VMD-L Mailing List

From: John Stone (johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu)
Date: Fri Apr 25 2008 - 16:07:06 CDT

Hi,
  Tachyon is not installed in the command search path
by default. In order to render images as described in
the tutorials, you will need to run Tachyon from the
VMD installation directory, or alternately download and
install Tachyon for yourself, which is particularly the case
if you want to use a cluster for doing large renderings.
On Unix systems, Tachyon is in /usr/local/lib/vmd/tachyon_LINUX
(replace Linux with the correct VMD platform name you're using)
On Windows and Mac it is in the vmd subdirectory corresponding
of the installation location.

Cheers,
  John Stone
  vmd_at_ks.uiuc.edu

On Fri, Apr 25, 2008 at 12:18:24PM -0700, Lixia Jin Day wrote:
> I am using VMD1.8.6. Why it says tachyon is a invalid command?
> I am following your instructrection at
> http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Research/vmd/minitutorials/tachyonao/
> I don't see instruction for tachyon usage in the movies tutorial.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Lixia
>
> On Fri, Apr 4, 2008 at 3:59 PM, John Stone <johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu> wrote:
>
> >
> > Hi,
> > The Images and Movies tutorial explains how to take the .dat file
> > and re-render it at arbitrarily high resolution. Basically you just
> > need to re-run Tachyon with an extra "-res xxx yyy" parameter to tell
> > it how large you want the image. See the top of the .dat file and
> > it should incorporate the rest of the command line you'll need.
> >
> > Cheers,
> > John Stone
> > vmd_at_ks.uiuc.edu
> >
> > On Fri, Apr 04, 2008 at 03:42:08PM -0700, Lixia Jin Day wrote:
> > > John,
> > >
> > > I used Tachyon and got two files: plot.dat and plot.dat.bmp. The
> > > plot.dat.bmp is a little bigger than the snapshot bmp file. They have
> > > similar qualities when viewing in photoshop. I cannot zoom in 200% and
> > still
> > > have smooth figures. My molecules are in tube and VMD.
> > >
> > > I also downloaded POV-Ray and rendered in pov then ran POV-Ray to get a
> > bmp
> > > file. It even has a worse quality.
> > > I believe there is some techniques that I don't know. What do you think
> > my
> > > problem is?
> > >
> > > I want to have a figure that I can zoom in 400%+.
> > >
> > > Thanks!
> > >
> > > Lixia
> > >
> > > On Fri, Apr 4, 2008 at 2:36 PM, John Stone <johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu> wrote:
> > >
> > > >
> > > > Hi,
> > > > The "Snapshot" renderer simply captures the on-screen image, so
> > > > the only thing that matters there is how large the display window is.
> > > >
> > > > The resolution controls in the graphical representations window change
> > > > the _geometric_ resolution of the polygonal model of the molecular
> > > > structure,
> > > > but not the image resolution.
> > > >
> > > > If you want to generate high resolution images for printing, you'll
> > > > likely want to use one of the external renderers. I'd suggest starting
> > > > out with Tachyon as it is included with VMD and should be pretty easy
> > to
> > > > use in a manner similar to what you've been doing already with the
> > > > Snapshot
> > > > renderer.
> > > >
> > > > I'd strongly recommend that you take a look at the VMD Image and Movies
> > > > tutorial for more guidance:
> > > >
> > > >
> > http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Training/Tutorials/vmd-ref/imgmv/tutorial-html/index.html
> > > >
> > > > Cheers,
> > > > John Stone
> > > > vmd_at_ks.uiuc.edu
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > On Fri, Apr 04, 2008 at 02:27:04PM -0700, Lixia Jin Day wrote:
> > > > > When I render to BMP it always gives the same size(resolution)
> > figures
> > > > no
> > > > > matter what resolution I set in Graphical representations.
> > > > > When I render to PS, the figure is not very smooth though the
> > resolution
> > > > is
> > > > > high.
> > > > > I don't know other render formats.
> > > > >
> > > > > What is the best way to render figures for publication? Thanks!
> > > > >
> > > > > Lixia
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > NIH Resource for Macromolecular Modeling and Bioinformatics
> > > > Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
> > > > University of Illinois, 405 N. Mathews Ave, Urbana, IL 61801
> > > > Email: johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu Phone: 217-244-3349
> > > > WWW: http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/~johns/ Fax: 217-244-6078
> > > >
> >
> > --
> > NIH Resource for Macromolecular Modeling and Bioinformatics
> > Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
> > University of Illinois, 405 N. Mathews Ave, Urbana, IL 61801
> > Email: johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu Phone: 217-244-3349
> > WWW: http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/~johns/ Fax: 217-244-6078
> > 

-- 
NIH Resource for Macromolecular Modeling and Bioinformatics
Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
University of Illinois, 405 N. Mathews Ave, Urbana, IL 61801
Email: johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu                 Phone: 217-244-3349
  WWW: http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/~johns/      Fax: 217-244-6078