[Chimera-users] Using marker files to place oriented density maps inside a tomogram

Daniel Castaño Díez daniel.castano at unibas.ch
Fri Nov 16 05:39:40 PST 2012


Hi Tom,

thanks! it worked nicely!

best,
Daniel


> Hi Daniel,
>
>   Probably you can modify your script and make Chimera open the copies 
> much faster.  The python script should also achieve that. The trick 
> with your command script is that between each command Chimera draws a 
> frame and may update the volume dialog histograms.  One way to avoid 
> this is put all the commands on one line separated by semicolons.  
> Maybe another better method is have one open command and one transform 
> setting command
>
>     open template.em template.em template.em ... (repeat for as many 
> copies as you need)
>     matrixset transforms.txt
>
> I believe the matrixset command can have the positions for as many 
> models as you want with the model id number specified before the 
> transform.  See the Chimera manual or try matrixget to write an 
> example file with several models being displayed to see the precise 
> format when you have multiple transforms.
>
>   A Python script could be faster still because it wouldn't need to 
> open the same map file over and over.  It could create all the map 
> copies from the first.  As an example making 100 translated copies of 
> an open 100**3 volume took 3 seconds with the following Python
>
> from VolumeViewer import active_volume
> v = active_volume()
> from chimera import Xform
> for i in range(100):
>   c = v.copy()
>   c.openState.localXform(Xform.translation(i*20,0,0))
>   c.show()
>
>
>     Tom
>
>
>> Hi Tom,
>>
>>
>> Yes, both methods that you describe work nicely. In particular, I was 
>> not aware of the possibility of changing the level of a set of models 
>> with a single command line operation: that does help a lot.
>>
>> The only actual annoyance that remains in my implementation for the 
>> manipulation of sets of volumes is the loading of the volumes?. I 
>> suspect the way I do it is too rudimentary, as I just open Chimera 
>> passing as argument a .cmd command file that loads the same file 
>> again and again, placing it each time in a different location, i.e:
>>
>> open 0 template.em
>> matrixset transform_0.cmd
>> open 1 template.em
>> matrixset transform_1.cmd
>>
>> ? and so on for hundreds of models, so that the user basically sees 
>> the Volume Viewer  getting updated with a new model and then a new 
>> one for several minutes. I guess with the .py script that you send 
>> me  I will be able to load the volumes in a less messy manner than 
>> this one.
>>
>> Thanks for all the info!
>> Daniel
>>
>>
>>> Hi Daniel,
>>>
>>>   I see.  You'd like to control the contour level, color, 
>>> surface/mesh style, step size... of all the copies as if they were 
>>> one model instead of 100 different models, each a copy of the same 
>>> map.  For making hundreds of copies of an atomic model, the 
>>> multiscale dialog in Chimera does this using a single model.  But 
>>> that doesn't currently work with maps.  One disadvantage of having a 
>>> single model for all the copies of a map is that the maps will all 
>>> have to have the same color, same step size, same contour level 
>>> because all those properties are stored with the model. Maybe that 
>>> restriction is fine for your use.  I would like to make that 
>>> possible by allowing Chimera to place identical copies of any type 
>>> of model by just specifying the list of positioning matrices. The 
>>> model would just remember the list of matrices for the different 
>>> placements.
>>>
>>>   For now using a hundred different models of the same map is 
>>> workable.  You can't adjust all of them at the same time with the 
>>> volume dialog.  But you can adjust one to figure out the contour 
>>> level you like and then use one volume command to set the level for 
>>> all the copies, for example, "volume #1-100 level 1.24 color yellow 
>>> step 2".
>>>
>>>   Another approach is to make a single map by adding your hundred 
>>> placed copies on a single grid (e.g. the tomogram grid).  Then you 
>>> open that one map and all the copies appear. The drawback is that 
>>> you may want finer grid spacing on the individual copies then you 
>>> have with the tomogram, and that would make the map to large and 
>>> slow to work with (and mostly empty).  If you are interested in 
>>> trying this approach though you can use a command like "vop add 
>>> #1-100 onGrid #0" to produce such a map after placing the hundred 
>>> separate models with your current script.  Then save that new map 
>>> and use it in the future instead of the 100 copies.
>>>
>>>     Tom
>>>
>>>
>>> -------- Original Message --------
>>> Subject: Re: [Chimera-users] Using marker files to place oriented 
>>> density maps inside a tomogram
>>> From: Daniel Castano Diez
>>> To: Tom Goddard
>>> Date: 11/15/12 7:12 AM
>>>> Hi Tom,
>>>>
>>>> thanks for the helpful explanation. The extension that you mention 
>>>> you've been working on  seems interesting. I guess that will allow 
>>>> the user to change the isosurface level in one single model to 
>>>> change it in all the models simultaneously, am I right? This would 
>>>> solve another problem I'm having with my scripts, as they fed each 
>>>> copy of the map into Chimera as a different model. So, I'm looking 
>>>> forwards to trying it when it becomes available.
>>>>
>>>> best,
>>>> Daniel
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Hi Daniel,
>>>>>
>>>>>  You can use a Chimera marker file but that only knows how to 
>>>>> place spheres.  If you wanted to make use of the "map" and 
>>>>> "matrix" attributes you added to the markers then that would 
>>>>> require some extra Python script.  That could be done -- it is 
>>>>> just a different format of input from the script I sent you.
>>>>>
>>>>>  If you can't display hundreds of copies of the map due to slow 
>>>>> graphics then it doesn't matter how you input the data.  Having 
>>>>> hundreds of copies of the same map open doesn't load the map data 
>>>>> more than once.  So you shouldn't run out of memory.  But the 
>>>>> surface for each map might have a million triangles and it does 
>>>>> make a separate surface copy for each copy you place in your 
>>>>> tomogram.  Of course you won't see the detail in a tiny map put 
>>>>> into a tomogram so the solution would be to display a very coarse 
>>>>> image of the map that is being placed many times in the tomogram.  
>>>>>  I've worked recently on making Chimera display multiple copies of 
>>>>> identical objects without making copies of the surface in memory 
>>>>> -- just reuse the same surface. But it is not in Chimera yet.  And 
>>>>> your graphics speed will still become unusable if you try to 
>>>>> display too many copies with too much detail.  So the main need is 
>>>>> to show an appropriate low level of detail for all or most of your 
>>>>> hundreds of copies.
>>>>>
>>>>>    Tom
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> -------- Original Message --------
>>>>> Subject: Re: [Chimera-users] Using marker files to place oriented 
>>>>> density maps inside a tomogram
>>>>> From: Daniel Castano Diez
>>>>> To: Tom Goddard
>>>>> Date: 11/14/12 1:28 PM
>>>>>> Hi Tom,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> thanks for the answer. Actually I already wrote some scripts for 
>>>>>> placing each different copy of the density map as an individual 
>>>>>> model, but this is not practical for placing hundreds of copies 
>>>>>> (as it's the case with tomograms).  I will try your python script.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I was under the impression that a .cmm markerfile was a better 
>>>>>> approach, as I though that one could define a marker with more 
>>>>>> attributes as in the example:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> <marker id="1" x="-6.1267" y="17.44" z="-3.1338" radius="0.35217"/>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I mean, something like:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> <marker id="1" x="-6.1267" y="17.44" z="-3.1338"  map 
>>>>>> ="my_map.em"  matrix = "my_matrix.txt" />
>>>>>>
>>>>>> or similar with quaternions or euler angles... but I guess that 
>>>>>> was wrong? That'll be a pitty,  as I am interfacing Chimera with 
>>>>>> the subtomogram averaging package Dynamo and the most stable way 
>>>>>> seemes to be having Dynamo converting its "table" files (lists of 
>>>>>> positions and angles) into .cmm files that could then be directly 
>>>>>> fed into Chimera.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Thanks!
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Daniel
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hi Daniel,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Take a look at the placem.py script which can place copies of 
>>>>>>> maps or molecules at specified positions.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>   http://plato.cgl.ucsf.edu/trac/chimera/wiki/Scripts
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> It specifies the rotation as a quaternion which is close to a 
>>>>>>> rotation axis and angle description.  I could show you how to 
>>>>>>> adapt it to use Euler angles or a 3x3 rotation matrix if you like.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>   Tom
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Hi,
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I'd like to use a Chimera marker file to place multiple copies 
>>>>>>>> of a density map in different spatial positions inside a 
>>>>>>>> tomogram. My input is thus a single map file a set of 3d 
>>>>>>>> locations, each attached to an euler triplet (or a rotation 
>>>>>>>> matrix)
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> With the documentation I could find
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/chimera/1.2065/docs/ContributedSoftware/volumepathtracer/volumepathtracer.html 
>>>>>>>> it is explained how to place spheres without orientation in a 
>>>>>>>> volume, but I was not able to figure out how to place a density 
>>>>>>>> map at those locations, and also how to impart a different 
>>>>>>>> orientation to the density map located at each position.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> My question is: where could I find a description of the marker 
>>>>>>>> file syntax that describes this functionality?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> thanks,
>>>>>>>> Daniel
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
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>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
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>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
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