The attributes of selected items can be reported and changed with the Selection Inspector.

Attribute descriptions within the Selection Inspector are not necessarily the same as the attribute names; separate tables show attribute names for atoms, residues, and molecule models, as well as how they can be used for atom specification in the Command Line.

The Selection Inspector can be opened by choosing Actions... Inspect from the menu or by clicking the button on the right side of the status line. Included item types are:

• Atom
• Bond
• Residue
• Molecule model
• Pseudobond
• MSMS surface

If the selection includes multiple items of the same type and their attribute values vary, "-- multiple --" or ">1" will be reported for the attribute. Attribute values can be changed within the inspector.

• atom style - atom draw mode
  • dot
  • ball
  • endcap
  • sphere
• color (a color well) - color at the atom level; see coloring hierarchy
• displayed - whether display is enabled at the atom level (see display hierarchy)
  • false
  • true
• IDATM type - atom type (currently shown in gray and cannot be changed)
• label - a text label for the atom. If the atom label was shown using the menu or the label command, standard information (such as atom name) will be shown in this field, but can be replaced arbitrarily; however, showing the atom label again with the menu or label will restore the standard information.
• label color (a color well) - if an atom label has no color of its own, it will inherit the color of its associated atom; see coloring hierarchy
• radius - radius in angstroms used when the the draw mode is sphere; initially set to an approximate VDW radius
• surface color (a color well) - atom-level surface color; see coloring hierarchy
• surface displayed - whether surface display is enabled at the atom level (see display hierarchy)
  • false
  • true
• surface opacity - atom-level surface opacity, ranging from 0 (completely transparent) to 1 (completely opaque); a negative value indicates that the opacity included in the definition of the atom-level surface color(s) should be used instead

• bond style - bond draw mode
  • wire
  • stick
• color (a color well) - color at the individual bond level (see coloring hierarchy); can also be controlled with the command bondcolor. Note that the color assigned to the bond will only be visible when halfbond mode is off; when halfbond mode is on, the color of each half of the bond matches the visible color of the flanking atom.
• displayed - whether display is enabled at the individual bond level (see display hierarchy); can also be controlled with the command bonddisplay
  • true
  • false
  • if atoms shown (displayed only when both flanking atoms are displayed)
• halfbond mode - whether the two halves of a bond are handled as separate entities; when halfbond mode is on, the color of each halfbond matches that of the attached atom (can also be controlled with the command bondcolor).
  • on
  • off
• label - an arbitrary text label for the bond
• label color (a color well) - if a label has no color of its own, it will inherit the color of its associated bond; see coloring hierarchy
• radius - value to be multiplied by the molecule model stick scale to generate stick radius in angstroms (only applies to bonds in the stick draw mode)

• in helix
  • false
  • true
• in strand
  • false
  • true
• label - a text label for the residue. If the residue label was shown using the menu or the rlabel command, standard information (such as residue name and number) will be shown in this field, but can be replaced arbitrarily; however, showing the residue label again with the menu or rlabel will restore the standard information.
• label color (a color well) - if a residue label has no color of its own, it will inherit the model color; see coloring hierarchy
• ribbon color (a color well) - residue-level ribbon color; see coloring hierarchy
• ribbon cross section - style of secondary structure ribbon shown (see also ribrepr)
  • edged
  • flat
  • round
    (any additional styles created and named with the Ribbon Style Editor will also be listed)
• ribbon display - whether a secondary structure ribbon is shown; ribbons are only drawn for proteins and nucleic acids. Protein secondary structure is determined from HELIX and SHEET records in the input PDB file or by using ksdssp.
  • off
  • on
• ribbon scaling - secondary-structure-specific scaling of ribbon height and width
  • Chimera default
    (any additional scalings created and named with the Ribbon Style Editor will also be listed)

• active - whether the model is activated for motion
  • false
  • true
• auto-chaining - whether to connect atoms that precede and follow undisplayed segments (whether to draw pseudobonds between them)
  • off
  • on
• ball scale - scale factor for atoms in the ball draw mode. The ball scale is multiplied by individual atom VDW radii to generate ball radii in angstroms.
• color (a color well) - color at the model level; see coloring hierarchy
• displayed - whether display is enabled at the model level (see display hierarchy)
  • false
  • true
• line width - pixel width of lines depicting bonds (when in the wire draw mode)
• ribbon hides backbone atoms - whether showing ribbon for residues within the model hides backbone atoms for those residues (see the command ribbackbone for details)
  • false
  • true
• stick scale - scale factor for bonds in the stick draw mode. The stick scale is multiplied by individual bond radii (default 0.2 angstroms) to generate stick radii in angstroms. Changing stick scale is preferable to changing all of the bond radii in a model, because the former will also scale singleton atoms in the endcap draw mode appropriately. Either way, the other endcap atoms (those participating in bonds) will be scaled to match the thickest of the attached bonds.
• surface color (a color well) - model-level surface color; see coloring hierarchy
• surface opacity - model-level surface opacity, ranging from 0 (completely transparent) to 1 (completely opaque); a negative value indicates that the opacity included in the definition of the model-level surface color should be used instead
• vdw density - relative density of dots used in any VDW surfaces (as with the command vdwdensity)
• vdw dot size - pixel size of dots in any VDW surfaces

• bond style - pseudobond draw mode
  • wire
  • stick
• color (a color well) - color at the individual pseudobond level; see coloring hierarchy. Note that the color assigned to the pseudobond will only be visible when halfbond mode is off; when halfbond mode is on, the color of each half of the pseudobond matches the visible color of the flanking atom.
• displayed - whether display is enabled at the individual pseudobond level (see display hierarchy)
  • true
  • false
  • if atoms shown (displayed only when both flanking atoms are displayed)
• halfbond mode - whether the two halves of a pseudobond are handled as separate entities; when halfbond mode is on, the color of each halfbond matches that of the attached atom.
  • on
  • off
• label - an arbitrary text label for the pseudobond. If the pseudobond has already been given a label using PseudoBond Reader, the label will be shown in this field, but can be replaced arbitrarily. If the pseudobond is a distance monitor, however, this label reports the measured distance and cannot be changed.
• label color (a color well) - if a label has no color of its own, it will inherit the color of its associated pseudobond; see coloring hierarchy
• radius - value to be multiplied by the pseudobond group stick scale to generate stick radius in angstroms (only applies to pseudobonds in the stick draw mode)

• active - whether the model is activated for motion
  • false
  • true
• color source - whether the surface color reflects the color at the model or atom level (see coloring hierarchy). When surface color is set independent of these levels, unknown is reported. This occurs when the surface is custom-colored, for example, when it is colored by electrostatic potential using DelPhiViewer.
  • model
  • atoms
  • unknown
• displayed - whether surface display is enabled at the model level (see display hierarchy)
  • false
  • true
• dot size - pixel size of dots used in the dot surface representation
• line width - pixel width of lines used in the mesh surface representation
• probe radius - radius in angstroms of the probe sphere used to compute the surface. A larger probe decreases surface bumpiness because it fits into fewer crevices. A probe radius of 1.4 angstroms is commonly used to approximate the size of a water molecule.
• representation - which type of surface representation is being used
  • solid
  • mesh
  • dots
• vertex density - number of vertices per square angstrom used to compute the surface. Greater density results in a smoother surface but increases computational demands for calculating and moving the surface.