[chimerax-users] Making movies and fitting structures into cryoEM

[Elaine Meng]

Dear Madhan,
Although ChimeraX doesn't yet have a movie-making dialog (GUI), you can make movies with ChimeraX command scripts.  In a command script (plain text file named ending in .cxc), the "movie" command does recording and creating a movie file, whereas other commands  (show/hide, color, turn, 2dlabel, etc.) can be used to control display, motions, and labeling... whatever you want to happen during the movie.  Simply opening the .cxc file runs the commands.

You can change volume thresholds with the "volume" command "level" option, for example:

volume #1 level 0.08

<http://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/volume.html#general>

To gradually change the threshold over multiple display frames, you can combine the "volume" command with the "perframe" command, for example:

perframe "volume #2 level $1" range 0.1,0.3 frames 120; wait 120

(those should be plain text quotation marks, although the e-mail display may change them to fancy quotation marks) 

<http://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/perframe.html>

See ChimeraX "making movies" page and links therein:
<http://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/movies.html>

...including movie-making tutorials:
<http://www.rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimera/data/sbgrid-apr2017/cryomovie.html>
<http://www.rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/data/movies-may2019/moviemaking.html>

See also general information on ChimeraX command files:
<http://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/usageconventions.html#cxc-files>

For your other question, if you are asking how to fit an atomic structure into a map, see the "Fit in Map" tool and/or "fitmap" command:
<http://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/tools/fitmap.html>
<http://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/fitmap.html>

Or to compare one atomic structure to another atomic structure, you can superimpose them with the "matchmaker" command:
<http://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/matchmaker.html>

Chimera has a Matchmaker GUI, but ChimeraX does not have the GUI yet, only the command.

I hope this helps,
Elaine
-----
Elaine C. Meng, Ph.D.
UCSF Chimera(X) team
Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry
University of California, San Francisco
> 
>> Begin forwarded message:
>> 
>> From: "Tirumalai, Madhan R" 
>> Subject: ChimeraX
>> Date: March 11, 2020 at 1:10:41 PM PDT
>> To: "goddard at cgl.ucsf.edu" <goddard at cgl.ucsf.edu>
>> 
>> Dear Dr. Goddard
>> 
>> Warm Greetings!
>> 
>> We have been using ChimeraX to look at mrc files.
>> 
>> While I am able to use the "Spin movie" option, am not able to use the make movie option, which I could with the Chimera version.
>> 
>> I would much appreciate if you could kindly let me know how: 
>> 
>> I can use the movie making option to make movies using different images with increasing/ decreasing thresholds (Volume Viewer)?
>> 
>> Since am not familiar with docking programs, I would like to know how can one a related crystal structure into a new Cryo-EM structure to show the differences between the crystal structure and the Cryo-Em?
>> 
>> Thanks
>> Madhan