Movie-Related Commands

Several commands are especially useful for scripting continuous motion within Chimera. One use of such commands or scripts containing them is to generate movie content.

clip - move clipping planes
freeze - stop all motion
move - translate along the X, Y, or Z axis
movie - start or stop recording image frames; adjust parameters related to making movies
reset - interpolate from the current position to one previously saved with savepos
rock - rock back and forth about the X, Y, or Z axis
roll - rotate about the X, Y, or Z axis
savepos - save and name a "position" (a set of model transformations, etc.)
scale - scale the view
section - move the clipping planes in parallel
select - activate/deactivate models for motion (to move one model relative to another)
set independent - make models rotate about their own centers instead of a collective center
thickness - move the clipping planes in opposite directions
turn - rotate about the X, Y, or Z axis
wait - suspend command processing for a specified number of frames or until motion has stopped
2dlabels - display 2D labels; a 2D label can be faded in or out over a specified number of frames

These can be used directly in the Command Line or combined with other Chimera commands into an executable command file.

The command file 1gfl.com, for example, can be executed by simply opening it in Chimera. The command file fetches 1gfl from the Protein Data Bank (requires internet connectivity or a local installation) and changes the display as the structure rotates.

UCSF Computer Graphics Laboratory / September 2006