- Chimera-users - RBVI Mailing Lists

"docking" animation
by Elaine Meng 05 Dec '08

05 Dec '08

On Nov 19, 2008, at 9:37 AM, Bagchi, Angshuman wrote: > Hi, > Could you please tell me how to produce animation in chimera. > Actually, I have 2 proteins and would like to represent them as they > are getting docked. What I mean is that I would like to move the > proteins and then show that as if they are getting docked. Can this > be done with chimera? > Thanks > Ang Hi Ang, Yes, it can be done. Here is how I would do it: (1) create a Chimera session that includes saved/named positions of the proteins separated and the proteins docked. (2) figure out a set of commands that does the stuff you want in your animation, which would include "reset" to gradually change from one saved position to the other; put the commands in a file. Just opening the file will execute the commands. (3) after you are happy with what the Chimera command file does, just put a "movie record" command at the top of it and a "movie encode" command at the bottom, and execute it. Now with more details: (1) Open the structures of the two proteins from two separate files so that they can be moved separately. You can "freeze" a structure by deactivating it, so that the mouse moves only the other structure: <http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/chimera/current/docs/UsersGuide/mouse.html#activedef > Save at least two positions, one with the proteins separated, another with the proteins docked together, as you want them to appear in your animation. The current position is saved using the command "savepos": <http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/chimera/current/docs/UsersGuide/midas/savepos.html > You could even save multiple positions for more control over the path the proteins will take as they are "docked" in the animation. There is a nice example in the online movie-making tutorial, see the "Ligand flying into unbound conformation" section: <http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/chimera/tutorials/movies08/moviemaking.html> Get the display how you want it: background color, ribbons, ribbon style, which atoms are shown, atom display style, colors, etc. See "tips on preparing images": <http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/chimera/current/docs/UsersGuide/ print.html#tips> You might also want to add a title using 2D labels (if so, leave room for it when you save the positions). <http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/chimera/current/docs/ContributedSoftware/2dlabels/2… > Save the session (File... Save session As). It will include your saved positions and any 2D labels. Now you could exit and later restart the session without losing your work. (2) You could either try out commands by typing them individually, or by putting them in a text file (named *.com or *.cmd) and repeatedly opening the file after you adjust its contents and going back to the starting position. <http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/chimera/current/docs/UsersGuide/indexcommand.html#c… > The "reset" command is used to go from one saved position to another. It can be done abruptly in one frame or gradually over a specified number of frames. See movie-related commands for links to the manual page of "reset" and other commands that can do things over a specified number of frames. Besides the "reset," you might want to do other things like translate or rotate or fade in/out 2D labels with these commands. <http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/chimera/current/docs/UsersGuide/movies.html#movieco… > There are also links to a few example movie command files on that page. (3) Once you are happy with what the script does when you open it, then you can put a "movie record" command at the top and a "movie encode" command at the bottom. See the example movie command files and the "movie" command description: <http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/chimera/current/docs/UsersGuide/midas/movie.html > I prefer this process because at the end you have a session file and a command file that allow you to either reproduce the process efficiently, or to make some small change without a lot of duplicated effort. I am told that "reset" has had some problems which were just fixed, so if you get a bad behavior using that command, try getting a recent daily build from <http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/chimera/alpha-downloads.html> I hope this helps, Elaine ----- Elaine C. Meng, Ph.D. meng(a)cgl.ucsf.edu UCSF Computer Graphics Lab (Chimera team) and Babbitt Lab Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry University of California, San Francisco http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/home/meng/index.html

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Chimera on Linux PPC
by Tom Goddard 05 Dec '08

05 Dec '08

Hi Justin, We do not currently build Chimera for Linux with PowerPC processors. Chimera includes more than 30 third-party libraries which we build automatically on each supported platform (Windows, Mac, Linux...). Compiling all those libraries is the real problem. Many of those libraries require special patches to build on all our platforms (Windows, Linux, Mac). It would likely take weeks of work for Linux PPC for someone very experienced in compiling open source packages from source code. We do not have the resources to do that for such an obscure platform. The next platform we will likely support is Mac 64-bit (Intel) sometime in the next year, after that 64-bit Windows. The latest Chimera can be compiled without the proprietary molecular surface code. We don't have that latest source code on the web site, but if you manage to build all the third-party packages (called "foreign" packages on our source code download page) I'd put the latest source code on the web and tell you how to disable the molecular surface compilation. Tom Justin A. Lemkul wrote: > > Dear Sir, > > I am installing a few machines in our lab that are running Ubuntu > Linux (8.04) on PowerPC architecture. They are iMac G5 desktop > machines, a little old, but new to us. I have thus far been unable to > install Chimera on these machines, being that it is such an odd setup, > and PPC is rapidly falling out of use. I came across a message in the > chimera-users archive that made me wonder if installing Chimera on > these systems was even possible: > > http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/pipermail/chimera-users/2005-December/000607.html > > Are you aware of anyone that has installed Chimera on such a system? > Do you think it is even possible? We would really like to be able to > use Chimera on these machines (it is installed on all our other > machines, and has become a staple in our lab). Any advice you could > give me would be greatly appreciated. > > If I can resolve all of the dependencies, would Chimera install > without MSMS? I don't believe I can install MSMS on these machines, > given the available installation packages. > > Thank you very much for your time and attention. > > -Justin >

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Vista Video Card Error
by Devon Cayer 04 Dec '08

04 Dec '08

Hello, I'm currently attempting to model some viral capsid proteins using your software. Unfortunately, when I attempt to use the "side view" option I get a video card error, and I'm told to update my video card drivers. I've contacted the manufacturer and they have told me my laptop, a Gateway MT6821, is up to date with all the latest drivers. What else could be a possible problem do you think? I look forward to any input, Sincerely, Devon C Devon M Cayer Graduate Student The Scripps Research Institute Ghadiri Lab devcayer(a)scripps.edu

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building a alpha helix
by Anindito Sen 04 Dec '08

04 Dec '08

Dear All I was wondering if there is any tool by which can generate an alpha helix, as an extension of a truncated crystal structure docked in the density map. The possibility of the truncated portion of the protein behaving as an alpha helix has been predicted by different groups. The density map shows some empty regions (after the crystal structure has been docked) just good enough for an alpha helix to fit in. Best Andy Dr. Anindito Sen (Ph.D) Research Associate , Dept. of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics University of Virginia Box 800733 Charlottesville, VA 22908

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Transparency of ribbons
by lvyuan zhang 04 Dec '08

04 Dec '08

Hi all, I'm a new user and my question maybe a little weird to you guys. I want to make some parts of my protein, let's say "A", partially transparent, so when compared to other parts of the protein, let's say "B", these "A" parts are hardly visible (the background is white). So I set the alpha value of "A" to less than 1, such as 0.1. then I save the image with POV-ray. The resulted "A" is too dark, and it is still quite "visible". Is there any way to make partially transparent ribbons lighter, instead of darker than non-transparent ones? I would really appreciate it if any one can help resolve this problem. Thans! Cheers! Luyuan Zhang

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Software(Drug Design)
by Tarit Mitra 04 Dec '08

04 Dec '08

28, Ashfield Green Yateley Hants GU46 6AL UK Dear Sir, I am a retired scientist, and working on an honorary basis for the University of London. I work from home and go to the University in regular interval. I would very much like to use your software for drug design. I was wondering whether you would grant me a free academic licence to the software. I shall only use the software for academic purpose and not for any financial reason whatsoever. I have both Linux(Ubantu) and Windows XP. My computer has 40GB hard disk with 756MB RAM I shall be grateful if you will kindly consider my case favourably. Yours faithfully T. K. Mitra, B.Sc(London), Ph.D(London)

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opaque background
by Mueller, Juergen-Joachim 01 Dec '08

01 Dec '08

Dear all, is there a possibility to make the background invisible to be able to overlay a structure over anything? Thanks, Juergen

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Chimera rotational matrix
by Bui Khanh Huy 01 Dec '08

01 Dec '08

Hi, I notice that Chimera has slightly different in calculation of transform when I tried to rotate my EM density (200x200x200 mrc file) using Chimera. The origin of the density reported by Volume Viewer is 0,0,0 First, I print out the homologous transform matrix using: >>> om = chimera.openModels >>> mlist = om.list() >>> m = mlist[0] >>> print m.openState.xform The transformation is: 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 If I rotate the model using command: roll z -30 1 Then print out the transform matrix again: 0.866025 0.5 0 -36.8852 -0.5 0.866025 0 61.2937 0 0 0 1 That would be weird because I didn't do any translation. So what is really happening in Chimera when I rotate the model? Best, Huy

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How to generate submodels in a mol2 file in Chimera?
by CHIU,YEUNG 01 Dec '08

01 Dec '08

Dear friends, Hello! I'm wondering how many models and submodels in all can Chimera save into one single mol2 file? Right now I can have models only 0-9 into one single mol2 file. I think I'm going to use submodels, but how can I generate them? For instance, if I have a brunch of pdb files which contain one molecule each, I'd like to combine them into one mol2 file, which has a submodel corresponding to each molecule. (If this statement of the problem is not clear enough, please let me know). Thank you for your help and sorry to bother the others. Best wishes. Sincerely yours CHIU,YEUNG

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Increases size of labels
by Todd Weaver 25 Nov '08

25 Nov '08

Under the Actions pulldown for Label --> Other is there a way to increase the size of the lettering/numbering. When I make side by side stereo the labels are too small for publication. Thanks so much! -- Todd M. Weaver, Ph.D. UW-La Crosse 1725 State Street Chemistry Department 4020 Cowley Hall La Crosse, WI 54601 Ph. (608)785-8269 Fax (608)785-8281

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