VMD - Visual Molecular Dynamics

VMD is a molecular visualization program for displaying, animating, and analyzing large biomolecular systems using 3-D graphics and built-in scripting. VMD supports computers running MacOS X, Unix, or Windows, is distributed free of charge, and includes source code.
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Top News

NAMD and VMD are part of the team winning the 2020 ACM Gordon Bell Special Prize for high performance computing-based COVID-19 research, for the paper AI-Driven Multiscale Simulations Illuminate Mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Dynamics, presented at Supercomputing 2020, Nov 18, 2020. ACM Gordon Bell Special Prize

Spotlight

VMD can load and display volumetric data sets, including electron density maps, electron orbitals, potential maps, and various types of user-generated volumetric data. The VMD plugin library contains support for a large number of volumetric file formats. Users can also import their own data file formats by writing their own loader scripts using the "mol volume" command. Volumetric data can be rendered using "VolumeSlice" or "Isosurface" representations, each of which provides several geometric rendering styles for viewing the data, varying isolevels, slice plane position, etc.
Other Spotlights

Overview

Molecular representations
VMD plugin library
Molecular file formats
GPU-accelerated computing
Interactive molecular dynamics
Programs that use VMD
VMD research publications
How to cite VMD
VMD citation list (37,000 as of Mar'21)

Download

Download (all versions)
VMD 1.9.4 (MacOS X, Unix, Windows)
VMD 1.9.3 (MacOS X, Unix, Windows)
VMD script library
License, Copyright and Disclaimer

Documentation and Support

User and installation guides
VMD-L mailing list
Publication image tutorial (YouTube)
Quick help
FAQ
Bug List

News and Announcements

NIH Director's blog highlights neuroscience adaptation of VMD
AI-driven multiscale simulations illuminate mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 spike dynamics, IJHPCA, 2021
Multiscale modeling and cinematic visualization of photosynthetic energy conversion processes from electronic to cell scales, J. Par. Comp. 2021
NAMD and VMD part of the team winning the ACM COVID-19 Gordon Bell Prize for 2020
The Coronavirus Unveiled, VMD visualizations of SARS-CoV-2, NYT, 2020
Scalable molecular dynamics on CPU and GPU architectures with NAMD, JCP, 2020
VMD test builds for MacOS X 10.15 "Catalina" (April 24, 2020)
Past announcements

Gallery

An Accessible Visual Narrative for the Primary Energy Source of Life from the Fulldome Show Birth of Planet Earth, 1st Place Winner, SC'19 Viz. Showcase
Chromatophore VR demo (VMD + Unreal Game Engine) shown in NVIDIA booth at SC'16
Example VMD VR/3-D YouTube videos
Chemical Visualization of Human Pathogens: the Retroviral Capsids, Finalist, SC'15 Viz. Showcase
Visualization of Energy Conversion Processes in a Light Harvesting Organelle at Atomic Detail, 1st Place Winner, SC'14 Viz. Showcase
VMD movie gallery on YouTube
Gallery of Posters, Images, and Movies made with VMD
VMD running in the NanoDome at Temple University

Development

VMD User Survey Results
VMD development status and pre-release test downloads
CVS source code access
VMD Programmer's documentation