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Molecular Drawing Methods

Each molecule in VMD is drawn as several representations, or views, of the molecule. A view is just one particular way of drawing the molecule, and consists of three characteristics:

A molecule can contain any number of different representations, and complex pictures of the molecule can be generated by creating views with different selections, coloring schemes, and rendering methods. For example, the protein backbone can be drawn as a smooth tube in one view, and important residues in the protein can be drawn as spheres or licorice bonds in other views. When a molecule is first loaded, it is given a `default' view, which will draw all the atoms as lines and points, coloring each atom by what kind of element it is.



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