List of molecular graphics systems

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

This is a list of notable software systems that are used for visualizing macromolecules.[1]

Name Data License Technology Citations Comments
Amira
Optical SMI XRD
Proprietary[2] Windows, Linux, Mac [3][self-published source?] Based on OpenInventor/OpenGL; focusing on life and biomedical sciences.
Ascalaph Designer MM MD QM Proprietary C++ [4][self-published source?] Graphics, model building, molecular mechanics, quantum chemistry.
Avizo
Optical SMI XRD
Proprietary[5] Windows, Linux, Mac [6][self-published source?] Avizo is derived from Amira and focusing on materials science.
Avogadro MM XRD MD Free open-source, GPL C++, Qt, extensible via Python modules
BALL Molecular dynamics MM NMR LGPL open-source Standalone program [7]
Cn3D Free open-source Standalone program [8] In the NCBI C++ toolkit
Coot XRD Free open-source
Gabedit XRD MM Free open-source C [9]
Jmol Free open-source for browser [10][self-published source?] Supports advanced capabilities such as loading multiple molecules with independent movement, surfaces and molecular orbitals, cavity visualization, crystal symmetry
MDL Chime Proprietary, free use noncommercial
browser plugin for Windows
only
[11][self-published source?] Build and visualize molecule and periodic systems (crystal, structures, fluids...), animate trajectories, visualize molecular orbitals, density, electrostatic potential... visualize graph such IR, NMR, dielectric and optical tensors.
Mol*
NA SMI XRD
Free open-source (MIT)
React
)
[12] Viewer currently used by RCSB-PDB and EMBL/PDBe. Contains a scripting language.
Molden MM XRD Proprietary, free use academic [13]
Molecular Operating Environment (MOE) Proprietary Windows, Linux, OS X; SVL programming language Build, edit and visualise small molecules, macromolecules, protein-ligand complexes, crystal lattices, molecular and property surfaces. Platform for extensive collection of molecular modelling / drug discovery applications.
Molekel MM XRD Free open-source Java 3D applet or standalone program
PyMOL
EM
Open-source[14] Python [15][self-published source?] According to the author, almost 1/4 of all published images of 3D protein structures in the scientific literature were made via PyMOL.[citation needed]
RasMol Free open-source [16][17][18][self-published source?]
SAMSON MM MD SMI MRI Proprietary, limited free version Windows, Linux, Mac. C++ (Qt) [19] Computational nanoscience: life sciences, materials, etc. Modular architecture, modules termed SAMSON Elements.
Sirius Free open-source Java 3D applet or standalone program No longer supported as of 2011.
Scigress MM QM Proprietary[20] Standalone program [21] Edit, visualize and run simulations on various molecular systems.
Spartan MM QM Proprietary[22] Standalone program [23] Visualize and edit biomolecules, extract bound ligands from PDB files for further computational analysis, full molecular mechanics and quantum chemical calculations package with streamlined graphical user interface.
UCSF Chimera
EM MD
Free open-source[24] for noncommercial use[25] Python [26][27][self-published source?] Includes single/multiple sequence viewer, structure-based sequence alignment, automatic sequence-structure crosstalk for integrated analyses.[28]
VMD
EM MD MM
Free open-source for noncommercial use[29] C++ [30][31][self-published source?]
WHAT IF HM XRD Proprietary, shareware for academics Fortran, C, OpenGL, standalone [32][self-published source?] Old-fashioned interface; very good software for the experienced bioinformatician; nearly 2000 protein-structure related options; comes with 500 page writeup.
YASARA HM NMR XRC Proprietary, limited free version C-assembly, Windows, Linux, Mac [33][self-published source?] Fully featured molecular modeling and simulation program, incl., structure prediction and docking. Graphical or text mode (clusters), Python interface.

Key

The tables below indicate which types of data can be visualized in each system:

See also

References

External links