[Chimera-users] animation suggestions

[Elaine Meng]

Hi Matt,
A few comments on your issues #1 and #3:

(1) Command script execution can be aborted by pressing the Esc (escape) key, or paused/resumed with Shift-Esc.  There is also a "pause" command,

<http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/chimera/docs/UsersGuide/midas/pause.html>

after which you could resume executing the script by pressing any key other than Esc or End, or abort execution by pressing End.

(3) I'm thinking it can be done with the commands "perframe" "alias" and "2dlabels" 
<http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/chimera/docs/UsersGuide/midas/perframe.html>
<http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/chimera/docs/UsersGuide/midas/2dlabels.html>

e.g.
open 2gbp
2dlab create count xpos .05 ypos .05 
alias ^framecount 2dlab change count text $1 color orange
perframe framecount 3; roll y 1 90; wait; ~perframe

I'm not sure how to exactly synchronize that with the start of movie recording, however.  Maybe it would do that if the movie record command was right before the perframe command in the same line, separated by semicolon.  Also, of course this is not as convenient as an automatic built-in counter.

I hope this helps,
Elaine
-----
Elaine C. Meng, Ph.D.                       
UCSF Computer Graphics Lab (Chimera team) and Babbitt Lab
Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry
University of California, San Francisco

On Feb 18, 2011, at 12:21 AM, Dougherty, Matthew T wrote:

> 1) It would be helpful for debugging to have script command that would halt scripting, after which a dialog box or a keyboard command could  continue or restart the script.
> 
> 2) sometimes when doing a reset command (e.g. kf1 to kf2) the trajectory crashes through something in the middle, so another intermediate keyframe (e.g., kf1.1) has to be created to dodge flying through an atom, requiring two reset commands to get from kf1 to kf2.  Figuring out where & when kf1.1 should be placed is problematic.  It would be helpful to have a debug mode that would allow stepping through the individual frames of a reset command.
> 
> 3) having a optional frame count stamped on the images would be helpful for debug and non-linear editing.
> 
> 4) sometimes using an icosahedron to start off a virus animation is preferred, particularly a wireframe icos.  Having the ability to adjust the diameter of the line is which, which can be done in an obscure way.  Being able to adjust it as a slider from the icos panel would be easier, and being able to dynamically change it through script interpolation would be a good addition to the animation commands in the experimental code.
> 
> 5) I prefer to keep up with the daily builds & submitting bug reports.  The inertia is having to reinstall the animation commands and other plug-ins from the experimental code every time on different computers.  Having a more automated way within chimera to include these packages (user developed plugins) during installation of chimera, like a checkbox list that automatically pulls the plugins off the website or local disk.
> 
> 
> thanks for the good product.
> 
> Matthew
> 
> 
> Matthew Dougherty
> National Center for Macromolecular Imaging
> Baylor College of Medicine
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