VMD-L Mailing List

From: Andrew Dalke (dalke_at_ks.uiuc.edu)
Date: Thu Jul 24 1997 - 14:28:40 CDT

Hello,

  Several people have asked how to import scenes from VMD into
commercial programs like Alias. We would love to add a new
render option for these programs but we are limited by both
man-power and lack of experience or even access to these
packages. (Anyone want to contribute one? :)

  But one of the advantages of distributing software is that
others are willing to contribute their own time and expertise
to solve a problem. This morning David Hansen <dhansen_at_gravid.com>
sent me a list of instructions for converting VMD's VRML output
into Alias:

 = = =
I have finally succeeded in getting molecular models into Alias. The
solution is not pretty, but it is fairly straightforward. It involves
several steps.

1) Save the VMD molecular model (from PDB data) as VRML (any of the
representations of molecules, the ball stick, vanderwaals, etc will
work) from within the VMD application.
2) Open the VRML in SGI's SceneViewer software and save it to produce an
Inventor file.
3) run the stand-alone SGI utility "ivfix" with the -a -p -t -f -V flags
(I can't swear all of these are needed, but I think several of them are;
I think it takes the primitives in the iv file and puts in real
geometry, in triangles)
4) run the utility IvToAl on the output of #3.
Alias V8 and V8.1 is useless in importing inventor files; it will not
even import some of the inventor files it creates. v8.1 always gives a
message: "Errors detected during translation, <filename> was not
retrieved" regardless of how clean the iv file is.
Alias V8.0 says it imported them successfully but never really imported
the geometry.
However, the IvToAl utility will make good Alias wire files, provided
that the flags have been turned on in the ivfix step.
 = = =

  I hope this proves helpful to people here as well.

                                                Andrew Dalke
                                                dalke_at_ks.uiuc.edu