It has been a little over 20 years since emerging computer graphics technologies allowed us to view and manipulate the three-dimensional structures of molecules. At first, the exceedingly high cost of the computer hardware and software restricted the use of these tools to a relatively small number of well-funded research groups. Over the past decade, the cost of high-powered computing hardware has dropped significantly. At the same time, free, or relatively low cost, molecular modeling software has also become become available.
Humans are visually oriented. Much of what we learn and understand about the world around us we first absorb through visual images. Tools such as PyMOL and Jmol allow users to visualize and interact with three-dimensional models of molecules and provide a path to understanding biological systems at the molecular level.
This site will introduce the visitor to some of the tools available for visualizing molecular structures, including PyMOL, Jmol, RasMol, and Chime. It provides links to sources for coordinate files that can be viewed with these tools. The site also contains a tutorial demonstrating how a plain text editor can be used, along with Jmol, to incorporate 3–dimensional, interactive, molecular models into web pages.