VMD-L Mailing List

From: John Stone (johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu)
Date: Tue Jul 12 2011 - 13:22:54 CDT

Hi,
  I'll try and have a look at this next week, I'm still catching up on a
very long TODO list, but I'll let you know how it goes when I get to it.

Cheers,
  John Stone
  vmd_at_ks.uiuc.edu

On Sat, Jul 02, 2011 at 12:08:08PM +0200, FX wrote:
> Hi all,
>
>
> ** Patch for OFF import
>
> I attach to this email a patch for importing surface meshes in OFF format. I developped it for my own use, but in the end it is generic enough that other could use it. Some modern meshing code, including all CGAL-derived libraries, use OFF as a default export format, which means it is nice to be able to read it. Some remarks:
>
> -- the format is rather simple, and so is the plugin code
> -- the OFF format supports arbitrary polygon faces, while VMD deals only with triangles. In all molecular applications I know, surface meshes only use triangles and quadrangles, so I restricted the code to this and did not include a generic polygon triangulation routine. I might provide an update in the future, if the need arise (for me or for someone else).
>
> I also attach to this email a sample OFF file (not molecular, but has both triangle and quadrangle faces).
>
>
>
> ** Question about surfaces
>
> When STL (and, with my patch, OFF) surfaces are imported into VMD, they appear blue and of default opaque material. I have not found a way in "Graphical representations" to change that. Have I missed it? If not, is it a planned addition for the future? As it currently is, it is not of much use to produce nice graphics of a surface.
>
>
>
>
> Cheers,
> FX (François-Xavier Coudert)
>
>
> 

-- 
NIH Resource for Macromolecular Modeling and Bioinformatics
Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
University of Illinois, 405 N. Mathews Ave, Urbana, IL 61801
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