Illustrate: Software for Biomolecular Illustration

David S Goodsell; Ludovic Autin; Arthur J Olson

doi:10.1016/j.str.2019.08.011

Illustrate: Software for Biomolecular Illustration

Structure. 2019 Nov 5;27(11):1716-1720.e1. doi: 10.1016/j.str.2019.08.011. Epub 2019 Sep 10.

Authors

David S Goodsell¹, Ludovic Autin², Arthur J Olson²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA; RCSB Protein Data Bank, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA. Electronic address: goodsell@scripps.edu.
² Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.

Abstract

The small program Illustrate generates non-photorealistic images of biological molecules for use in dissemination, outreach, and education. The method has been used as part of the "Molecule of the Month," an ongoing educational column at the RCSB Protein Data Bank (http://rcsb.org). Insights from 20 years of application of the program are presented, and the program has been released both as open-source Fortran at GitHub and through an interactive web-based interface.

Keywords: ambient occlusion; biomolecular visualization; computer graphics; non-photorealistic rendering; protein structure; science education.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Computer Graphics*
Medical Illustration*
Molecular Biology / education
Molecular Biology / methods
Protein Conformation
Software*

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding