7.3 View settings

You can open the display settings dialog using the View -> Display -> Settings item of the main menu or the Display -> Settings item of the context menu. Press the Done button to close the dialog.

7.3.1 General settings

The general settings are accessible in the bottom panel of the window. There are five tabs: Main, Axis, Fonts, Stereo and Refresh.

Main settings    

7.3.1.1 Main settings

The Antialiasing combo box controls the hardware multisample anti-aliasing, if it's supported by the graphic cards. The selectable values are in the 2 to 16x range (usually 2 to 6x) depending on the card architecture. Higher values allow to obtain better graphic quality. The Vector Antialiasing checkbox enables the hardware aliasing reduction for the lines only. Not all graphic accelerators have a full implementation of this function.

 

Anti-alias disabled Anti-alias enabled
Anti-aliasing
disabled
Anti-aliasing
enabled


The Depth cueing checkbox enable the OpenGL fogging function in order to simulate the color variation of the objects more distant from the view point.

 

Depth cueing disabled Depth cueing enabled
Depth cueing disabled Depth cueing enabled

The Z clip slider allows to change the clipping value along the Z axis.

Z clip = 170 Z clip = 64
Z clip = 170 Z clip = 64

The Smart move checkbox allows to improve the 3D graphic feedback of the big molecules switching the visualization in wire frame mode (the fastest available) when the user rotate/translate the molecule. This operation is done automatically if the molecule exceeds the specified number of atoms (Atoms field).
The Default button reverts all parameters at the original (default) state/value.

   

Font settings    

7.3.1.2 Axis settings

With the Axis tab it's possible to manage the Cartesian axis. They can be customized in several ways: the user can change the Position (top left, top center, top right, center left, centered, center right, bottom left, bottom center and bottom right), the Style (solid and vector), the Scale %, the Width, the Resolution (available with the solid style only) and the colors of the axis and the labels.

   

Font settings    

7.3.1.3 Font settings

In this tab, it's possible to change font parameters  used in the 3D visualization.  The font Type could be Bitmap (standard quality), True Type  (best quality) and Stroke (fastest visualization). Bitmap and True Type fonts can be changed in the Font field but Stroke font can't be modified. Bitmap fonts have fixed sizes (see Size field), and True Type  and Stroke fonts have variable sizes (see Scale slider). The Resolution slider is active for True type fonts only: it allows to change the detail level (from 0 to 100%), but you must remember that high details speed down the rendering. When the WireGL rendering is enabled, the Stroke font type is available only.

  

Stereo settings    

7.3.1.4 Stereo settings

A very interesting feature implemented in VEGA ZZ is the stereo view. At this time two stereo modes are implemented: Active glasses and Anaglyph. The first one is the best because it allows color views but requires special hardware: a graphic card operating in stereo mode (cheap cards don't support it), a CRT monitor supporting refresh rates greater than 100 Hz (LCD monitors don't work) and shutter glasses (e.g. CrystalEyes by StereoGraphics Corporation). When you switch to this stereo mode, you could adjust the Eye offset and the Shift adjust to maximize the stereo effect. The anaglyph stereo requires inexpensive anaglyph glasses (are glasses with polarized lens), but the stereo view is only in gray scale or in reduced color mode. The Anaglyph filter option allows to change the lens color in order to make VEGA ZZ compatible with a specific type of glasses.
 
Red-cyan stereo pictrure (Eye offset 0,1).

WARNING:
The Matrox FSAA 16x (implemented in the P-Series graphic cards) introduces artefacts in anaglyph stereo mode. For best results, disable it in the PowerDesk HF control panel. To save the pictures, use the offline software rendering enabling the 4 or 16x anti-aliasing for best results.

   

Refresh settings    

7.3.1.5 Refresh settings

This tab allows to set refresh parameters useful to obtain smooth animations and fast graphic interface feedbacks. Checking the Fast refresh item the main window refresh is done in a very fast mode: a copy of the scene is kept in the back buffer and when a repaint is requested, the scene is copied from the back to the front buffer without redrawing it. This procedure noticeably improve the main window refresh, but not all graphic cards support it. If you enable it and you have main window corruptions and artifacts when you translate the windows, your graphic card isn't compatible with the fast refresh mode. It's well know that this refresh mode is compatible with Matrox Graphics cards and with Microsoft and MESA 3D generic OpenGL drivers.
The Animation frame rate (fps) field allows to change the maximum frame rate used during the animations: higher values correspond to smoother animations. Please remember that you can't override the graphic card refresh rate because VEGA ZZ is synchronized to it. As an example, if the graphic card refresh rate is set to 85 Hz, you can't obtain an animation frame rate greater than 85 frame per second.
The Animation timing field set the base speed used in the animations.

   

Wireframe    

7.3.2 Wireframe settings

The Smooth mode beautifies the vector visualization:

Smooth disabled Smooth enabled
Disabled Enabled

The Multivector mode allows to view the molecule bond types (single, partial double, double and  triple):
Multivector disabled Multivector enabled
Disabled Enabled

The Thickness slider changes the line thickness (from 1 to 5).

 

CPK    

7.3.3 CPK settings

You can adjust the sphere resolution (high -> best view -> more rendering time) and the dot size for Van der Waals dotted.

 

CPK    

7.3.4 Ball & stick settings

You can adjust the sphere and the cylinder resolution. You can change also the sphere scale and the cylinder radius.

 

Stick    

7.3.5 Stick settings

For this display mode, you can change the resolution and the cylinder radius.

 

Tube    

7.3.6 Tube settings

For the tube visualization, you can change the interpolation type (cubic or biquadratic), the spline resolution, the cylinder resolution and the cylinder radius.

 

Trace   

7.3.7 Trace settings

For the trace visualization, you can change the cylinder resolution and the cylinder radius.