Other Multimedia Formats
Index to Course Material
Index to Section 6
RasMol and Kinemage
Server Configuration
Virtual Reality
Virtual Reality consists of a 3D representation of objects, around and through
which you can navigate, if you have a suitable Virtual Reality viewer,
such as VRWeb
(available for Unix, and now as beta version for Windows) or
WebSpace
(SG's).
VR objects are created using Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML).
The files usually have the .wrl extension, and the corresponding
MIME type is x-world/x-vrml.
Molecular structures can be represented in Virtual Reality; the following
chemical examples include proteins. You need a VR viewer to appreciate them,
preferably configured as a helper application for your WWW browser.
- Chemical Examples of VRML
, Omer Casher and PPS Consultant
Henry S. Rzepa,
Chemistry Department, Imperial College
- VRML in Chemistry,
Horst Vollhardt, Institute for Physical Chemistry, Technical University of
Darmstadt
This includes a PDB to VRML converter. There is also a WWW interface
which allows you to submit the URL of your own PDB structure, from which the
VRML version is created and delivered to you.
General VRML links are included in this Section's
Reference list.
Java
Java is a programming language/environment. Netscape 2.0 is Java-compatible,
meaning that it automatically downloads specific Java routines (called
Applets) which are referenced in a page of HTML. These Applets can do
all kinds of things, such as animation; but also allow input from the user
at the client-end. Java Applets have been written to allow the manipulation
of molecules. This means it is possible to embed interactive chemical
structures within a hyperdocument, without the need for separate 'helper'
applications.
For example, the following page, again maintained by Horst Vollhardt at the
Technical University of Darmstadt, displays an animated Molecular Dynamics
simulation. Not only that, but you can also rotate the molecule (and also
request a VRML version of a snapshot). You need a Java-compatible
WWW browser (such as HotJava or Netscape 2.0 onwards).
The Sun Microsystems Java Home Page
provides these
3D Chemical Models
Chemscape Chime
This is a commercial product which can currently be obtained freely as a
prototype version; at the moment it is available only for MS Windows. It is
a 'plug-in' application for Netscape, and like Java allows the embedding of
interactive molecules in WWW page.
Index to Course Material
Index to Section 6
RasMol and Kinemage
Server Configuration
Last updated 28th Mar '96