UCSF Chimera

UCSF Chimera

UCSF Chimera is an extensible molecular modeling and visualization program primarily designed for interactive visualization and analysis of molecular structures and related data. It offers highly integrated and fast rendering of molecules, sequence alignments, density data, and m
Science & Education Molecular Modeling
UCSF Chimera image
molecular-modeling molecular-visualization protein-structure biomolecular-structure
UCSF Chimera alternatives ➤

UCSF Chimera: Interactive Molecular Modeling

Extensible molecular modeling and visualization program for interactive analysis and rendering of molecular structures and related data

What is UCSF Chimera?

UCSF Chimera is a highly extensible program for interactive visualization and analysis of molecular structures and related data, including density maps, supramolecular assemblies, sequence alignments, docking results, trajectories, and conformational ensembles. High-quality images and animations can be generated.

Chimera includes complete documentation and several tutorials. Core attributes include:

  • highly integrated tools for interactive visualization
  • fast rendering and rotatable images even for very large structures
  • combination of structure data from PDB files, various types of density maps, sequence alignments, docking results, molecular dynamics trajectories, and other sources
  • intuitive and consistent user interface shared among all components
  • easily extensible through the customization and development of new tools with the included SDK

Intended uses of UCSF Chimera include examining protein-protein and protein-nucleic acid interactions, assembly of macromolecular complexes, virus particle glycoprotein spikes, organelle membranes, microtubules, and much more. It can also generate high-quality renderings for figures in publications.

UCSF Chimera Features

Features

  1. Interactive molecular visualization
  2. High-quality rendering
  3. Analysis tools for conformations, surfaces, volumes, sequences, docking
  4. Extensibility through Python scripting
  5. Support for VR headsets
  6. Multi-scale modeling
  7. Integrates with online resources like PDB and PubChem

Pricing

  • Free
  • Open Source

Pros

Powerful visualization capabilities

User-friendly interface

Extensive toolset for analysis

Free and open source

Cross-platform compatibility

Cons

Steep learning curve

Can be resource intensive for large molecular structures

Limited technical support due to open source model

Official Links

Official Website
https://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/chimera/index.html

The Best UCSF Chimera Alternatives

Top Science & Education and Molecular Modeling and other similar apps like UCSF Chimera

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