FvNano: A Virtual Laboratory to Manipulate Molecular Systems

Matthieu Chavent (1) , Marc Piuzzi (2) , Alex Tek (1) , Marc Baaden (1)

1 LBT (UPR_9080) - Laboratoire de biochimie théorique [Paris]
2 ICSN - Institut de Chimie des Substances Naturelles

Ray-casting on Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) opens new possibilities for molecular visualization. We used this technique to develop HyperBalls, an improved ball & stick representation replacing tubes linking the atom spheres by hyperboloids that can smoothly connect them. This type of depiction is particularly useful to represent dynamic phenomena and can routinely, accurately and interactively render huge macromolecular assemblies with more than 500,000 particles. Combined with Molecular Dynamics (MD) software and haptic devices, it is possible to manipulate molecular objects to study their properties.

Mots clés: Molecular Visualization; GPU acceleration; HyperBalls; Molecular Dynamic.

Domaines: Biophysique

Matthieu Chavent, Marc Piuzzi, Alex Tek, Marc Baaden. FvNano: A Virtual Laboratory to Manipulate Molecular Systems. 1st IEEE symposium on biological data visualization, @ ieee visweek, 2011, Oct 2011, Providence, RI, United States. pp.136. ⟨hal-01498124⟩