Hi Elaine,

Thanks for the feedback!

I think it does contain atomic coordinates because if I open the file up, the first few lines say:

 Cubefile created from PWScf calculation
 k_point    1, band  493
  112    0.000000    0.000000    0.000000
  360    0.000000    0.043010    0.043010
  360    0.043010    0.000000    0.043010
  360    0.043010    0.043010    0.000000
   13   13.000000   15.550626    7.919837   23.249520
   13   13.000000    7.794637   15.500714   23.173025
   13   13.000000   15.344622    7.808598    7.696103
   24   24.000000    8.153563   23.302893   15.676357
   24   24.000000   22.842015   15.147909   23.267895
   24   24.000000   23.276582   23.168925   15.892733
   24   24.000000    0.413132   15.595221   15.687712
   13   13.000000   15.337306   19.401078   19.211118
   24   24.000000   23.238956   26.684104   19.354277
   13   13.000000   30.836280   19.498740   19.483616
   13   13.000000   23.156913   11.704068   19.344564
   13   13.000000    7.845982    3.847472   11.610165

So we have 13 being magnesium, and 24 being Cr, etc.

After the 112 atoms, it starts with the volumetric values.

So it sounds like perhaps I should request a feature addition to ChimeraX to implement atomic coordinates as well? 

Following your advice though, I saved the structure as a pdb also, and loaded that and it seems to work — though there is an offset between the volumetric and atomic datasets.


I guess I would need to manually shift one of them, so that provides a workaround for now.

Thanks,

Zack

On Feb 2, 2021, at 10:15 AM, Elaine Meng <meng@cgl.ucsf.edu> wrote:

Hi Zack,
A cube file is a map format (values at points on a regular grid), and is not used for atomic coordinates.  In other words, I believe your file contains only the wavefunctions. You would need to also open a file for the atomic coordinates (possible formats PDB, SDF, MOL, ...) which you may have input to Quantum Espresso, or may be able to write from the program.  I've never used it, so I don't know what it writes.

ChimeraX knows these atomic formats:
<https://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/open.html#atomic>
... and these map formats:
<https://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/open.html#volume>

I hope this helps,
Elaine
-----
Elaine C. Meng, Ph.D.                       
UCSF Chimera(X) team
Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry
University of California, San Francisco

On Feb 2, 2021, at 9:45 AM, Zack Gainsforth <zackg@berkeley.edu> wrote:

Hi,

I produced some projected wavefunctions in a crystal that I'm working with using Quantum Espresso (DFT).  I output these projections to a gaussian cube file using the pp.x program (built into Quantum Espresso).  I'm able to read these into ChimeraX but I'm unable to see the atoms -- only the volumetric data.  I tried Actions - Atoms/Bonds - Show, but I still don't see the atoms. Is there another step I should take to make them visible?

I see something like this:

<PastedGraphic-1.png>

(very nice!)

I'm attaching a link to the cube file below -- I can't include it because it is 600 MB.

Thanks,

Zack

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ehhli8h3qr7vd4y/wfc_k001_b329wfc.cube?dl=0