PyMOL

PyMOL is a stand-alone molecular visualization program that is very popular with protein crystallographers because of the high quality of its rendering, its speed and versatility. A large percentage of the figures in journal publications reporting new macromolecular structures are created using PyMOL. PyMOL is the creation of Warren Delano. It has an innovative license: it is open source, but not free in all forms: the author's current ready-to-run downloads (binaries) and up-to-date documentation require payment of modest annual subscription fees. However, a current free version is available to students and educators for classroom use, old out-of-date binary builds can be freely downloaded by anyone, and some Linux distributions provide PyMOL packages compiled from the open-source code.

PyMOL has a strong user community which interacts via the PyMOL-Users mailing list and operates the PyMOL Wiki documentation site. The "Py" in PyMOL refers to the Python language, an integral part of the package. Python enables users to automate PyMOL with simple command scripts and to develop plugins with their own custom user interfaces.

See AlsoSee Also

• PyMOL.Org, the official download and information home of PyMOL.
• Molecular modeling and visualization software
• World Index of Molecular Visualization Software