Hi Horacio, Chimera is using MSMS to generate the surface and give surface area values per atom. There is more information and an MSMS reference here: <http://plato.cgl.ucsf.edu/chimera/docs/UsersGuide/representation.html#surfaces> 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 Sep 21, 2011, at 9:01 AM, Horacio Pérez-Sánchez wrote:

We have developed a fast and accurate new GPU based SASA calculation method. It can bring information about SASA per atom and also grid per atom necessary to graphically render the molecular surface. We are new to Chimera but we would like to know:

a) where could we find information about the SASA method Chimera uses so we can test with our own method b) same question for the method Chimera uses to graphically render the molecular surface

Thanks in advance, Horacio