High Order Chimera 2 Goals

1. Improved performance and scalability (support for larger systems)
2. Improved maintainability
3. QT/Web interfaces

Possible Additional Improvements for Chimera 2.0

In no particular order...

1. Colors are RGB values, not RGBA values, for ease of changing transparency of a non-uniformly-colored object.
2. Integration of scene/session saving to avoid duplicative effort.
3. Elimination of MSMS so that Chimera 2 can be truly open source and for improved reliability.
4. Adoption of modern Python naming conventions.
5. Programmer documentation for all public classes and functions.
6. Global coordinate frame so model with lowest id is not special.
7. Chain objects. You would need to define exactly what a chain means (same ID? connected polymer?) and what happens when a connecting bond is deleted or established.
8. Sequence objects.
9. Wrap C++ code with SWIG instead of wrappy.
10. Use numpy for vector, point, transform, bounding box, coordinate set data types.
11. Implement Camera and Viewer in Python not C++. Code in Python unless speed is needed.
12. Separate molecule C++ library from generic models / selectable / color abstractions.
13. OpenGL shader support.
14. Correct multi-model transparency.
15. Unify commands / menus solvent-excluded and low resolution surfaces.
16. Mouse pointer-mode palette like Photoshop or Gimp with mode parameters.
17. Generalize 3 level selection hierarchy for many level molecular assemblies.
18. Object specification for commands for all objects at all levels (unique ids, sequences, ...)
19. Level-of-detail rending that maintains frame rate as highest priority.
20. Image save in nogui mode for database applications.
21. Easier to remember commands (e.g. one color command with key words for current color, rainbow, bondcolor, ribcolor, ribinsidecolor, modelcolor, surfcolor, scolor, rangecolor).
22. Feature usage tracking.
23. Less nightmarish compilation system so that "open source" means you can actually build it yourself.

Development Cycle

1. Monthly milestones with demonstratable results.