Hi,
I'm trying to use ChimeraX to visualize Single-Molecule Localization Microscopy (SMLM) data. In short, the output of an SMLM acquisition and processing is a list of fluorophores XYZ coordinates with associated uncertainty, that can be used to reconstruct a 3D image.
I have made a script that make a pdb file from these localization so that I can directly display the resulting structure as if it was a protein with a number of random atoms (the only difference is that angstroms in ChimeraX are really nanometers in my data). The rendered pqr file is here (I use a pqr pdb format to specify the radius to the localization uncertainty, hence the variable diameter of each sphere): http://www.neurocytolab.org/up/Example_File.pqr The rendering with the "Spheres" view of atoms works well, see a screenshot here: http://www.neurocytolab.org/up/Render.png
However, when I try to get the enveloppe of the resulting object using the "Surfaces" display (click on Surfaces>Show), ChimeraX hangs (I'm on OSX and get the dreaded infinite rainbow beachball).
Is there a chance that I can get ChimeraX to render the enveloppe object this way, or is it really too far from what it's supposed to do? I can imagine that I'm trying to use ChimeraX for something completely different than its intended use, but it definitely has a lot of potential for this.
Thank you,
-- Christophe Leterrier NeuroCyto lab INP CNRS UMR 7051 Aix Marseille University, France