Hello everybody, The official 1.7 production release of UCSF Chimera is now available: http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/chimera/download.html Download is free for noncommercial use. Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux, including 64-bit versions (recommended for working with large datasets on machines with at least 4GB memory). Note: 1.6 was the last version to support Mac PPC and OS X 10.5. New features include faster loading and graphics, improvements in lighting and interactive shadows, "click-to-center" mouse mode, map display as orthogonal planes, interface to Modeller for building missing loops, Animation timeline, enhanced commands for animation, interfaces to PDB2PQR, APBS, and AutoDock Vina single-ligand docking. More details are given below; see release notes for the full list: http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/chimera/docs/relnotes/1.7.html Graphics, Depiction: * faster loading of large molecules * faster graphics on many systems; target frame rate raised to 60 fps * interactive shadows: finer quality; available on more systems * glossy default lighting, better control over contrast * users can create custom presets * 2D Labels can have backgrounds (colored rectangles beneath) * PipesAndPlanks can color SSEs uniquely, show arrowheads * Actions...Color menu works on axis, plane, and centroid objects * CASTp pocket display omits small surface fragments * "surface" and "sop" command options to hide small fragments Animation: * Animation tool allows placing scenes and simple actions (rock, roll) along a timeline to define a movie * new output movie formats H.264, VP8/WebM, Theora * "play" command to animate complex motions like radial explosion * "transparency" command to set transparency of atoms, ribbons, etc. without otherwise changing their colors, can be applied gradually * "movie" command usability improvements * "perframe" allows embedding other commands directly, substituting variables other than frame count, executing at multiframe intervals * "roll" and "turn" command options for precession motion Structure Analysis and Modeling: * AmberTools updated to v12, default charges etc. now Amber ff12SB * "click-to-center" mouse mode (default Ctrl-right button) * "show distances to nearby residues" added to atom context menu * interface to Modeller for building missing segments * interface to APBS Poisson-Boltzmann electrostatics calculations * interface to PDB2PQR charge and radius assignment * interface to AutoDock Vina single-ligand docking * ViewDock support for AutoDock/Vina .pdbqt, GOLD .mol2 files * MD Movie can calculate average structures, plot RMSD vs. frame, read GROMACS .xtc format; occupancy calculation can treat atoms as VDW spheres (as opposed to points only) * Build Structure bond length slider, bond angle control * Multalign Viewer can use a subset of the existing sequences (rather than all) to guide alignment of a new sequence; the Region Browser lists individual-sequence regions separately (now that a sequence can have many UniProt annotations) Density Maps: * Volume Viewer orthogonal planes feature * Volume Tracer default mode includes placing markers on planes * "fitmap" option to fit multiple models independently * "vop cover" can extend a map using its symmetries Enjoy! On behalf of the Chimera team, --Eric Eric Pettersen UCSF Computer Graphics Lab http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu