Greetings PyMOLers, Ongoing work into PyMOL's graphics engine has given us time to test and learn a few things about performance. If you're a hard-core PyMOL user or you need to get every last frame-per-second out of PyMOL, try loading a large session and tweaking the following settings to check for improved rendering speed. The settings we've seen large differences with are: * set texture_fonts * set use_display_lists * set sphere_mode, 5 * set async_builds # uses all N-processors for geometry calculations * set defer_builds_mode, 3 # this is the best for large trajectories
Check out the "cache" command if you work frequently with surfaces. If you're using an ATI card, then PyMOL might be turning off line smoothing, making lines look bad. So, please try setting "line_smooth". Here's a little code to get you started with testing speed using the various settings: # turn on the frames per second indicator in the # lower right hand corner of the screen set show_frame_rate # load a massive structure fetch 2qzv, type=pdb1, async=0 # re-create the biological entry split_states 2qzv # remove the original delete 2qzv # show as cartoons as cartoons # center and orient the view orient This scene has 355,392 atoms! Now, as you rotate the object about you can see in the lower right-hand corner a frame rate in Hz. Note the frame rate as you rotate the scene. Now, type, set use_display_lists give PyMOL a second to update and then try rotating the scene again. Put the faster setting in your .pymolrc. Try the other settings, too. Last, if you're running two monitors, some video cards show an affinity for a monitor (most likely the display port). On my current setup, the left monitor renders the above scene as cartoons at 23 Hz on the left screen and 12 Hz on the right (but only when display_lists are turned on). If you find a combination that gets you a significant boost in rendering speeds, feel free to share. Hope this helps. Cheers, -- Jason -- Jason Vertrees, PhD PyMOL Product Manager Schrodinger, LLC (e) jason.vertr...@schrodinger.com (o) +1 (603) 374-7120 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 10 Tips for Better Web Security Learn 10 ways to better secure your business today. Topics covered include: Web security, SSL, hacker attacks & Denial of Service (DoS), private keys, security Microsoft Exchange, secure Instant Messaging, and much more. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfnl/114/51426210/ _______________________________________________ PyMOL-users mailing list (PyMOL-users@lists.sourceforge.net) Info Page: https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/pymol-users Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/pymol-users@lists.sourceforge.net
