Hi Ludovic,

This is possible, but a little tricky. It requires writing Python code. So if I were to code a solution (and I may if you don't, but I need to fix a few bugs first), I'd make a chimera extension that would load an image into an OpenGL texture, then in the 2D drawing pass, I'd draw it underneath everything that is currently drawn. The reason for using a texture instead of a bitmap is to allow for high resolution backgrounds for saving images.

If you are inclined to write this yourself, code for a chimera extension that does OpenGL in Python can be found in the CHIMERA/share/Ilabel package.

-- Greg

On 6/23/2010 2:14 PM, Eric Pettersen wrote:

On Jun 22, 2010, at 1:25 PM, Ludovic Autin wrote:

Hi,

I would like to know if its possible to use a PIL or a raw image as a background image.
And/Or can you help me figure out how to do it (maybe using some volume from image functinoality).
Ideally, I would like to be able to update in realtime this background image (either using a thread, or a callback)

Hi Ludovic,

The developer who could authoritatively answer your question (Greg Couch) is out this week, so I'll take a stab at it: I don't think so. :-) However, if your goal is to, say, make a movie with a background you provide then you could write out image files with a transparent background (described in this message: http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/pipermail/chimera-users/2008-January/002197.html) and use most any image-processing program to compose the Chimera images with the background(s) you prefer.

Despite my flippant answer in the first sentence, I don't really know if it is possible to directly change the background. When Greg gets back I hope he will comment on that. Perhaps you could say more about what your ultimate goal is?

--Eric

  Eric Pettersen

  UCSF Computer Graphics Lab

                     http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu

Hi Ludovic,

Everything is possible.