[Chimera-users] large file size exporting scene with spheres

[Elaine Meng]

On Sep 17, 2015, at 10:48 AM, Tom Goddard <goddard at sonic.net> wrote:

Hi Elaine, Bill,

  Chimera export first writes x3d and then converts that to STL or VRML or whatever you requested.  For atom spheres it writes the center and radius of the sphere in x3d.  It does not write the number of triangles or the amount subdivision.  The Chimera program x3d2stl controls how many triangles a sphere is turned into.  It uses 100 triangles per square Angstrom.  There is no option to change that.  But it is possible to run x3d2stl by hand and specify the resolution option “-r 1” to request 1 triangle per square Angstrom, resulting in a file that is 100 times smaller and the spheres still look fine (using about 40 triangles per atom).

	~/Desktop/Chimera\ 1.10.2.app/Contents/Resources/bin/.x3d2stl -o 1a0m_r1.stl -r 1 < 1a0m.x3d

Note that .x3d2stl has a period as the first character.  Eric Bell reported this problem about a year and a half ago but the ridiculous defaul STL sphere subdivision has unfortunately not been changed.

	http://plato.cgl.ucsf.edu/trac/chimera/ticket/13183

  Tom

> On Sep 17, 2015, at 9:51 AM, Eliason, William <william.eliason at yale.edu> wrote:
> 
> Elaine,
> 
> Thanks again for your suggestions.  I had already seen that previous post you listed and found that the stl file size for spheres was unchanged with changes to the zoom.  The subdivision box in the effects tool changes the spheres on on the chimera display but has no effect on the stl file size when exporting a scene.
> 
> I will keep looking for a solution.  If you have any other suggestions please email me.
> 
> Thanks Again,
> 
> Bill 
> ________________________________________
> From: Elaine Meng [meng at cgl.ucsf.edu]
> Sent: Tuesday, September 15, 2015 3:42 PM
> To: Eliason, William
> Cc: chimera-users at cgl.ucsf.edu
> Subject: Re: [Chimera-users] large file size exporting scene with spheres
> 
> Hi Bill,
> You can decrease the “subdivision” setting in the Effects dialog (menu Tools… Viewing Controls… Effects) and also zoom out the view before exporting.
> 
> These are discussed in more detail in this previous post:
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__plato.cgl.ucsf.edu_pipermail_chimera-2Dusers_2014-2DApril_009753.html&d=AwIF-g&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=GHLQ-YN3a3SZwmbxfQzG422WX8qFcxMwcqDhrmzYYig&m=82epIAtAXgjRN-pj6rQz0vxnLpXgRblFMlQ7tp8624A&s=ekvBZa1LD-g5eO8zKme9E80DrWt-4atfTpouu6hPG6E&e= >
> 
> I hope this helps,
> Elaine
> ----------
> Elaine C. Meng, Ph.D.
> UCSF Computer Graphics Lab (Chimera team) and Babbitt Lab
> Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry
> University of California, San Francisco
> 
> 
> 
>> On Sep 15, 2015, at 11:52 AM, Eliason, William <william.eliason at yale.edu> wrote:
>> 
>> Chimera-users,
>> 
>> I am very new to chimera.  I would like to export a scene with spheres for 3d printing but the ( .stl) file size is enormous.  They contain way to many triangles.  I tested a smallish molecule in MeshLab and I could decrease the number of faces from 699732 (34MB) to 34986 faces (1.7MB) with minor flattening of the sphere.  Is there a way to have chimera generate spheres with fewer faces?
>> 
>> Thank you,
>> 
>> Bill Eliason
> 
>