com/Kitware/VTK/blob/72d6df78f854f709d89af01892df8b65ef3988ef/Rendering/UI/vtkXRenderWindowInteractor.cxx) in your vtk repo and rebuild vtk If problem disappear you can post an issue on vtk

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dshem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@dshem](https://forum.opencv.org/u/dshem)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2022, 1:51pm UTC](https://forum.opencv.org/t/any-alternative-to-viz3d-module/7012/17 "2022-01-17T13:51:46Z")

</div>

Tried it, didn’t work.