Symmetrical depth cue with clip planes

[olibclarke@…]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Oliver Clarke
Subject: ChimeraX suggestion - forward/back depth cueing ramps
Date: May 26, 2016 at 8:35:52 AM PDT
To: Tom Goddard

Hi Tom,

Please ignore this if you don't have time or don't think it sensible!

For local density pictures, usually the subject of interest is located at the center of the clipped slab (directly in between the two clipping planes). With the way depth cueing is implemented in Chimera, (front to back), this means that little clipped bits of density and model near the front clip plane can distract from the main subject.

One approach which I have seen work quite well to make nicer looking density figures in such a case is to use two depth cueing ramps - e.g. increasing fog when moving from the center towards both clipping planes, rather than just toward the yon clip plane, thereby increasing focus on the subject near the center of the clipped slab. Does that make sense, and if so is this something you might consider experimenting with in ChimeraX?

Cheers,
Oli.

[Tom Goddard]

Could offer symmetrical depth cuing in ChimeraX. Something related I’ve wanted to try is to simply hide all small mesh patches when clipping. Or it would be possible to make small patches more transparent based on their size. This is related to the Chimera Hide Dust tool that hides all small blobs. But the blob size does not currently take account of the clip planes because clipping is not considered to change the surface, it only masks the surface.