ProteinVista: A Fast Molecular Visualization System Using Microsoft Direct3D

Abstract

Many tools have been developed to visualize protein and molecular structures. Most high quality protein visualization tools use the OpenGL graphics library as a 3D graphics system. Currently, the performance of recent 3D graphics hardware has rapidly improved. Recent high-performance 3D graphics hardware support Microsoft Direct3D graphics library more than OpenGL and have become very popular in personal computers (PCs). In this paper, a molecular visualization system termed ProteinVista is proposed. ProteinVista is well-designed visualization system using the Microsoft Direct3D graphics library. It provides various visualization styles such as the wireframe, stick, ball and stick, space fill, ribbon, and surface model styles, in addition to display options for 3D visualization. As ProteinVista is optimized for recent 3D graphics hardware platforms and because it uses a geometry instancing technique, its rendering speed is 2.7 times faster compared to other visualization tools.