Recent Enhancements

PyMOL development is fundamentally driven by user, sponsor, and collaborators. These days, almost all progress is the result of one or more requests, and in some cases, major enhancements have even been specifically paid for through sponsored development arrangements.

So if you want to see something particular in future PyMOL versions, please send your ideas to help@schrodinger.com or put your suggestion on the Ideas Page of the PyMOL Community Wiki.

• Undo of user interface actions, including molecular building.
• Visual interface to key-framing object motion
• Direct output to MPEG video (cross-platform)

• Scene buttons: clickable & enable visual resorting of scene
• Maestro .MAE file input (incentive builds only)
• ActiveX control for embedded use on Windows (PowerPoint, Internet Explorer)
• Movie slider

• Improved support and compatibility for Microsoft Windows Vista
• Improved performance under virtualized OSes supporting 3D acceleration
• HETATM valences in PDB files are guessed automatically.

• sequence alignment visualization
• parallel geometry builds via async_builds setting.
• scalable fonts with more symbols (Angtrom, Alpha, Beta, etc.)
• compressed session files (set session_compression).
• per-atom and per-bond settings
• group objects

Listed in order of decreasing utility or impact (best stuff first).

• wildcards in atom selections and name-patterns
• fetch command for rapid download of pdb files.
• Dunbrack rotamers (both backbone dependent and backbone independent).
• ray_trace_mode settings for David Goodsell-style images.
• multiple label fonts, fully scalable.
• nucleic acid cartoons and cartoons for all small rings.
• label_position setting for gross label positioning.
• draggable labels for fine positioning.
• display of oversized rendered images.
• matrix_transfer (now matrix_copy) command for maintaining frames of reference.
• numerous dozens of crash, image quality, and memory bug fixes.
• up to 10 simultaneous light sources now supported.
• draw command for fast medium-quality OpenGL renderings.
• -O command line option for help with million-atom systems.
• shader program for “pixel perfect” CPK spheres.