[Chimera-users] Coulombic coloring

[Elaine Meng]

Hi Sebastian,
Short answer is no, custom coloring (such as Coulombic) is either all or none for a given surface.  However, one possible workaround is to open two copies of the structure, surface both copies, show Coulombic coloring on one surface and green (or whatever non-Coulombic coloring you want, possibly multiple colors) on the other.  Then unsurf (~surf) the set of atoms you *don't* want to show Coulombic coloring for in the Coulombic copy and the other colors should show through.

This presumes the Coulombic-colored surface "wins" display when two surfaces are shown in exactly the same place.  It worked in my test, but it is possible you might have to try Coulombic-coloring the second copy instead of the first copy.

I tried this and it looked reasonable.  It might not look that good depending on the specific geometry of the surface.  I also tried unsurfacing the complementary set of atoms in the other copy, but that looked terrible because there were gaps.

I hope this helps,
Elaine
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Elaine C. Meng, Ph.D. 
UCSF Computer Graphics Lab (Chimera team) and Babbitt Lab
Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry
University of California, San Francisco

On Nov 20, 2012, at 7:19 AM, Mock, Sebastian wrote:

> Hi Chimera Team,
> is it possible to color the active site of an enzyme let’s say green after the coulombic coloring, without losing the last-mentioned?
> The coulombic coloring disappears when I try to color specific positions in the structure to green.
> Thanks in advance
> Sebastian