[Chimera-users] level of detail (vrml)

[Thomas Goddard]

Hi Damien,

   Chimera actually does not use level-of-detail (display fewer 
triangles when an object is small on the screen) for displaying 
surfaces.  It only does it for molecule ribbons, atoms and bonds.

   For scenes with 290 ribosomes you are pushing beyond Chimera's 
capabilities.  But that is exactly what Maya and the Molecular Maya 
animation software is intended to do.  There is a student edition of 
Maya for $150 while the standard version is $4000.  Molecular Maya is a 
plug-in from Gael McGill that allows you to read in PDB models like 
ribosomes.  A free alternative to Maya is Blender.


	http://www.molecularmovies.com/toolkit/index.html

   Tom



> Many thanks Greg for this reply!
>
> The "problem" I face is the following:
>
> Chimera enabled me to create an isosurface of a ribosome. Then a script
> in Matlab enabled me to compose a scene made of 290 ribosomes (in order
> to represent the crowding of the cytoplasm in E. coli) and to export in
> the vrml format: one ribosome is the geometry, all the others are
> instantiations.
>
> When I open this 3D scene in Chimera, all is displayed quite
> instantaneously but the navigation within the scene is slow. So, LoD
> would have been a solution.
>
> Do you think to something to make navigation faster? I could convert for
> example the scene in the Chimera format in order to benefit from the LoD
> capabilities of the software? In that case, I would need a part of
> chimera format/script to do the conversion (for instance, a script that
> instantiate a multiscale model in a given number of copies, at the right
> place and orientation).
>
> My best regards
>
> Damien
>
>
>
> Greg Couch a écrit :
>>
>> Sorry, chimera does not support VRML's LOD node. Looking at the
>> specification, it wouldn't be too hard to implement, just takes time.
>> So the question becomes, how important is it to you? And would always
>> displaying the first node be okay?
>>
>> Salut,
>>
>> Greg
>>
>> On 4/15/2010 4:35 AM, Damien Larivière wrote:
>>> Dear all,
>>>
>>> Chimera is able to display VRML file.
>>>
>>> Is it able to display VRML file containing level of detail? (My first
>>> tentative was not a success but I do not think the file I used
>>> respected the format convention).
>>>
>>> My best reagrds
>>>
>>> Damien
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
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