Exporting a Scene

File... Export Scene allows a description of the Chimera scene to be saved in the following formats:

OBJ [.obj] - Wavefront OBJ (surfaces only); colors are written to a separate material definition file [.mtl]
POV-Ray [.pov] - input for the Persistence of Vision Raytracer
(alternatively, POV-Ray images can be produced directly)
RenderMan [.rib] - RenderMan Interface Bytestream
VRML [.wrl, .vrml] - Virtual Reality Markup Language
X3D [.x3d]

POV-Ray, RenderMan, and VRML files are generated by postprocessing an initial X3D file. The conversion programs x3d2pov, x3d2RM, and x3d2vrml are included with Chimera (in the same directory as the chimera executable) but can be used separately.

Limitations

Exports to OBJ format only include displayed surface models. The entire surfaces (even if only partially displayed) are exported in their untransformed positions. Only a single color is exported per surface piece.

A raytraced image from POV-Ray may differ from the view in Chimera in several ways.

The VRML and X3D outputs do not support:

depth cueing
clipping planes (global or per-model)
lenses
stereo
Volume Viewer transparent solid displays
normals on dot and mesh surfaces

RenderMan supports depth cueing and clipping planes; otherwise, limitations are as listed above for VRML and X3D.

VRML does not support variations in transparency within a single surface model; different surface models can have different transparencies, but for a given surface model, the transparency of its least transparent point will be used.

X3D viewers and plugins are available for some platforms, but this format is relatively new and continues to evolve. Annotations for clipping planes and depth cueing can be included in the file even though these features are not displayed.

UCSF Computer Graphics Laboratory / March 2008