UCSF Chimera is a program for the interactive visualization and analysis of molecular structures and related data, including density maps, trajectories, and sequence alignments. It is available free of charge for noncommercial use. Commercial users, please see Chimera commercial licensing.

We encourage Chimera users to try ChimeraX for much better performance with large structures, as well as other major advantages and completely new features in addition to nearly all the capabilities of Chimera (details...).

Chimera is no longer under active development. Chimera development was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (P41-GM103311) that ended in 2018.

Feature Highlight

Simple Line Drawing

A simple, line-drawing-like appearance can be achieved by combining black silhouette edges with flat, ambient-only lighting. The image at left of a small molecule in ball-and-stick style can be generated with a few Chimera commands. The same visual effects can be applied to ribbons and other representations, as shown in Neuraminidase Flowers and other Image Gallery entries.

(More features...)

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Gallery Sample

Wasabi Receptor

The image shows the structure of the human TRPA1 ion channel (wasabi receptor) determined by electron cryo-microscopy, Protein Data Bank entry 3j9p. The four subunits of the tetramer are shown as ribbons in different colors over a dark-to-light gradient background. (More samples...)