Raster3D

The Raster3D molecular graphics package consists of a core program render and a number of ancillary programs that read atomic coordinates from PDB (Protein Data Bank) files to produce scene descriptions for input to render. Raster3D can also render images composed using other programs such as Molscript and XtalView.

Raster3D is currently maintained by Ethan A. Merritt with additional development by Frank Zucker and P. Christoph Champ.

• The latest available packaged version is: Raster3D V2.7s (2008-03-07)
• The latest available source version is: Raster3D V2.7d (2008-03-07)

Programs in the Raster3D package

• avs2ps
• balls
• label3d
• normal3d
• rastep
• render
• ribbon
• rings3d
• rods
• stereo3d

Examples

• Create a simple, colour-coded PNG image of a PDB structure:

molauto 1KP8.pdb | molscript -r | render -bg white -size 300x300 -png 1KP8.png

References

• original implementation: Bacon DJ, Anderson WF (1988). "A Fast Algorithm for Rendering Space-Filling Molecule Pictures". Journal of Molecular Graphics 6:219-220.
• version 2.0: Merritt EA, Murphy MEP (1994). "Raster3D Version 2.0: A Program for Photorealistic Molecular Graphics". Acta Cryst D50:869-873.
• version 2.3: Merritt EA, Bacon DJ (1997). "Raster3D: Photorealistic Molecular Graphics". Methods in Enzymology 277:505-524.

External links

• Official Raster3D website
• Molscript (includes molauto)
• XtalView