Dear ChimeraX team, I need to draw straight and curved arrows to show the straight and twisting forces on the molecules. See the attached images (cropped from ChimeraX interface) for details. Does ChimeraX have the functionality to do this? Steve -- Steve Chou
Hi Steve, I can’t think of any way to create 3D curved arrows. However, there are some possibilities for straight arrows and 2D curved arrows that may be good enough for your purposes: (A) 3D straight arrows (cylinder + cone) can be created in the BILD text-file format and read it in. <http://unicode.org/charts/#symbols> (B) 2D labels are text labels that can be dragged around in the plane of the graphics window. Although Chimera also has 2D straight arrows that can be interactively repositioned at either end by dragging, ChimeraX does not have these (yet). ChimeraX 2D labels can only be text and symbols. However, symbol characters include both straight and curly arrows, and you can make them all different sizes. You just can’t adjust the proportions of the symbol, and you cannot rotate it at all even in the 2D plane (cannot turn it sideways or diagonal), and they are only 2D (will not actually wrap around your bond or objects in 3D space). ChimeraX also does not yet have the graphical interface to 2D labels that Chimera has, so you have to define them in the 2dlabels command using unicode character codes or character names: <http://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/2dlabels.html> It can be a pain to find the unicode for the exact arrow you want, however, even if you don’t mind the other limitations above. <http://unicode.org/charts/#symbols> I attach an image with a 2D label made with this command: 2dl create arrow1 text '\u21BB' size 80 color yellow I didn’t make the icons you showed, but I’m pretty sure that the arrow parts of the icon images were not drawn in ChimeraX. 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 28, 2019, at 1:46 PM, Steve Chou <stevezchou@gmail.com> wrote:
Dear ChimeraX team,
I need to draw straight and curved arrows to show the straight and twisting forces on the molecules. See the attached images (cropped from ChimeraX interface) for details. Does ChimeraX have the functionality to do this? Steve <IMG_8385.jpg> -- Steve Chou
Oops, failed copy/paste… the correct link for BILD format is <http://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/formats/bild.html> I should also point out that in ChimeraX, you can drag 2D labels with the “move label” mouse mode, instead of repeatedly issuing the 2dlabel command with different xpos and ypos values to try to get it in the right place. If you click the “move label” icon in the Mouse Modes for Right Button toolbar (looks like ATP with an arrow under it) the mode is assigned to the right mouse button (= trackpad + Alt on Windows, trackpad + command key on Mac). This mouse mode is mentioned in the 2dlabels help, but only briefly. <http://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/2dlabels.html> Elaine
On Feb 28, 2019, at 2:33 PM, Elaine Meng <meng@cgl.ucsf.edu> wrote:
(A) 3D straight arrows (cylinder + cone) can be created in the BILD text-file format and read it in. <http://unicode.org/charts/#symbols>
Thank you Elaine! Your replies are very helpful, as always. Steve On Thu, Feb 28, 2019 at 5:46 PM Elaine Meng <meng@cgl.ucsf.edu> wrote:
Oops, failed copy/paste… the correct link for BILD format is <http://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/formats/bild.html>
I should also point out that in ChimeraX, you can drag 2D labels with the “move label” mouse mode, instead of repeatedly issuing the 2dlabel command with different xpos and ypos values to try to get it in the right place. If you click the “move label” icon in the Mouse Modes for Right Button toolbar (looks like ATP with an arrow under it) the mode is assigned to the right mouse button (= trackpad + Alt on Windows, trackpad + command key on Mac).
This mouse mode is mentioned in the 2dlabels help, but only briefly. <http://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/2dlabels.html>
Elaine
On Feb 28, 2019, at 2:33 PM, Elaine Meng <meng@cgl.ucsf.edu> wrote:
(A) 3D straight arrows (cylinder + cone) can be created in the BILD text-file format and read it in. <http://unicode.org/charts/#symbols>
-- Steve Chou
participants (2)
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Elaine Meng -
Steve Chou