There are two methods to create coordinate system in vkt, one this create a object which type is vtkAxesActor and another is create a object which type is vtkOrientationMarkerWidget.

The reference of the former locates at vtkAxesActor method, and the latter is vtkOrientationMarkerWidget method .

source code contains two method:

#include <vtkVersion.h>
#include <vtkPolyDataMapper.h>
#include <vtkActor.h>
#include <vtkRenderWindow.h>
#include <vtkRenderer.h>
#include <vtkRenderWindowInteractor.h>
#include <vtkPolyData.h>
#include <vtkSphereSource.h>
#include <vtkOrientationMarkerWidget.h>
#include <vtkAxesActor.h>
#include <vtkPropAssembly.h>
#include <vtkSmartPointer.h>
#include <vtkSTLReader.h>
#include <vtkTransform.h>
#include <vtkProperty.h>
#include "vtkCaptionActor2D.h"  

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
    std::string ExePath(_pgmptr);
    ExePath = ExePath.substr(0, ExePath.find_last_of("\\"));
    std::string inputFilename = ExePath + "\\cuboid.stl";
    vtkSmartPointer<vtkSTLReader> reader =
        vtkSmartPointer<vtkSTLReader>::New();
    reader->SetFileName(inputFilename.c_str());
    reader->Update();

    // Visualize
    vtkSmartPointer<vtkPolyDataMapper> mapper =
        vtkSmartPointer<vtkPolyDataMapper>::New();
    mapper->SetInputData(reader->GetOutput());

    // Create an actor
    vtkSmartPointer<vtkActor> actor =
        vtkSmartPointer<vtkActor>::New();
    actor->SetMapper(mapper);
    actor->GetProperty()->SetOpacity(0.5);

    // A renderer and render window
    vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderer> renderer =
        vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderer>::New();
    vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderWindow> renderWindow =
        vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderWindow>::New();
    renderWindow->AddRenderer(renderer);

    // An interactor
    vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderWindowInteractor> renderWindowInteractor =
        vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderWindowInteractor>::New();
    renderWindowInteractor->SetRenderWindow(renderWindow);

    // Add the actors to the scene
    renderer->AddActor(actor);
    renderer->SetBackground(.2, .3, .4);
    //create the axes locates the center of the cuboid
    vtkSmartPointer<vtkTransform> transform = vtkSmartPointer<vtkTransform>::New();
    //transform->Translate(0.0, 0.0, 0.0); // translate along the x axes with 3 unit step

    vtkSmartPointer<vtkAxesActor> axes1 = vtkSmartPointer<vtkAxesActor>::New();
    axes1->SetTotalLength(3, 3, 3);  //set three axes length
    // The axes are positioned with a user transform
    axes1->SetUserTransform(transform);
    renderer->AddActor(axes1);

    //create the axes locates the lower left of the renderWindow
    vtkSmartPointer<vtkAxesActor> axes2 = vtkSmartPointer<vtkAxesActor>::New();// axes actor
    vtkSmartPointer<vtkOrientationMarkerWidget> orientationWidget =
        vtkSmartPointer<vtkOrientationMarkerWidget>::New();
    orientationWidget->SetOutlineColor(0.9300, 0.5700, 0.1300);
    orientationWidget->SetOrientationMarker(axes2);
    orientationWidget->SetInteractor(renderWindowInteractor); //binding the interactor
    orientationWidget->SetViewport(0.0, 0.0, 0.4, 0.4);
    orientationWidget->SetEnabled(1);
    orientationWidget->InteractiveOn();

    renderer->ResetCamera();
    renderWindow->Render();

    // Begin mouse interaction
    renderWindowInteractor->Start();

    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

The CMAKELIST.txt will also be given.

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8)
 
PROJECT(DisplayAexs)
 
find_package(VTK REQUIRED)
include(${VTK_USE_FILE})
 
add_executable(DisplayAexs MACOSX_BUNDLE DisplayAexs.cxx )
 
target_link_libraries(DisplayAexs ${VTK_LIBRARIES})

The ultimate effect shows as the following photo.

vtk_axes.jpeg