[chimerax-users] How do I NOT "show disjoint surfaces"?

[Sungwook Woo]

Hi Tom,

Looks like that does the trick. Thanks a lot!

In 3D printing, one could fill the entire internal space with printing
material,
but typically one just fills the empty space only with some kind of lattice
framework,
while printing multiple layers of material for the walls of the outer
surface to ensure durability.

If there are structural features *inside*, it seems that there is no way
for 3D model slicing softwares to distinguish this reliably (at least I
couldn't find one), and they create multiple layers of 'walls' inside as
well, ending up wasting time and material. To illustrate the difference, I
attach a screenshot of a slicing software (called Ultimaker Cura) where I
show a cross section of two copies of the same protein model, one with the
trick applied (left) and one without it (right).

Thanks again!

Best,
Sungwook


On Wed, Dec 7, 2022 at 3:14 AM Tom Goddard <goddard at sonic.net> wrote:

> Hi Sungwook,
>
>   You can avoid the internal surface bubbles in ChimeraX using the surface
> command "visiblePatches 1" option,
>
> open 7exf
> surface #1 visiblePatches 1
> save 7exf_chain_A.stl model #1.2
>
> I don't see how this saves material when making a 3D print since the print
> will be solid if there are no interior bubbles.  But I agree it will print
> faster on a filament printer since the toolpaths will be simpler since
> there are no holes to dodge.
>
> Tom
>
>
> On Dec 5, 2022, at 7:14 PM, Sungwook Woo via ChimeraX-users <
> chimerax-users at cgl.ucsf.edu> wrote:
>
> Hi
>
> I've been using UCSF Chimera and recently encountered ChimeraX -- I really
> like the modern look and feel!
>
> One feature I cannot find in the X version, though, is editing the
> attributes of an MSMS surface model,
> where I was able to disable (make 'false') the 'show disjoint surfaces'
> setting, in the original version.
>
> Most of the time dealing with models I don't need it, but sometimes I like
> to 3D print molecular models to really get a 'grip' on the models, and that
> feature of not showing disjoint surfaces has been useful to remove internal
> 'bubbles', which I learned about through this posting:
> https://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/pipermail/chimera-users/2009-May/003903.html .
> If internal bubbles are not removed, they waste printing material and
> increase printing time.
>
> Is there any way to disable showing disjoint surfaces, or otherwise
> achieve a similar goal in the X version?
> Thanks!
>
> Best,
> Sungwook
>
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