UCSF Chimera -- Exploring The Fantastic Sub-Microscopic World

The UCSF Computer Graphics Lab has developed an interactive molecular graphics program that can be used to generate visualizations of a wide range of molecular structures. It generates amazing three-dimensional images of complex viruses, proteins, DNA, and other molecules. The user can manipulate the objects through translation, rotation, scaling, and color editing. It supports stereo viewing and saving of high-resolution images. Chimera can use structural data from a variety of sources to generate virtual 3D objects that are rendered as colored and shaded contour surfaces, meshes or other display styles. It can use data from light microscopes, electron microscopes, x-ray density maps, and other sources. Multiscale modeling enables visualization of "large" complex structures such as viruses and chromosomes. UCSF Chimera versions are available for Linux and other operating systems.