- ChimeraX-users - RBVI Mailing Lists

Question!
by Matthew Wengler (TSL) 26 Feb '23

26 Feb '23

Hello, I am a PhD student studying the downstream signalling events of a kinase in a fungal plant pathogen. We have differential phosphopeptide data of the kinase itself over a time course during plant infection (i.e., four residues on this kinase are differentially phosphorylated during stages of infection). I had a vision of showing a movie that incorporated the phosphorylated residues x phosphorylation abundance x time on the kinase’s tertiary structure and was wondering if this could be possible with Chimera X: * The tertiary structure would be displayed in grey * The phosphorylated residues would be highlighted in blue * A movie would be played and the highlighted residues would change colour based on phosphopeptide abundance over a time course (ranging from 0-100% abundance = blue -> red) I was wondering if this was currently possible. Alternatively (and maybe this is really the easiest way), because we only have ~6 time points, I could have 6 different stills of the protein with the residues highlighted corresponding to the phosphopeptide abundance values (blue-red 0-100%) and then piece them together in a 6 frame video that will loop…? I think I would prefer the colours to blend slower together dynamically than 6 harsh frames. Would there be a way to do this in Chimera? Thank you, Matt Wengler

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some question about the use of chimera x 1.4
by 游宠昭 24 Feb '23

24 Feb '23

Dear developers, Sorry to bother you. Recently, I notice that chimera x display the DNA/RNA in a different way from that in chimera, and I find that there is a option in chimera called ribbon spline containing two options:B-spline and cardinal which explain why DNA/RNA is displayed in different ways in two softwares. However, I can not find the related actions in chimera x: "ribbon spline" in chimera refers to what in chimera x and how can I adjust this parameter. Sincerely, Chongzhao You

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Help Generating a Volume to use for 2D classification template generation
by Joshua Denson 22 Feb '23

22 Feb '23

Hi, I’m trying to take an alpha fold model of my complex, generate a low resolution map of the model using molmap, and then use it for 2D template generation in CryoSparc. I am able to generate the low resolution map just fine, but the resulting map is in a rectangular volume (48x64x51) and I need it to be a cubic volume for CryoSparc to accept it. Ideally it would have dimensions of 64x64x64. Is there a way to generate a low resolution map in a cell with specific dimensions while maintaining the protein complex dimensions? (eg. I don’t want to simply scale it into a cube) I am using ChimeraX 1.5. Best Josh Joshua M. Denson PhD Candidate (Johnson Group) Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry Utah State University

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Matchmaker on a subset of residues
by McClean, Phillip 22 Feb '23

22 Feb '23

Is it possible to use the Chimerax Matchmaker command to obtain the RMSD value between a subset or residues between two different proteins. Phil McClean

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Custom Toolbar Button
by Dominik Sordyl 22 Feb '23

22 Feb '23

Hi, Is there a possibility to add a button to the "File" section on the toolbar? I have installed custom plugin and it can be run from Tools --> General section, but I am wondering if there is a way to add a shortcut button to the toolbar. Best, Dominik

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Making a movie from a group in PDB file
by Aleksandar Donev 21 Feb '23

21 Feb '23

Hi, I am trying to create a simple animation of a demo molecular dynamics program https://github.com/stochasticHydroTools/DemoMD using either chimerax or chimera. The code creates a .pdb file that has multiple time frames in it, which show up in chimerax as a "group". How do I make chimera show the frames one by one and then make a movie out of that or save each frame as an image? I used to be able to do that in chimera but either the interface has changed or I have forgotten. I found lots of instructions about how to make movies by manipulating one data set (say rotating a molecule) but could not find anything about animation in time. Thanks, Aleks -- Aleksandar Donev, Professor of Mathematics Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences Office: 1016 Warren Weaver Hall, New York University E-mail: donev(a)courant.nyu.edu Phone: (212) 992-7315; Fax: (212) 995-4121 Mailing address: 251 Mercer St, New York, NY 10012 Web: http://cims.nyu.edu/~donev

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Distance maps and all atom distances
by André Graça 17 Feb '23

17 Feb '23

Hi everyone! Does ChimeraX have a tool to calculate distance maps in the same fashion as Chimera does with RRDistMaps? I believe Chimera's RRDistMaps only calculates intermodal distances between C-alpha atoms. Does anyone know a tool or have a script that could calculate all atom distances from two sequence identical models? Cheers, André

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Image saving/exporting options
by Matthew Graneri 16 Feb '23

16 Feb '23

Hi there, I was wondering if there was an option to set the resolution of an image you want to export? In the older Chimera application, there were many more options open to you when you wanted to save an image (I’ve attached a screenshot of the old and new image saving screens for comparison). If not, is there any chance of implementing a resolution specification option sometime in the future? I was also wondering if it was possible to save images from ChimeraX as PDF files? I find that they usually maintain a high resolution without being particularly big, in terms of memory. Apart from that, really enjoying ChimeraX! Regards, Matthew

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Loading MTZ data - volume is restricted to a small sphere within the protein model
by Lewis James martin 15 Feb '23

15 Feb '23

Hi folks, I recently installed Clipper, and on loading some example PDB and MTZ data, I'm seeing just a sphere of density data that does not cover the full protein model. This behaviour is not restricted to a single example. Is it expected? The example files I used are in 6DIL <https://www.rcsb.org/structure/6DIL>. I downloaded "PDB Format" and "Map Coefficients (MTZ Format)" from the drop-down menu. Loading the PDB by drag-and-drop into ChimeraX works as expected (coordinates do show). On loading the MTZ by drag-and-drop, and selecting the PDB model to import data into, I see the below representation. The density does not cover the full set of protein coordinates - it's limited to a sphere within the protein. Curiously, I saw this on coot too - so maybe I'm just getting the options incorrect? I did try shifting the cutoffs in the "Volume Viewer" Tool, and the mesh does change but it's still limited to this sphere. Changing from a mesh surface to "Maximum" shows that the available data is limited to a cube that does not cover the protein. Is there a way to view the full density? Out of interest, I also tried generating the mesh myself, but only got halfway. This at least shows that the data does cover the whole protein: import gemmi import numpy as np import meshplot as mp from skimage.measure import marching_cubes #run 'gemmi mtz2cif 6dil_phases.mtz 6dil_phases.cif' first doc = gemmi.cif.read('/Users/ljmartin/Desktop/6dil_phases.cif') rblocks = gemmi.as_refln_blocks(doc) rblock = rblocks[0] size = rblock.get_size_for_hkl(sample_rate=2.6) full = rblock.get_f_phi_on_grid('pdbx_FWT', 'pdbx_PHWT', size) array = np.array(full, copy=False) complex_map = np.fft.ifftn(array.conj()) scale_factor = complex_map.size / full.unit_cell.volume real_map = np.real(complex_map) * scale_factor v,f,n,_ = marching_cubes(real_map, 0.05) mp.plot(v, f)

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move models relative to each other
by Raik Grunberg 14 Feb '23

14 Feb '23

Dear ChimeraX developers and users, I would like to move to different proteins that I have opened separately into a particular position relative to each other. In the old Chimera, this is possible by going to the Model panel, then selecting one of the two models as "Active" and the other one not and then making the normal rotation and translation moves which will now only happen on the "active" model. However, this "Active" column is missing in the ChimeraX Model panel and I cannot find any alternative way of doing this. Any suggestions? Thanks a lot in advance Raik -- This message and its contents, including attachments are intended solely for the original recipient. If you are not the intended recipient or have received this message in error, please notify me immediately and delete this message from your computer system. Any unauthorized use or distribution is prohibited. Please consider the environment before printing this email.

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Re: [chimerax-users] Transparency with soft lighting
by Tom Goddard 10 Feb '23

10 Feb '23

Hi Scott, I made a ChimeraX recipe web page to show this transparency and shadows trick. https://rbvi.github.io/chimerax-recipes/shadows/shadows.html That's amazing Esther refound it in that long fitting video. Tom > On Feb 10, 2023, at 12:23 PM, Scott Stagg <sstagg(a)fsu.edu> wrote: > > Thanks, Tom. That’s exactly what I was looking for! Esther Bullit found the video. It’s this one > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3jI43YJQMg > Fitting an atomic model in an electron microscopy map with ChimeraX > youtube.com > Scott > > >> On Feb 10, 2023, at 3:09 PM, Tom Goddard <goddard(a)sonic.net> wrote: >> >> Hi Scott, >> >> I'm not sure what video that is in. But there is some obscure ChimeraX magic involved. If you use the "soft" lighting (shadows cast from all directions) with a transparent surface it looks horrible because transparent surfaces by default don't cast shadows in ChimeraX. The reason for that default is often you are showing a molecule inside a transparent surface and then the molecule is dark (black actually) and hard to see. Because the transparent surface doesn't cast shadows it does not shadow itself so you don't get any of the darkened cavities that help 3D appearance. To make transparent surface cast shadows use ChimeraX command >> >> material transparentCastShadows true >> >> If you have an atomic structure (#2) inside the surface it will look black (shadowed), but you can tell it not to accept shadows >> >> lighting model #2 multishadow false >> >> The model inside can look pretty horrible and flat with soft lighting and you might try full lighting that adds a spot light, and also use silhouette edges. >> >> Here is an example of all these tricks. >> >> open 1080 from emdb >> light soft >> volume level 0.6 >> open 1grl >> preset cylinders >> fitmap #2 in #1 >> transparency #1 80 >> material transparentCastShadows true >> lighting model #2 multishadow false >> graphics silhouettes true >> set bgColor white >> light full >> >> Thanks for asking! >> >> Tom >> >> Opaque map, and transparent map, and transparent map with shadows with soft lighting. >> >> <image1.png><image2.png><image3.png> >> Atomic model is dark inside transparent map casting shadows. Can make atomic model not accept shadows. "Full" lighting instead of soft can make the atomic look less flat. >> >> <image4.png><image5.png><image6.png> >> >> >>> On Feb 10, 2023, at 6:48 AM, Scott Stagg via ChimeraX-users <chimerax-users(a)cgl.ucsf.edu> wrote: >>> >>> Hi everybody, >>> >>> I’m writing because I saw in a YouTube video that you used “soft” lighting with transparency for an EM density map. It looked great. I can’t find the video again or the right documentation on how to do it. There was some command with the lighting that you typed in the command line. Do you know what I’m talking about? >>> >>> Thanks, >>> Scott >>> >>> Scott Stagg >>> Professor >>> >>> Institute of Molecular Biophysics >>> Department of Biological Sciences >>> Florida State University >>> Tallahassee, FL 32306-4380 >>> w: 850-645-7872 >>> f: 850-644-7244 >>> sstagg(a)fsu.edu >>> https://www.stagglab.com <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.stagglab.com__;!!PhOWcWs!3QUvw8SGqe…> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> ChimeraX-users mailing list >>> ChimeraX-users(a)cgl.ucsf.edu >>> Manage subscription: >>> https://www.rbvi.ucsf.edu/mailman/listinfo/chimerax-users <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.rbvi.ucsf.edu/mailman/listinfo/chim…> >> >

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Transparency with soft lighting
by Scott Stagg 10 Feb '23

10 Feb '23

Hi everybody, I’m writing because I saw in a YouTube video that you used “soft” lighting with transparency for an EM density map. It looked great. I can’t find the video again or the right documentation on how to do it. There was some command with the lighting that you typed in the command line. Do you know what I’m talking about? Thanks, Scott Scott Stagg Professor Institute of Molecular Biophysics Department of Biological Sciences Florida State University Tallahassee, FL 32306-4380 w: 850-645-7872 f: 850-644-7244 sstagg(a)fsu.edu https://www.stagglab.com

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About plotting independent component analysis vectors
by Tianming Qu 09 Feb '23

09 Feb '23

Dear all, Is there any way I can display the eigenvectors I got from the independent component analysis on ChimeraX, which is calculated from the protein MD trajectory. Best, Tianming

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Show palette range scale
by Gomez Barillas, Andrea 08 Feb '23

08 Feb '23

Dear ChimeraX developers, I've mapped sequence conservation into my protein structure by defining a specific attribute and I colored it using a specific palette. I was wondering how I can show in my model the scale of colors for the range I've stablished in my map. Maybe there is a command I can use to show the range I used for mapping and what the colors represent. Thank you for your help, Andrea

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Re: [chimerax-users] Help getting rmsd value per residue of 2 similar structures.
by Elaine Meng 08 Feb '23

08 Feb '23

Hi Binh, This is almost the same question as asked yesterday on chimerax-users(a)cgl.ucsf.edu, so I have the same answer: <https://www.rbvi.ucsf.edu/pipermail/chimerax-users/2023-February/004923.html> That answer assumes you are using Matchmaker to superimpose these structures first, which has an option to display the pairwise sequence alignment with RMSD values per column, which can then be written out, used for coloring, etc, as detailed in that answer. Note that this RMSD is only using CA atoms so for two structures, it is simply the distance between the 2 CA atoms. You can use the Sequence Viewer settings to make it use the 4 backbone atoms per residue instead (N,CA,C,O): <https://www.rbvi.ucsf.edu/pipermail/chimerax-users/2023-February/004923.html> Secondarily, remember that Chimera and ChimeraX are two different programs and if you are viewing help/answers for Chimera they may not pertain to ChimeraX. Finally, for the best chance of getting a good answer to ChimeraX questions in the future, please use chimerax-users(a)cgl.ucsf.edu unless you are including private data. Thanks! Elaine ----- Elaine C. Meng, Ph.D. UCSF Chimera(X) team Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry University of California, San Francisco > On Feb 8, 2023, at 12:39 PM, Binh Nguyen <AnBinh.Nguyen(a)UTSouthwestern.edu> wrote: > > Dear Elaine, > > Is there a way to generate the rmsd per residue of 2 similar structures using chimeraX? I have searched through but I can only manage to get the overall RMSD. > > I have found this too but I have no idea how to get such information. > https://www.rbvi.ucsf.edu/pipermail/chimera-users/2019-February/015415.html > > Please help, thank you. > > B

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Questions about MultiAlign Viewer
by Beate Aftret 06 Feb '23

06 Feb '23

Hi, I have some issues accessing the Multiaglin Viewer in ChimeraX. I’ve tried to look at this response: https://www.rbvi.ucsf.edu/pipermail/chimera-users/2019-February/015415.html . However, I’m unable to access it. I’m trying to access the multialign viewer so I can get individual RMSD values on structures compared using Matchmaker. Thank you in advance. Let me know if I need to give more detail. Kind regards, Beate Aftret

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No Access to Personal Files
by Anna Popa 02 Feb '23

02 Feb '23

Good afternoon, I am a college student using your ChimeraX software to complete an assignment in my biochemistry course. I have downloaded your app to my HP Chromebook using the most recent Ubutun version. Despite being on my personal computer, ChimeraX cannot open the files needed from my computer. When I tried to find out why this is happening, I concluded that it might be a software issue because I wasn't even able to set up the ChimeraX app completely. I would greatly appreciate some guidance and assistance. Thank you, Anna Popa

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Fwd: Your message to ChimeraX-users awaits moderator approval
by Eric Pettersen 02 Feb '23

02 Feb '23

> Begin forwarded message: > > From: Krishnan Raman > Subject: RE: Your message to ChimeraX-users awaits moderator approval > Date: February 2, 2023 at 9:47:12 AM PST > To: "chimerax-users-owner(a)cgl.ucsf.edu" <chimerax-users-owner(a)cgl.ucsf.edu> > > Hi guys > > is there a way to get structures + other numerical data into chimerax? > I get the structures using a sdf file. I want to get in someother data associated each structure. > > How to start multiple instances of chimerax from a html-commands file? > Thanks > Krish > CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE > > This email, including any attachments, may contain confidential or legally privileged information that is intended only for the individual or entity to whom it is addressed. If you are not the intended recipient, please be advised that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this email and any attachment is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please reply to the sender so that BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. can take corrective measures and then permanently delete this email and any attachment, including any printed copies. Thank you. >

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Obtain electrostatic potential from PQR/DX via script
by Lohry, David 02 Feb '23

02 Feb '23

Hi everyone, I'm performing an analysis where I want to select different regions on a molecule and obtain a list of all of the electrostatic potentials from that region. My input is a PQR file with a DX file. These were generated from a PDB and APBS. The electrostatic potential can be viewed when the option "Report value at mouse position" is selected in the Surface Color tool (Tools...Volume Data...Surface Color...Options button) In the status bar at the bottom, it will show the value along with the coordinates. Is there a way to obtain this information via a ChimeraX command that I could script? Thank you!

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Multi-chain single macromolecule .pdb file read as two molecules
by Lenye Dlamini 31 Jan '23

31 Jan '23

Hello, I have a homo-oligomeric model that I've refined using phenix and the ISOLDE tool in ChimeraX that's read during deposition as 2 separate molecules, a larger 14mer and a smaller tetramer. It's read as one molecule in Coot, Chimera and Pymol but read as two distinct molecules in ChimeraX exactly like the deposition. I found this curious and thought that perhaps you might have some idea of what's wrong with the file. There is nothing that appears obviously incorrect to me in the text of the .pdb file, all TER cards follow the chains and all amino acids and their identifiers are in sequence and correct. I'd appreciate any ideas you may have and I'm happy to send the file to you if you prefer. Thank you, Kind regards, Lenye Dlamini Disclaimer - University of Cape Town This email is subject to UCT policies and email disclaimer published on our website at http://www.uct.ac.za/main/email-disclaimer or obtainable from +27 21 650 9111. If this email is not related to the business of UCT, it is sent by the sender in an individual capacity. Please report security incidents or abuse via https://csirt.uct.ac.za/page/report-an-incident.php.

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Fwd: EMDB-SFF segmentation file: application of transform 0 for image-to-physical projection
by Eric Pettersen 30 Jan '23

30 Jan '23

> Begin forwarded message: > > From: Tom Goddard <goddard(a)sonic.net> > Subject: Re: [chimerax-users] EMDB-SFF segmentation file: application of transform 0 for image-to-physical projection > Date: January 30, 2023 at 11:54:02 AM PST > To: Paul Korir > Cc: Martin Schorb > > Hi Paul, > > ChimeraX does not specify what distance units the open models use. For atomic structures and cryoEM map it is usually Angstroms. For light microscopy images it is often microns. For medical image scans (MRI, CAT) it is I think meters. The file formats for the data define the physical distance units, not ChimeraX. So if EMDB SFF provides a segmentation for say an MRC or CCP4 density map file the scaling of that density map in the ChimeraX graphics is taken from the file header which has a field "cell dimensions in Angstroms". If a segmentation of that density map is made that is say a bounding surface it might use x,y,z coordinates in Angstroms or it might use grid index units when it writes out a file, that would depend on the segmentation file format and the software that is writing the segmentation. In ChimeraX it always tries to scale the data into physical units so that different data sets, like an atomic structure and 3D image data have the correct relative scale. So ChimeraX never displays images using grid index units. > > So from what you say about EMDB SFF the first transform goes from grid index units to physical units and ChimeraX should apply that transformation to the segmentation data so that it has the same scaling as the map data that the segmentation was derived from. I see there is a function in the ChimeraX EMDB SFF file reader called "guess_scale_and_shift" that is trying to figure out what transform to apply, but it is just a hack and looks for any non-identity transform. > > https://github.com/RBVI/ChimeraX/blob/da72f2cd9b23c0c35a66122b7edc453d593ea… <https://github.com/RBVI/ChimeraX/blob/da72f2cd9b23c0c35a66122b7edc453d593ea…> > > And another comment in the code suggests it is doing that hack because it was needed for EMDB SFF test data EMDB 1547. > > If I understand you correctly ChimeraX should instead always apply the first transform from transforms_list. I can make that change. The main thing will be to test it on pairs of EMDB SFF segmentations and corresponding maps to make sure it produces the correct alignment. > > Tom > > >> On Jan 30, 2023, at 2:20 AM, Paul Korir via ChimeraX-users <chimerax-users(a)cgl.ucsf.edu> wrote: >> >> Hi Tom/ChimeraX admin, >> >> Just to clarify: what are the units of physical space in ChimeraX: Å or nm? >> >> Kind regards, >> >> Paul K. Korir, PhD >> 3D Visualisation Lead >> CS3DB >> EMBL-EBI >> >> On 30/01/2023 08:51, Paul Korir wrote: >>> Hi Tom, >>> >>> To the best of my understanding, ChimeraX displays images and associated segmentations in physical space not image space. However, segmentations are performed in image space. EMDB-SFF uses the first transform in the transforms_list field (with id=0) as the image-to-physical transform. (https://emdb-empiar.github.io/EMDB-SFF/v0.8.0.dev1/segmentation_da_xsd.html… <https://emdb-empiar.github.io/EMDB-SFF/v0.8.0.dev1/segmentation_da_xsd.html…>) >>> >>> I've tested with two files having the same segmentation but different values for transform 0 and they render the same. >>> >>> Could you please implement this feature in ChimeraX? >>> >>> Kind regards, >>> >>> -- >>> Paul K. Korir, PhD >>> 3D Visualisation Lead >>> CS3DB >>> EMBL-EBI >>> >> _______________________________________________ >> ChimeraX-users mailing list >> ChimeraX-users(a)cgl.ucsf.edu >> Manage subscription: >> https://www.rbvi.ucsf.edu/mailman/listinfo/chimerax-users >

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EMDB-SFF segmentation file: application of transform 0 for image-to-physical projection
by Paul Korir 30 Jan '23

30 Jan '23

Hi Tom, To the best of my understanding, ChimeraX displays images and associated segmentations in physical space not image space. However, segmentations are performed in image space. EMDB-SFF uses the first transform in the transforms_list field (with id=0) as the image-to-physical transform. (https://emdb-empiar.github.io/EMDB-SFF/v0.8.0.dev1/segmentation_da_xsd.html… <https://emdb-empiar.github.io/EMDB-SFF/v0.8.0.dev1/segmentation_da_xsd.html…>) I've tested with two files having the same segmentation but different values for transform 0 and they render the same. Could you please implement this feature in ChimeraX? Kind regards, -- Paul K. Korir, PhD 3D Visualisation Lead CS3DB EMBL-EBI

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How to license AlphaFold with ChimeraX
by Asma Rehman 28 Jan '23

28 Jan '23

Hi, I'm currently a chimeraX user and would like to also use AlphaFold along with it. I was wondering if you could help us with directions. I appreciate your support. Thanks, Asma

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Isolde in with VR Headset ?
by Thibault TUBIANA 27 Jan '23

27 Jan '23

Dear all, I tried to use my Occulus Quest with ChimeraX Isolde Pluggin, while it works amazingly, the "tugging" function doesn't work. I thought that maybe it is the mouse mode that is node configured, so I tried "vr button trigger select" or 'vr button trigger "isolde tug atom"' but nope... It is not a request of course, just a question to know if someone already tried it ^^ Best regards, Thibault Tubiana. -- Thibault Tubiana, PhD Postdoctoral Fellow @ [ https://www.i2bc.paris-saclay.fr/equipe-interactions-and-assembly-mechanism… | IMAPP ] Institute for integrative biology of the cell ( [ https://www.i2bc.paris-saclay.fr/ | I2BC ] ) - CNRS UMR 9198 CEA Saclay, 91191 Gif sur Yvette - Bât 532 pce 34 Web Site: [ http://www.tubiana.me/ | http://www.tubiana.me/ ]

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Select ring atoms of ligand using python in chimerax
by Dr. Vijay Masand 26 Jan '23

26 Jan '23

Dear all I am looking for an efficient method to select ring atoms of ligands using python in chimeraX. Also, is there any python code/method to get the sum of charges on ligand atoms only? Thanks in advance. From Vijay With Warm Regards *Dr. Vijay H. Masand* Department of Chemistry, Vidya Bharati College, Amravati, 444 602 Maharashtra, India. Phone number- +91-9403312628 https://sites.google.com/site/vijaymasand/

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