Yep. You learn what the format is, what the parts of it mean, and read the file accordingly. For instance, there is usually a small piece which describes the type of format, and its version. Then there's a header that describes the data. For instance, is it color or grayscale. How many bytes per pixel? Is there a color table or are the pixels raw color data. Stuff like that. Personally, I study the format. Then I define some structures or classes that conform to the various pieces of the format (magic number, version, header, etc.). Then I write the code to read the file into those structures, then I refer to the information in those structures when reading the raw data.
I don't understand what you are saying. This is the header of the files: # vtk DataFile Version 3.0 VTK File Generated by Insight Segmentation and Registration Toolkit (ITK) BINARY DATASET STRUCTURED_POINTS DIMENSIONS 41 41 41 SPACING 1.0000000000000000e+00 1.0000000000000000e+00 1.0000000000000000e+00 ORIGIN 0.0000000000000000e+00 0.0000000000000000e+00 0.0000000000000000e+00 POINT_DATA 68921 SCALARS scalars unsigned_char 1 LOOKUP_TABLE default What I want to do is be able to read in the vtk file and then read in the value of each pixel. Starting with the pixel located at 0 0 0, all the way to the pixel located at 41 41 41.
What part of that don't you understand? Here is an example definition from a VTK spec: Now, if you look at that, and you look at your own post, does the picture begin to clarify for you? Incidentally, do you know how to write a program using the C or C++ languages?
