VMD-L Mailing List

From: Marc Baaden (baaden_at_smplinux.de)
Date: Sat Aug 31 2002 - 07:14:29 CDT

Hi,

well I must admit, since I have my new Spaceball (thanks a lot for all
the tips you guys gave me on how to get one) I am kind of VMD addicted ..
.. which is why I am trying to sort out all the little things that make
working even more fun.

So here go the questions:

a) SPACEBALL / INPUT DEVICES

- is it possible (on eg the 2003 model) to attribute often used functions
  to buttons 3 -> 9 ? (eg like stereo on/off, perspective, etc..)
  I guess I would need to re-compile parts/all of VMD to do that ? As you
  mention in the documentation that things are hardcoded
  (ah maybe I should say that I use the Linux version with OpenGl)

- the three existing modes are great, but I was thinking evtl. of a
  rotation/scaling mode. Would that be difficult to try ?

- is it possible to use the wheel of a wheel mouse for something (eg scaling) ?

b) CUSTOMIZATION

- how can I change defaults for the render commands (eg xv -> display) ?
  do I need to re-compile, or can I set it via environment/.vmdrc/..?

- I have re-defined some keys I use quite often, and was wondering
  whether it is possible to define a shortcut for extending the graphics
  window to full screen and bringing it to the front ?

c) (TEXT) INFORMATION

- I use picking to identify atoms quite often, now what I have seen in
  other programs is a kind of small display that shows atom name/number/
  resid etc of the atom closes to the mousepointer continually, which I
  find quite useful. Is this easy to implement in VMD ? eg with something
  like tcl trace and a text label ?

- How does one get labels/text that is rendered with eg raster3d, povray, etc ?

Thanks in advance for any tips or suggestions,

Cheers,
  Marc 

-- 
 Dr. Marc Baaden - Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics, Oxford University
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