VTK6引入了一些向後不相容的更改。這裡更詳細地描述了這些變化背後的原因。其中一個更改是使用SetInputData（）和SetInputConnection（）替換SetInput（）。

VTK4中管道物件連線連線

someFilter - > SetInput （ someReader - > GetOutput （））;

someFilter - > SetInputConnection （ someReader - > GetOutputPort （））;

為了便於將獨立資料物件分配給演算法的輸入，我們在VTK 6中引入了一組方便的功能。下面是一個例子：

someFilter - > SetInputData （ aDataObject ）;

someFilter - > SetInputData （ someReader - > GetOutput （））;

void MyFilter::RequestData(…)
 
{
   vtkDataObject* input = inInfo->Get(vtkDataObject::DATA_OBJECT());
   vtkDataObject* copy = input->NewInstance();
   copy->ShallowCopy(input);
   this->InternalFilter->SetInput(copy);
   this->InternalFilter->Update();
   …
}

void MyFilter::RequestData(…)
{
   vtkDataObject* input = inInfo->Get(vtkDataObject::DATA_OBJECT());
 
   this->InternalFilter->SetInputData(input);
   this->InternalFilter->Update();
   …
}

另一個優點是，此更改會從管道中刪除一些迴圈引用，從而無需使用垃圾回收器。這對使用大型管道時VTK的效能有明顯的影響。

這種變化可能對VTK社群產生最大的影響。同時，這是最簡單的解決方案。這是一個經驗法則：

• 如果要建立管道連線，請使用SetInputConnection
• 如果要處理獨立資料集，請使用SetInputData

以下是一些具體的例子。注意，即使我們在所有這些示例中使用SetInput（），類似的方法，如SetSource（）也應該遵循相同的模式。查詢SetSourceConnection（）或SetSourceData（）為例。此外，我們忽略這些示例中的埠號，但大多數應該使用埠號。

anotherFilter->SetInput(aFilter->GetOutput());

anotherFilter->SetInputConnection(aFilter->GetOutputPort());

vtkDataObject* output = aFilter->GetOutput();
anotherFilter->SetInput(output);

anotherFilter->SetInputConnection(aFilter->GetOutputPort());

vtkPolyData *pd = vtkPolyData::New();
aFilter->SetInput(pd);

vtkPolyData *pd = vtkPolyData::New();
aFilter->SetInputData(pd);

vtkDataObject* output = aFilter->GetOutput();
aFilter->Update();
anotherFilter->SetInput(output);

vtkDataObject* output = aFilter->GetOutput();
aFilter->Update();
anotherFilter->SetInputData(output);

void myfunction(vtkDataObject* dobj)
{
  vtkAFilter* aFilter = vtkAFilter::New();
  aFilter->SetInput(dobj);
  aFilter->Update();
  // …
}

myfunction(aFilter->GetOutput());

void myfunction(vtkAlgorithm* alg, int port)
{
  vtkAFilter* aFilter = vtkAFilter::New();
  aFilter->SetInputConnection(alg->GetOutputPort(port));
  aFilter->Update();
  // …
}
myfunction(aFilter, 0);

vtkPolyData* pd = vtkPolyData::New();
// fill pd
myfunction(pd);

https://www.vtk.org/Wiki/VTK/VTK_6_Migration/Replacement_of_SetInput

例子

#include "vtkAutoInit.h" 
VTK_MODULE_INIT(vtkRenderingOpenGL2); // VTK was built with vtkRenderingOpenGL2
VTK_MODULE_INIT(vtkInteractionStyle);
/**********************************************************************
檔名: 2.3_Viewport.cpp
Copyright (c) 張曉東, 羅火靈. All rights reserved.
更多資訊請訪問:
http://www.vtkchina.org (VTK中國)
http://blog.csdn.net/www_doling_net (東靈工作室)
**********************************************************************/
/**********************************************************************
檔名: 2.3_Viewport.cpp
Copyright (c) 張曉東, 羅火靈. All rights reserved.
更多資訊請訪問:
http://www.vtkchina.org (VTK中國)
http://blog.csdn.net/www_doling_net (東靈工作室)
**********************************************************************/
#include <vtkConeSource.h>
#include <vtkCubeSource.h>
#include <vtkCylinderSource.h>
#include <vtkSphereSource.h>
#include <vtkPolyDataMapper.h>
#include <vtkRenderer.h>
#include <vtkRenderWindow.h>
#include <vtkActor.h>
#include <vtkRenderWindowInteractor.h>
#include <vtkSmartPointer.h>
int main()
{
 vtkSmartPointer<vtkConeSource> cone = vtkSmartPointer<vtkConeSource>::New();
 vtkSmartPointer<vtkCubeSource> cube = vtkSmartPointer<vtkCubeSource>::New();
 vtkSmartPointer<vtkCylinderSource> cylinder = vtkSmartPointer<vtkCylinderSource>::New();
 vtkSmartPointer<vtkSphereSource> sphere = vtkSmartPointer<vtkSphereSource>::New();
 vtkSmartPointer<vtkPolyDataMapper> coneMapper = vtkSmartPointer<vtkPolyDataMapper>::New();
 coneMapper->SetInputData(cone->GetOutput());//SetInput改為SetInputData
 vtkSmartPointer<vtkPolyDataMapper> cubeMapper = vtkSmartPointer<vtkPolyDataMapper>::New();
 cubeMapper->SetInputData(cube->GetOutput());
 vtkSmartPointer<vtkPolyDataMapper> cylinderMapper = vtkSmartPointer<vtkPolyDataMapper>::New();
 cylinderMapper->SetInputData(cylinder->GetOutput());
 vtkSmartPointer<vtkPolyDataMapper> sphereMapper = vtkSmartPointer<vtkPolyDataMapper>::New();
 sphereMapper->SetInputData(sphere->GetOutput());
 vtkSmartPointer<vtkActor> coneActor = vtkSmartPointer<vtkActor>::New();
 coneActor->SetMapper(coneMapper);
 vtkSmartPointer<vtkActor> cubeActor = vtkSmartPointer<vtkActor>::New();
 cubeActor->SetMapper(cubeMapper);
 vtkSmartPointer<vtkActor> cylinderActor = vtkSmartPointer<vtkActor>::New();
 cylinderActor->SetMapper(cylinderMapper);
 vtkSmartPointer<vtkActor> sphereActor = vtkSmartPointer<vtkActor>::New();
 sphereActor->SetMapper(sphereMapper);
 vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderer> renderer1 = vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderer>::New();
 renderer1->AddActor(coneActor);
 renderer1->SetBackground(1.0, 0.0, 0.0);
 renderer1->SetViewport(0.0, 0.0, 0.5, 0.5);
 vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderer> renderer2 = vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderer>::New();
 renderer2->AddActor(cubeActor);
 renderer2->SetBackground(0, 0, 0);
 renderer2->SetViewport(0.5, 0.0, 1.0, 0.5);
 vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderer> renderer3 = vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderer>::New();
 renderer3->AddActor(cylinderActor);
 renderer3->SetBackground(0.0, 0.0, 1.0);
 renderer3->SetViewport(0.0, 0.5, 0.5, 1.0);
 vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderer> renderer4 = vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderer>::New();
 renderer4->AddActor(sphereActor);
 renderer4->SetBackground(1.0, 1.0, 0.0);
 renderer4->SetViewport(0.5, 0.5, 1.0, 1.0);
 vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderWindow> renWin = vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderWindow>::New();
 renWin->AddRenderer(renderer1);
 renWin->AddRenderer(renderer2);
 renWin->AddRenderer(renderer3);
 renWin->AddRenderer(renderer4);
 renWin->SetSize(640, 480);
 renWin->Render();
 renWin->SetWindowName("Viewport");
 vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderWindowInteractor> interactor =
  vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderWindowInteractor>::New();
 interactor->SetRenderWindow(renWin);
 renWin->Render();
 interactor->Initialize();
 interactor->Start();
 return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

執行在執行《VTK圖形影象進階》第五章5.3_ImageResliceExample.cpp時，會提示MetaImage cannot read data from file或者顯示視窗是空白，後來搜尋了VTKExample中的例子，發現可以這樣解決：

imgActor->SetInput(colorMap->GetOutput());

imgActor->GetMapper()->SetInputConnection(colorMap->GetOutputPort());

#include <vtkImageMapper3D.h>