[chimerax-users] Generate surface from a model using user defined color

[Elaine Meng]

Dear Hong,
The surface is created as a separate model that gets a chain color, which (as you saw) is generally not the same color as the atoms or ribbons.  Chain coloring:
<https://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/colortables.html>

You can make the surface the same color as the atoms with command "color fromatoms surfaces"
<https://rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/docs/user/commands/color.html#simple>

 ... however, since often when you open a structure there is heteroatom coloring with nitrogens blue, oxygens red, etc. it may have lots of blue and red patches.  There is no option to color same as ribbons.  So either you can really color all atoms a single color first and then use the "fromatoms" command mentioned above, or just color the surface after you show it, e.g.

color tan surfaces
color /A dodger blue surfaces

(or use "target s" instead of "surfaces" ... means the same thing)

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


> On Oct 14, 2022, at 6:43 PM, HONG ZHAN via ChimeraX-users <chimerax-users at cgl.ucsf.edu> wrote:
> 
> Dear all, 
> 
> I would like to generate surface using my model but I want to keep the color as I defined. My protein contains only one chain so that when I ran Surface command, it generated surface with one color... Is there a way to generate surface to keep my defined color? 
> 
> Super thanks!
> Hong