The color command sets colors of atoms, ribbons, atom and residue labels, MSMS molecular surfaces, and VDW surfaces. The command ~color sets the color to none (no color assigned); assignments at other levels in the coloring hierarchy may become visible.
Color_name can be a built-in name or a name defined previously with colordef. In addition, special color names are:
| element | color |
|---|---|
| C | gray |
| N | blue |
| O | red |
| S | yellow |
| H,D | white |
| F,CL,BR,I | magenta |
| B,FE | gray |
| others | cyan |
The assignment can be restricted with one or more specifiers:
The atom-spec indicates which atoms (and/or associated labels, surfaces, or ribbon) are to be colored. If no atom-spec is given, all atoms (and/or their associated labels, surfaces, or ribbon) are affected.
In Chimera, visible color is determined by a hierarchy. Color sets atom, atom label, and surface colors at the atom level, and ribbon and residue label colors at the residue level. Modelcolor sets colors at the model level. Surfcolor sets which level is used as the source for visible surface colors; this must be the atom level for color to control the visible surface color.
Examples:
color green #2:his- color all histidine residues in model 2 green, as well as any associated ribbon segments, labels, and surfaces
color magenta,s #3- color the molecular surface of model 3 magenta
~color bl #0:4- remove the color assignments of atoms in the fourth residue of model 0 and their labels (the color will default to the model-level color)
color red @/color=blue- color red every atom that is blue (and any ribbon segments, labels, and surfaces associated with those atoms)
See also: colordef, bondcolor, ribcolor, modelcolor, surfcolor, rainbow, rangecolor, set, msc, tcolor, the Actions menu