Thank you, this is great! Looking forward to using it. 

From: Eric Pettersen <pett@cgl.ucsf.edu>
Date: Wednesday, May 27, 2026 at 11:55 AM
To: Daniel David Richman <ddrichma@stanford.edu>
Cc: chimerax-users@cgl.ucsf.edu <chimerax-users@cgl.ucsf.edu>
Subject: Re: [chimerax-users] regional minimization?

You can now specify a particular set of atoms to minimize rather than the entire structure.  Available in the "minimize" command in today's daily build, and in the Minimize Structure tool in tomorrow's daily build.

--Eric

        Eric Pettersen
        UCSF Computer Graphics Lab


> On May 12, 2026, at 1:49 PM, Elaine Meng via ChimeraX-users <chimerax-users@cgl.ucsf.edu> wrote:
>
> Hi Daniel,
> Not exactly what you asked, but see the "minimize" mouse mode to jiggle the clicked residue and nearby residues while the assigned button is held down:
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/tools/mousemodes.html*top__;Iw!!G92We9drHetJ8EofZw!bW_OlqMBFjeW9OumR--sn3hdWekgG4ev41ftK7vBDKJMVfY0cRgKWKuwwI-Xhz35ZhhBq97OUVEGJsoXUijp$ >
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/tools/mousemodes.html*openmm__;Iw!!G92We9drHetJ8EofZw!bW_OlqMBFjeW9OumR--sn3hdWekgG4ev41ftK7vBDKJMVfY0cRgKWKuwwI-Xhz35ZhhBq97OUVEGJsZoatog$ >
>
> It's sort of a quick-n-dirty, but consider that this short local molecular dynamics may be more effective in surmounting small energy barriers than minimization.  Still, they're both quite limited in exploring conformational space.
>
> I hope this helps,
> Elaine
> -----
> Elaine C. Meng, Ph.D.                      
> UCSF Chimera(X) team
> Resource for Biocomputing, Visualization, and Informatics
> Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry
> University of California, San Francisco
>
>> On May 12, 2026, at 12:57 PM, Daniel David Richman via ChimeraX-users <chimerax-users@cgl.ucsf.edu> wrote:
>>
>> Hi folks,
>>
>> In Maestro there’s a “minimize” feature where only the selected atoms are allowed to move. It’s very helpful when I make a mutation that I want to locally relax and I want to be sure that the rest of the system won't change. Does ChimeraX support anything like this, or is it on the horizon?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Daniel
>
>
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