BALLView: An object-oriented molecular visualization and modeling framework

Abstract

We present BALLView, an extensible tool for visualizing and modeling bio-molecular structures. It provides a variety of different models for bio-molecular visualization, e.g. ball-and-stick models, molecular surfaces, or ribbon models. In contrast to most existing visualization tools, BALLView also offers rich functionality for molecular modeling and simulation, including molecular mechanics methods (AMBER and CHARMM force fields), continuum electrostatics methods employing a Finite-Difference Poisson Boltzmann solver, and secondary structure calculation. Results of these computations can be exported as publication quality images or as movies. Even unexperienced users have direct access to this functionality through an intuitive graphical user interface, which makes BALLView particularly useful for teaching. For more advanced users, BALLView is extensible in different ways. Owing to its framework design, extension on the level of C per thousand+ per thousand per thousand+ code is very convenient. In addition, an interface to the scripting language Python allows the interactive rapid prototyping of new methods. BALLView is portable and runs on all major platforms (Windows, MacOS X, Linux, most Unix flavors). It is available free of charge under the GNU Public License (GPL) from our website http://www.ballview.org.