A barebones VTK writer for C++. It is implemented as a single header and source file for easy integration with other projects and only requires the C++ standard library as a dependency.

Writing a single triangle to a vtk file:

    vector<double> points = {
             1.,  1., -1.,
             1., -1., 1.,
            -1., -1., 0.
        };
    vector<int> elements = { 0, 1, 2 };
    vector<double> scalar_field = { 0., 1., 2.  };
    vector<double> vector_field = points;;

    const int dim = 3;
    const int cell_size = 3;
    std::string filename = "single_tri.vtu";
    VTUWriter writer;
    
    writer.add_scalar_field("scalar_field", scalar_field);
    writer.add_vector_field("vector_field", vector_field, dim);

    writer.write_surface_mesh(filename, dim, cell_size, points, elements);

Other small examples for triangles, quads, hex and tet elements exist in tests/test_lean_vtk.cpp.

• CMake >=3.1
• A C/C++ compiler with C++11 (tested with gcc 7.5.0)

The easiest way to use Lean-VTK is to simply copy and paste include/lean-vtk.hpp and src/lean-vtk.cpp into your project source code explicitly. If you don't mind checking for updates periodically, this is the best way to go.

1. Add Lean-VTK as a submodule of your project and update the submodules:

git submodule add https://github.com/mmorse1217/lean-vtk
git submodule init

2a. If you are using CMake in your project already, add the following to your root-level CMakeLists.txt:

add_subdirectory(lean-vtk)

and appropriate link Lean-VTK to the project's targets:

target_link_libraries(target LeanVTK)

2b. If your project uses make, see the compilation steps below to compile the project, then appropriately link the library.

To compile the project, run the following in the project root:

    mkdir build
    cd build
    cmake ..
    make

To install the project in /usr/local/, run the following in the build/ directory created above:

    make install

To run unit tests via CTest, again run the following in the build/ directory:

    make test

or

    ctest

Please fork the repo and make a pull request for any future changes.