Provide vector graphics output of silhouette edges

[olibclarke@…]

On May 23, 2017, at 9:50 AM, Oliver Clarke wrote:

Hi,

Probably low on the priority list, but I wonder if it would be possible in the future to add an option to export silhouettes (if present) in a vector format such as SVG? This would be incredibly useful when attempting to make realistic schematic figures, and creating scalable assets that can be reused in multiple figures, e.g. generic amino acids, lipids, surface representations of particular proteins, etc.

Cheers
Oli

[Tom Goddard]

On May 23, 2017, at 2:56 PM, Tom Goddard wrote:

Hi Oliver,

You are good at coming up with useful ideas that require lots of work! Unfortunately silhouettes are generated as a raster image using edge detection on a pixel by pixel basis in an OpenGL shader program. It would require a totally different approach to produce scalable vector graphics — a geometric analysis of triangles making up the scene. There would be no common code between these two methods. Still it is an interesting idea.

Tom

[Tom Goddard]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Oliver Clarke
Subject: Re: [chimerax-users] Export silhouettes as SVG?
Date: May 23, 2017 at 12:04:08 PM PDT
To: Tom Goddard

Fair enough on both! :) Just sending ideas as I they come up while I am using the alpha (which I am loving by the way!). I figure that now is the time to suggest such things before everything is fully baked, totally understanding that they may not make the cut (or end up low on the priority list). Molecular vector graphics is something that pretty much no-one is doing, to my knowledge, and I think a lot of people would find it useful for preparing figures, but completely understand if it is out of the scope of what ChimeraX is intended to be.

Cheers
Oli