[chimerax-users] Create command for subunit model

[Elaine Meng]

Hi Tim,
I don't use Pymol, so it's more helpful for us if you describe what you want directly.  However, googling "pymol create" suggests that in ChimeraX you probably want the "split" command:
<https://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/split.html>

However, it's not exactly the same.  ChimeraX split will "destroy" the original model by splitting it up into submodels (which can each be treated the same as an individual model), so if you also want to keep the original model as a single model, you would need to open it again.  If the subunits are already different chains you can just use "split" without keywords.   E.g.

open 4hhb
split #1

 Or, if they are all in the same chain you would need to find some other way to specify them, such as residue ranges, e.g.

open 2gbp
split #1 atoms ligand atoms solvent atoms :1-10 atoms :11-100 atoms :101-end

Also, you probably don't need to make the subunits separate models if the reason is just to display them differently.  You can select, modify, recolor etc. by specifying acting just the chain, residues, atoms of interest:
<https://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/atomspec.html>

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

> On Nov 5, 2022, at 8:16 AM, tim smith via ChimeraX-users <chimerax-users at cgl.ucsf.edu> wrote:
> 
> Hi All,
> 
> I would like to create a separate subunit model in chimeraX like create command in Pymol. In my PDB model, 3 subunits are present, I want to make each subunit as a model for representation. 
> 
> Thank you and best regards
> Tim