Hi Luyuan, That way works, but another way that does not require an extra copy of the structure is to use the command "ribbackbone" - it allows both ribbon and backbone atoms to be shown at the same time: <http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/chimera/docs/UsersGuide/midas/ribbackbone.html> Elaine ----- Elaine C. Meng, Ph.D. meng@cgl.ucsf.edu UCSF Computer Graphics Lab and Babbitt Lab Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry University of California, San Francisco http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/home/meng/index.html On Dec 7, 2008, at 1:42 PM, lvyuan zhang wrote:

I want show one of the CAs in a single protein chain as a sphere. But it looks like that I have to hide the ribbon to let the sphere show. Is there anyway that I can show the CA as sphere and also allow the ribbon to remain? I looked at the gallery and I didn't find anything that can help me, so here I am to ask for help from you again. Thanks first!