VMD-L Mailing List

From: Marc Baaden (baaden_at_smplinux.de)
Date: Tue Nov 26 2002 - 10:47:22 CST

Hi,

some questions/remarks related to rendering a scene with VMD.

* RASTER3d

I noticed some problems with rendering secondary structure (cartoon)
plots via the raster3d output. Some strands are 'transparent' although
they should be filled/solid.

I then switched to raytracing, and using a different output like povray
or tachyon, the problems observed for raster3d do not exist.

* POVRAY

For povray output, I wonder which is the correct width/height aspect
ratio ? The example gives 400x500, but I am not sure whether that is
correct .. obviously what I want is that a square is a square. How
is this value to be determined (eg does it depend on the actual window
size used, ..) ?

* TACHYON

I also tried tachyon. It's nice because it is very similar to what one
sees on the screen, and very fast. But 3 remarks
- it would be nice if png output was compiled in the version that comes
  with VMD. I tried downloading the tachyon source and compiling it
  with JPEG and PNG options. PNG worked, JPEG gives me errors like
  
"JPEG parameter struct mismatch: library thinks size is 372, caller expects 376"

  but more importantly the downloadable tachyon version (0.93.4) does
  not understand the current VMD output (where tachyon v 0.93.6 is included).
  First error I get eg:

"Parse Error:
   Encountered a syntax error in file .tmp.dat
   Expected to find an object or other declaration
   Actually found: Directional_Light"

- how can one increase the size of the created image, especially when
  working with -nodispdev ?
- maybe it would be useful to have an option to predefine the size of
  the rendered image

Just my usual 2 cents ..
Best wishes,

  Marc 

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