[comp.sys.ibm.pc] molecular modeling programs?

zs04+@andrew.cmu.edu (Zachary T. Smith) (09/18/89)

Has anyone ever seen any public domain program that let one construct
models of molecules (and rotate them and print them and save/recall
models) for the ibm pc?

I know a few programs exist for the Mac for doing this, but I own a pc,
dislike macintoshes, etc.

Does anyone know if gnuplot can be made to draw 3-d stuff and maybe
do some animation with it? Or is that something totally different?

The reason I am interested in this is I'd like to look at some crystal
structures (the 14 basic structures) in 3-d. Maybe construct some big
models of lattices. No chemical interactions, lines and spheres.

Thanks,

Zach T. Smith (zs04+@andrew.cmu.edu)

djm@castle.ed.ac.uk (D Murphy) (09/19/89)

In article <UZ4yC4_00WB_I4tEZp@andrew.cmu.edu> zs04+@andrew.cmu.edu (Zachary T. Smith) writes:
>
>Has anyone ever seen any public domain program that let one construct
>models of molecules (and rotate them and print them and save/recall
>models) for the ibm pc?
>
>Zach T. Smith (zs04+@andrew.cmu.edu)

There is a program available on simtel20, PD1:<MSDOS.EDUCATION>CHEMICAL.ARC
which might be what you're looking for. It certainly allows you to construct
simple models and maybe rotate them, but you must remember that doing this
sort of thing is a pretty tall order, and most packages are costly.
If you can talk your budget into letting go of the money, Alchemy is available
from Aldrich. Only one problem with this is that it has a copy protect bug
(the disk is corrupted - I think that sectors 3&4 on tracks 79&80 on a 3.5"
disk are formatted as 1x1024 bytes rather than 2x512 bytes) which greatly
reduces the value of the product. I think it is by Evans & Sutherland.

Hope this helps,
Murff....

kohlt@pawl.rpi.edu (Tim Kohl) (09/30/89)

In <436@castle.ed.ac.uk> djm@castle.ed.ac.uk (D Murphy) writes:
>In article <UZ4yC4_00WB_I4tEZp@andrew.cmu.edu> zs04+@andrew.cmu.edu (Zachary T. Smith) writes:
>>
>>Has anyone ever seen any public domain program that let one construct
>>models of molecules (and rotate them and print them and save/recall
>>models) for the ibm pc?
>>
>>Zach T. Smith (zs04+@andrew.cmu.edu)

A program for displaying CPK models for both organic and inorganic
compounds (ChemGraphics) has been developed by Prof. Kevin Potts and
his group in the Department of Chemistry at Rensselaer. This program is
happiest with an AT class computer (with 80287 coprocessor) and
EGA or better display. More information can be obtained from the
author:

Professor Kevin T. Potts
Department of Chemistry
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy, NY 12180

___________________________________________________________

Joseph Warden

jtwarden@pawl.rpi.edu