The old define of the opencv part of your version was indeed wrong, it has been updated in this commit:
a4da1e1#diff-80566d67599fb1bfd180da18de5c6c456f44c71648d5263346c7d1efbd4972ba
From 4.4.0, SIFT is not in NONFREE module anymore. Same for 3.4.11, which makes a more complicated define...

VTK could be included by PCL indirectly. DISABLE_VTK definition is from PCL definitions normally, if PCL has not been built with VTK. VTK is used in PCL for some filtering functions (like mesh decimation):

Can you show the cmake log status on your build? If PCL is not build with VTK, there should be a -DDISABLE_VTK in the PCL_DEFINITIONS like this:

--   PCL_DEFINITIONS =  ;-DDISABLE_VTK;-DDISABLE_ENSENSO;-DDISABLE_DAVIDSDK;-DDISABLE_DSSDK;-DDISABLE_PCAP;-DDISABLE_PNG;-DDISABLE_LIBUSB_1_0;-DFLANN_STATIC;-Dqh_QHpointer;-DDISABLE_RSSDK

Not that DISABLE_VTK should not be set if PCL is built with VTK.

@matlabbe I am using the PCL port (without VTK features) from the Vcpkg to test the build. And here is the related outputs from CMake:

-- Info :
--   Version : 0.20.3
--   CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX = D:/packages/rtabmap_x64-windows
--   CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE =     Release
--   CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR = lib
--   BUILD_APP =            ON
--   BUILD_TOOLS =          ON
--   BUILD_EXAMPLES =       ON
--   BUILD_AS_BUNDLE =      OFF
--   CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS =  /nologo /DWIN32 /D_WINDOWS /W3 /utf-8 /GR /EHsc /MP  /MP16 -openmp
--   FLANN_KDTREE_MEM_OPT = OFF
--   PCL_DEFINITIONS = -D__SSSE3__;-D__SSE2__;-D__SSE__;-DBOOST_ALL_NO_LIB;-DDISABLE_PNG;-DDISABLE_QHULL
--   PCL_VERSION = 1.11.1

I didn't try PCL 1.11.1 on Windows lately, but it seems it is built with VTK as there is no -DDISABLE_VTK in PCL_DEFINITIONS

See also: #795

I think relying on the DISABLE_VTK is tricky.

• Reason 1: #ifndef DISABLE_VTK is a double negation, I like #ifdef WITH_VTK better
• Reason 2: When the define is absent, it is assumed we do use VTK, which might not be the case.

However, PCL defines multiple more defines starting with DISABLE_, what happens when those defines are removed?

Didn't notice before, but you should make pull request on master branch, devel is pretty old. That should fix OpenCV SIFt problem. For DISABLE_VTK, see this pull request instead: #871