Hi Edd, Our primary VR expert is traveling and may not be as available, but in the meantime, I will try to address some of these concerns, see interleaved below:
On Mar 20, 2025, at 4:54 AM, Edwin Kyi via ChimeraX-users <chimerax-users@cgl.ucsf.edu> wrote:
Hello, We have been experimenting with the Meeting command in VR and are seeing some real uses for guided teaching sessions. We’re looking for ways to finesse set up for these sessions and I wonder if you could help with some technical questions we have:
• What main optimisations of the settings would you recommend for smoother running in VR?
In general, the simpler/smaller the data and fewer meeting participants will lower the demands, but I imagine you're already well aware of that. Specifically, however, besides showing fewer/smaller things and having a smaller group of people: the "vr" command already automatically limits the total atom and bond triangles to 1 million each from the default of 5 million and switches to simple lighting (vr command option simplifyGraphics true), <https://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/device.html#vr> ...but you could try further reducing triangles with the "graphics quality" command <https://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/graphics.html#quality> Ribbon and surface triangles are set separately, see "graphics quality" (link above) and for molecular surfaces, the "gridspacing" parameter of "surface" <https://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/surface.html#parameters> ...and for volumes (density maps) and their isosurfaces, see "volume" options "step" and "region" and "zone" to limit sampling and display extent <https://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/volume.html#sampling> <https://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/volume.html#dimensions> <https://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/volume.html#zone> The practical limitation to small numbers of participants is discussed here: <https://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/meeting.html#limitations>
• Is there an easy way to toggle off all people's interactions with the model with one command except the host?
I can't think of any way to do this. Although the meeting command has a "host" machine, as far as I know all the participants are treated as equal to one another. One possibly relevant thing is that you can assign a button to lock all the other buttons, and then tell the participants to deploy this function. See "vr button" command with function "button lock" <https://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/device.html#vr-button>
• Same as Q2, is there an easier way to toggle off people’s hands unless they are the ones asking a question?
Similar to the above, I can't think of any way to do this.
• Can the VR ava VR be resized ie. smaller?
I'm not sure I understand this question, but if you mean how big the model(s) appear, maybe this can be adjusted with "vr" option "roomPosition" <https://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/device.html#vr> Maybe others will respond with some better answers. I hope this helps, Elaine ----- Elaine C. Meng, Ph.D. UCSF Chimera(X) team Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry University of California, San Francisco