Thumbnails:
List:
Year:
Category:
Session:
Poster:
Getting poster data...
M. Chavent, A. Tek, Z. Lu, M. Piuzzi, B. Laurent, M. Baaden (1: Laboratoire de Biochimie Théorique, CNRS, UPR9080, Univ Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France. 2: SBCB Unit, Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.)
Ray-casting on Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) opens new possibilities for molecular visualization. Diverse molecular representations such as licorice, ball & stick, spacefilling van der Waals spheres and approximated solvent accessible surfaces can be implemented using HyperBalls, a representation replacing tubes linking atom spheres by hyperboloids connecting them smoothly. This representation is useful for dynamic phenomena, such as the evolution of non covalent bonds. Coarse grained models, spring networks, systems biology "hairballs" or experimental data can also be depicted as shown by several applications. All HyperBalls representations can be defined by a single general algebraic equation that is adapted for the ray-casting technique. This implementation routinely, accurately and interactively renders molecules ranging from a few atoms up to huge macromolecular assemblies. The software is freely available as binary or source code (http://hyperballs.sourceforge.net) using GLSL or Cg shaders.