On 05/09/2010 07:51 AM, Daniel Gurnon wrote:

Hello everyone, My colleague and I are planning to incorporate 3D physical models into the introductory biochemistry course at our university, and I want students to use Chimera in the design of models. I've seen the technotes on 3D models made by the uPrint printer (http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/Outreach/technotes/uprint.html). We'll hopefully be collaborating with the folks at MSOE on this, using their Z-corporation printer. They use RasMol to design models, but the file read by the printer is in .stl format.

Here are my questions: 1) Has anyone used Chimera to create models to be printed on a Z-corp printer? (if yes, I'll have many more questions for you...)

If you are using a Z-corp printer, you should look into sending it chimera's VRML output. That is because chimera's STL output works well when you limit it to surfaces and ribbons, but the triangles generated for bonds and atoms (interpenetrating cylinders and spheres) confuse some printer's software. The Z-corp printers come with their ZPrint software that accepts VRML and should do the proper triangulation for their printers (I say "should" because we've never tested it, but from everything I've read, I expect it to work). - Greg