[Tutor] 3d manipulation [VPython, or pyopengl, or pymol?]

[Danny Yoo]

On Tue, 19 Jul 2005, mdcooper wrote:

> I need to make a program that will allow a user to rotate and translate
> a molecule (using the mouse) so as to bring any given atom of that
> molecule (or plane encompassing a number of atoms) to the X-Y plane
> (i.e. the Z component would be 0). I cannot find appropriate modules to
> allow this.

Hello,

You might find the VPython project relevant to this:

    http://www.vpython.org/

Alternatively, something like the pyopengl library might work out:

    http://pyopengl.sourceforge.net/

OpenGL is a well-established standard in 3d animated graphics.  However,
this might be a bit too low-level.


If it's possible for you to reuse exising work, take a look at PyMol:

    http://pymol.sourceforge.net/

PyMol uses OpenGL underneath the surface, and more than that, they provide
the primitives for playing with molecules.  They've already done most of
the heavy lifting there, so you might be able to take advantage of this.

I hope this helps!