Display at low definition
Dear all, I have a basic question: In the image below, on the left, the definition of the atoms is quite good, they are perfect spheres. On the right, they are not anymore. I probably activated something in Chimera, but I'm not able to remember. May you tell me what to do to get a good definition again? Many thanks for your help, Damien
Hi Damien, For atoms/bonds/ribbons the relevant parameter is "subdivision," which can be controlled in the Effects panel or with the "set" command, e.g.: set subdivision 5 It is also changed by presets. More subdivisions may be slower to render, but in your second picture the parameter looks extremely low, much lower than the default. More details and related parameters for surfaces are given in the Image Tips section on smoothness: <http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/chimera/docs/UsersGuide/print.html#smoothness> I hope this helps, Elaine ---------- Elaine C. Meng, Ph.D. UCSF Computer Graphics Lab (Chimera team) and Babbitt Lab Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry University of California, San Francisco On Dec 20, 2012, at 10:15 AM, Damien Larivière wrote:
Dear all, I have a basic question: In the image below, on the left, the definition of the atoms is quite good, they are perfect spheres.
On the right, they are not anymore. I probably activated something in Chimera, but I'm not able to remember.
May you tell me what to do to get a good definition again? Many thanks for your help, Damien
Hi Damien, Check the "subdivision quality" value in the Effects dialog (menu Tools / Viewing Controls / Effects). This controls how faceted the atom spheres and bond cylinders are. The default is 1.5. Higher values give smoother appearance but the rendering can become slow depending on the speed of your graphics card. A value of 10 would be high and 0.1 would be low. There is another factor that can lead to faceted atom spheres. If you have many atoms shown as spheres then Chimera will reduce the quality of the spheres so that the graphics does not become too slow. The exact rule is that it won't let you use more than 4.5 million triangles for the spheres of one molecule if subdivision quality is at its default value of 1.5. For subdivision quality of 10 it would use up to 30 million triangles (10 x 3 million). A big sphere might use about 450 triangles to look smooth, so at subdivision 1.5 you could go up to 10,000 atoms shown as spheres before quality becomes limited. Tom -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [Chimera-users] Display at low definition From: Damien Larivière <damien.lariviere@fourmentinguilbert.org> To: UCSF Chimera Mailing List <chimera-users@cgl.ucsf.edu> Date: 12/20/12 10:15 AM
Dear all,
I have a basic question:
In the image below, on the left, the definition of the atoms is quite good, they are perfect spheres.
On the right, they are not anymore. I probably activated something in Chimera, but I'm not able to remember.
May you tell me what to do to get a good definition again?
Many thanks for your help,
Damien
_______________________________________________ Chimera-users mailing list Chimera-users@cgl.ucsf.edu http://plato.cgl.ucsf.edu/mailman/listinfo/chimera-users
Dear Elaine, Dear Tom, My session had many atoms effectively! I closed some models and the atoms got smooth again! Many thanks for your help! Damien On 20/12/2012 19:40, Tom Goddard wrote:
Hi Damien,
Check the "subdivision quality" value in the Effects dialog (menu Tools / Viewing Controls / Effects). This controls how faceted the atom spheres and bond cylinders are. The default is 1.5. Higher values give smoother appearance but the rendering can become slow depending on the speed of your graphics card. A value of 10 would be high and 0.1 would be low.
There is another factor that can lead to faceted atom spheres. If you have many atoms shown as spheres then Chimera will reduce the quality of the spheres so that the graphics does not become too slow. The exact rule is that it won't let you use more than 4.5 million triangles for the spheres of one molecule if subdivision quality is at its default value of 1.5. For subdivision quality of 10 it would use up to 30 million triangles (10 x 3 million). A big sphere might use about 450 triangles to look smooth, so at subdivision 1.5 you could go up to 10,000 atoms shown as spheres before quality becomes limited.
Tom
-------- Original Message -------- Subject: [Chimera-users] Display at low definition From: Damien Larivière <damien.lariviere@fourmentinguilbert.org> To: UCSF Chimera Mailing List <chimera-users@cgl.ucsf.edu> Date: 12/20/12 10:15 AM
Dear all,
I have a basic question:
In the image below, on the left, the definition of the atoms is quite good, they are perfect spheres.
On the right, they are not anymore. I probably activated something in Chimera, but I'm not able to remember.
May you tell me what to do to get a good definition again?
Many thanks for your help,
Damien
_______________________________________________ Chimera-users mailing list Chimera-users@cgl.ucsf.edu http://plato.cgl.ucsf.edu/mailman/listinfo/chimera-users
participants (3)
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Damien Larivière -
Elaine Meng -
Tom Goddard