[Chimera-users] defining planes and axes based on existing ones

[Elaine Meng]

Hello ChuHui,
There is an option in “Define axes…” to create “Plane normals,” that is, an axis orthogonal to a plane.
<http://www.rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimera/docs/ContributedSoftware/structuremeas/structuremeas.html#axes>

It can also be done with the “define axis” command:
<http://www.rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimera/docs/UsersGuide/midas/define.html#axis>

However, there is no option to define a plane from another object (plane, axis, or centroid), sorry.  Planes can only be defined from sets of atoms or markers.

Maybe interesting: you can show the inertia ellipsoid for a set of atoms using command “measure inertia”… the ellipsoid shows the principal axes in 3D:
<http://www.rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimera/docs/UsersGuide/midas/measure.html#inertia>
-----
Elaine C. Meng, Ph.D.
UCSF Chimera(X) team
Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry
University of California, San Francisco

> On Jun 7, 2018, at 7:47 AM, ChuHui Fu <cfu at haverford.edu> wrote:
> 
> Hello,
> I am trying to define planes and axes that are orthogonal to the planes and axes that I have previously defined. I have an alpha helix, and I only managed to define one plane and two orthogonal axes around the helix. Is it possible to define the rest of the axes and planes? 
> Thanks!