May 2004 - Chimera-users - RBVI Mailing Lists

Re: [Chimera-users] non-GUI use of Chimera
by Charles Moad 25 May '04

25 May '04

Hi, I am working with Randy on this, and I think we have a web service type solution that will work using your suggestions. The one problem that remains is killing chimera after a request. The webdata facility is targeted to run on a client's machine where a user quits chimera, but we will be running it on the server. I tried adding the 'stop' command at the end of the chimerax file, but I received an error from chimera and it continued to run. Same story for 'sys.exit()' Running the chimera_send script a second time only opens a new instance of chimera which also remains open. Is there a way to attach chimera_send to an existing process of chimera, or have chimera quit at the end of a chimera_send call? Thanks, Charlie > -----Original Message----- > From: chimera-users-bounces(a)cgl.ucsf.edu > [mailto:chimera-users-bounces@cgl.ucsf.edu] On Behalf Of Thomas Goddard > Sent: Monday, May 24, 2004 6:20 PM > To: heiland(a)indiana.edju > Cc: chimera-users(a)cgl.ucsf.edu > Subject: [Chimera-users] non-GUI use of Chimera > > Hi Randy, > > If I understand correctly you want to be able to type some Chimera > Python > code or Chimera commands to a web browser, those get sent to the web > server > which sends them to Chimera running on the web server machine. Then you > capture the Chimera image and send it back to the web browser. > > I believe this can be done using the Chimera "Web Data" facility. > This > allows programs to send commands to Chimera. The intended use is for > displaying models in Chimera when the user clicks a link in a web > browser. > It works by having the *.chimerax file associated with the link lauch > helper application <chimera-install-location>/bin/chimera_send. > The same mechanism allows any program to send commands to Chimera. > The Chimera User's Guide describes this under Tools/Web Browser > Configuration. > Here's a URL: > > > http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/chimera/1.1951/docs/ContributedSoftware/webdata/ > chimerax.html > > What you might do is have your web server create an appropriate > *.chimerax that executes the user's commands and then prints the > Chimera graphics window to a file. The web server than sends the > image (jpg) to the web client. There is a bunch of somewhat tricky > glue to make this work. As previous posts mentioned, Chimera will > need to pop up windows on some screen to render an image. For the web > server to know when Chimera has finished making an image, the > *.chimerax file might end in a command that writes to some secondary > status file after the image file is written. That will tell the web > server that the image is ready. > > We haven't tried this. And there are other pitfalls, like you are > likely to run into trouble if the web server starts 2 instances of > Chimera > and then tries to dispatch commands with the chimera_send program. > > Please let me know if you get this to work. Feel free to send > additional > questions. > > Tom > _______________________________________________ > Chimera-users mailing list > Chimera-users(a)cgl.ucsf.edu > http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/mailman/listinfo/chimera-users > > > >

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vrml 2.0 export of pdb representation
by Pattanayek, Sabuj 25 May '04

25 May '04

Hi, Is there anyway to export a pdb model into vrml once I have it just the way I want it (ribbon & atom sizes, colors, etc)? I tried a pdb2vrml converter from http://www.pc.chemie.tu-darmstadt.de/research/vrml/pdb2vrml_right.shtml but freewrl crashes when loading the output (I think pdb2vrml might be outputting vrml 1.0), it's also not very versatile as far as what I want to display into vrml from the pdb. Thanks

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non-GUI use of Chimera
by Thomas Goddard 24 May '04

24 May '04

Hi Randy, If I understand correctly you want to be able to type some Chimera Python code or Chimera commands to a web browser, those get sent to the web server which sends them to Chimera running on the web server machine. Then you capture the Chimera image and send it back to the web browser. I believe this can be done using the Chimera "Web Data" facility. This allows programs to send commands to Chimera. The intended use is for displaying models in Chimera when the user clicks a link in a web browser. It works by having the *.chimerax file associated with the link lauch helper application <chimera-install-location>/bin/chimera_send. The same mechanism allows any program to send commands to Chimera. The Chimera User's Guide describes this under Tools/Web Browser Configuration. Here's a URL: http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/chimera/1.1951/docs/ContributedSoftware/webdata/chi… What you might do is have your web server create an appropriate *.chimerax that executes the user's commands and then prints the Chimera graphics window to a file. The web server than sends the image (jpg) to the web client. There is a bunch of somewhat tricky glue to make this work. As previous posts mentioned, Chimera will need to pop up windows on some screen to render an image. For the web server to know when Chimera has finished making an image, the *.chimerax file might end in a command that writes to some secondary status file after the image file is written. That will tell the web server that the image is ready. We haven't tried this. And there are other pitfalls, like you are likely to run into trouble if the web server starts 2 instances of Chimera and then tries to dispatch commands with the chimera_send program. Please let me know if you get this to work. Feel free to send additional questions. Tom

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Re: [Chimera-users] vrml 2.0 export of pdb representation
by Pattanayek, Sabuj 22 May '04

22 May '04

imho, 3DS is currently more widely supported than X3D by expensive, cheap, and free 3d modellers. Most 3D format translators can convert from 3DS to other types (DXF, iv, etc). However it looks like from web3d.org that X3D is much more versatile and feature rich than old 3ds... Quoting Greg Couch <gregc(a)cgl.ucsf.edu>: > We currently only support VRML export of volume isosurfaces and multiscale > surfaces. So the answer is no, not yet. > > Exporting to a 3D graphics file format is definately something we would > like to do. However, it is unclear what format would be best to generate. > VRML 2.0 will never support transparency like chimera does. VRML's > successor, X3D, looks promising, but there aren't many users yet. Other > possiblities include the Renderman format, popular with animation studios; > the .3DS format, popular on PCs; and many others. > > So, a question for everyone reading this, if you had to pick one format, > would it be VRML97? And if so, why? And if not, why not? We are leaning > torwards outputing X3D, but would appreciate comments from people who > would actually be using the output. > > Greg Couch > UCSF Computer Graphics Lab > gregc(a)cgl.ucsf.edu > > > On Fri, 21 May 2004, Pattanayek, Sabuj wrote: > > > Is there anyway to export a pdb model into vrml once I have it just the way > I > > want it (ribbon & atom sizes, colors, etc)? I tried a pdb2vrml converter > from > > http://www.pc.chemie.tu-darmstadt.de/research/vrml/pdb2vrml_right.shtml > but > > freewrl crashes when loading the output (I think pdb2vrml might be > outputting > > vrml 1.0), it's also not very versatile as far as what I want to display > into > > vrml from the pdb. >

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Color blending on ribbons
by Emma Hill 20 May '04

20 May '04

Hi, I wondered if there is any easy way to blend colors from one residue to the next on a ribbon chain (as in the rainbow facility.) I want to be able to precisely define where this takes place (ie whenever I switch from one color to another) - more specifically I am coloring different regions of a superimposed pair to show where is aligned and where is not, and the drastic switch from one color to the next would definitely look better more blended. Thanks in advance Emma -- Emma Hill Brenner Research Lab U.C. Berkeley

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non-GUI use of Chimera
by Randy Heiland 20 May '04

20 May '04

I am evaluating Chimera as a tool for providing (pseudo-interactive) vis functionality from a web server and therefore would like to use it in a non-gui mode. I saw the earlier post/reply to this list (May 4) on this topic, and Eric indicated that one way to do this was to put all your cmds in a file then run "chimera --nogui <cmd-file>". Obviously this isn't ideal for my purposes. So, I'm wondering what the alternatives are? I'm a newbie to Chimera, but I've read how it was based on Midas, and so I decided to see how far I could get in reading in a pdb file and... I didn't get very far: (after install Chimera (Linux, beta 1 build 1951), plus dependent Python pkgs) %python >>> import chimera >>> import Midas >>> f=Midas.open('foo.pdb') and I get an error about 'missing default material' and realize I'm doing the wrong thing anyway. Basic question: can I, from the Python interpreter, use Chimera/Midas to read in a pdb file and do basic Chimera functionality? For now, I don't even care if it assumes X is running and pops up windows. Thanks, Randy

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rainbow command with sub-models
by Jarrod Smith 19 May '04

19 May '04

Hello all, Is it possible to add a new "level" to the rainbow command such that each submodel of a multi-model PDB file (MODEL/ENDMDL records) can be visited separately by the rainbow command? I have some pdb files with several tens to hundreds of submodels in them. Separating them by chain ID (so I can use the rainbow chains command) has proven to be impractical for other reasons, so this would be useful in such a case. Thanks for the great software. Jarrod Smith -- Jarrod A. Smith, Ph.D. Asst. Director, Center for Structural Biology Research Asst. Professor, Biochemistry Vanderbilt University 203 processes: 140 sleeping, 63 running

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new Chimera production release
by Eric Pettersen 14 May '04

14 May '04

Hi all, A new Chimera production release (version 1.1951) is now available for download. I've summarized the major additions since the last snapshot (1.1917) below. A list of all the changes since the last production release (1.1872) is in the release notes: http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/chimera/docs/relnotes/1.1951.html Eric Pettersen UCSF Computer Graphics Lab pett(a)cgl.ucsf.edu http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu Changes since 1.1917: General changes --------------- Newly opened models are shown larger (as well as models after a 'window' or 'focus' command) Selections can be written out as parsable text files (Actions->Write... or from the Selection Inspector) New residue attributes: kdHydrophobicity (Kyte-Doolittle hydropathy, amino acids only) mavPercentConserved (% conserved in a sequence alignment open in Multalign Viewer) above for use with Render/Select by attribute tools Double-picking a bond brings up a menu with Rotate Bond and Select Bonded (the latter is new and selects the atoms); double-picking a pseudobond bring up a menu with just Select Bonded; "select bonded" also now in Pseudobond Panel As much as possible, can handle PDB files with 100000+ atoms (e.g. AMBER output). Some PDB records (e.g. CONECT records) have no room for 6-digit atom serial numbers, so only can be used for the first 99,999 atoms. A new tutorial describing preparing images for publication Select by Attribute Value... in Selection menu and Model Panel New Tools --------- Lighting (Viewing Parameters): change and save lighting parameters Color Secondary Structure (Graphics): color peptides/proteins by secondary structure Render Attributes (Graphics): color or otherwise change atom, residue, or model displays based on attribute values; was in 1.1917 release but several changes have been made and documentation added Demo (its own category; entries are individual demos): create/replay demos in Chimera; example demo included (Cyclooxygenase) Tool Changes ------------ Adjust Torsions now allows a bond to be rotated with mouse motions in the graphics window Movie has File->Save PDB for writing out either the current frame or all frames that have been viewed Multalign Viewer: ClustalX-style residue letter coloring added and made the default; can save alignment depiction as an EPS file; can hide Consensus and/or Conservation lines RibbonStyleEditor now has two panels in which scalings and cross-sections can be defined and named; named cross-section are analogous to the built-in cross-sections (flat, edged, round) and can be accessed from the Actions menu or with ribrepr; nucleic acids are now treated separately in the scalings panel New "Graphics" category; Per-Model Clipping, PipesAndPlanks, ResProp, and Ribbon Style Editor moved into it SimpleSession saves lighting, ribbon scaling and cross-section(s), B-factor and occupancy values Web Data asks for confirmation before accepting certain files; associated option in Preferences Command Changes --------------- alias: $1, $2, $3, ... may be used to indicate the first, second, third... arguments of the alias conic: works on Windows, and the -s flag now works on Linux (besides Mac, SGI) write: has "trajectory" keyword to write all frames that have been viewed (loaded) [analogous option added to Model Panel's "write PDB" dialog] ribbackbone: now applies to nucleic acids also

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by riccardodesantis＠fastwebnet.it 05 May '04

05 May '04

Hallo, my name is Riccardo De Santis and I'm a new user of CHIMERA. I'd like to know how run the program from the command line. I've tryed with the command NOGUI but the program doesn't start. Another question is: how can I use matchmaker (in the graphic menu) to match the molecules from the command line? Which is the istruction to type? Thank you in advance, Riccardo De Santis.

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by riccardodesantis＠fastwebnet.it 05 May '04

05 May '04

Hallo, my name is Riccardo De Santis, and I'm a new user of CHIMERA. I'd like to know how to use the program in command line mode. I noticed that there is a NOGUI option, I tryed it but unsuccessfully. Cuold you help me , please? Thank you in advance, Riccardo De Santis.

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