Making Molecular Movies in ChimeraX

Tom Goddard
West Coast Protein Crystallography Workshop
March 20, 2017 (updated May 22, 2019; see original)

How to make movies showing molecular structures using ChimeraX. We will look at galactose binding protein as an example (PDB entries 3gbp and 2fw0).

Run Tutorial in ChimeraX

Open this web page within ChimeraX using the following ChimeraX command:

This will display it in the ChimeraX browser, and then clicking on the commands in the tutorial will run the commands.

Spin Movie

Spin a molecule 360° and record a movie.

Zone around galactose ligand

Show the binding site in more detail.

X-ray density near galactose ligand

Look at x-ray density in binding site.

Show fit of each residue in density

Morph between bound and unbound conformation

Virtual reality view of binding site

Create a 360° stereoscopic scene on YouTube for viewing in virtual reality headsets. Example scene to view with cellphone YouTube app and VR headset: GWRGc7jpX8g