---
name: "viewmol"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "viewmol"
version: "2.4.1-25"
release: "Debian 10 (Buster)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/viewmol"
---

# viewmol(1)

a graphical front end for computational chemistry programs

## NAME

viewmol - a graphical front end for computational chemistry programs

## SYNOPSIS

**viewmol**

## DESCRIPTION

**viewmol** is a graphical front end for computational chemistry programs.  It is able to graphically aid in the generation of molecular structures for computations and to visualize their results. The program's capabilities include:

- •

  Building and editing of molecules

- •

  Visualization of the geometry of a molecule

- •

  Tracing of a geometry optimization or a MD trajectory

- •

  Animation of normal vibrations or to show them as arrows

- •

  Drawing of IR, Raman, and inelastic neutron scattering spectra

- •

  Drawing of an MO energy level or density of states diagram

- •

  Drawing of basis functions, molecular orbitals, and electron densities

- •

  Display of forces acting on each atom in a certain configuration

- •

  Display of Miller planes in crystals

- •

  Calculation of thermodynamic properties for molecules andreactions

- •

  Drawings generated by **viewmol** can be saved as TIFF, HPGL, or PostScript files

- •

  Animations of normal modes can be converted to a video file (MPEG), e. g. for inclusion into World Wide Web documents (requires additional programs available on the Internet)

- •

  Interface to the freeware ray tracing program **RAYSHADE** (input file generation and use of **RAYSHADE** from within **viewmol**)

- •

  Input and output in a variety of formats, new formats can be added easily by the user  **viewmol** includes a Python interpreter for automation.

At present **viewmol** includes input filters for **DISCOVER**, **DMOL**, **GAMESS**, **GAUSSIAN 9X**, **GULP**, **MOPAC**, and **TURBOMOLE** outputs as well as for PDB files (**viewmol** is therefore suited as a viewer for structural data on the World Wide Web). Structures can be saved as MSI car-files, MDL files, and **TURBOMOLE** coordinate files. **viewmol**'s file format has been added to **BABEL** so that **BABEL** can serve as an input as well as an output filter for coordinates.

**viewmol** supports a space ball as input device.

The support programs for converting to and from the various coordinate file types may potentially be useful as stand alone utilities. They are split between /usr/share/viewmol (scripts) and /usr/lib/viewmol (C binaries), but individual documentation for them is not available.

## SEE ALSO

rasmol (1), gperiodic (1).

Complete HTML documentation may be found in /usr/share/doc/viewmol.

## AUTHOR

**viewmol** was written by Jörg-Rüdiger Hill \<joehill@users.sourceforge.net\>.

This manual page was written by Drew Parsons \<dparsons@debian.org\> for the Debian GNU/Linux system (but may be used by others).