search site  |  contact us  HOME PRODUCTS DOWNLOADS SALES SUPPORT NEWS CrystalMaker 6.3: New Tools, Menus and Shortcuts Ready for "Panther", CrystalMaker Sharpens its Claws 20 October 2003. We are pleased to announce the release of yet another major update to our acclaimed CrystalMaker 6 program, originally launched in September 2002. CrystalMaker 6.3 includes "killer feature" tools for visualizing molecular crystals, redesigned and easier-to-use menu commands, no fewer than 12 new keyboard shortcuts, an improved interface designed for Mac OS X "Panther" - plus support for our soon-to-be-released Single Crystal diffraction program. Optimize Range Commands CrystalMaker includes important new tools for working with molecular crystals, making it much easier to "see the wood for the trees" and quickly generate optimimum views. (Molecular crystals consist of strongly-bonded, discrete molecular units - such as benzene - with no long-range bonding defined). The new tools have been installed on the Transform menu, via a new "Optimize Range" submenu. Optimized Molecular Cell Display The "Show Molecular Cell" command is designed to quickly and easily generate the best-looking view of a moelcular structure's unit cell contents. The program searches for intact molecules associated with a single unit cell, including those which lie partly outside the cell bounds (and which would be drawn as incomplete fragments using the standard Set Range command). The full unit cell contents are then displayed - with no fragmented molecules! The "Show Molecular Cell" command improves on a standard one-cell view (left), fixing fragmented molecules that straddle the cell boundary, to give an optimum display of how molecules pack together in a unit cell (right). Repair Molecular Fragments This command examines the currently-displayed atoms on screen, identifies any incomplete molecules ("fragments") and then, if required, generates additional atoms and bonds so that all of the original atoms are now part of fully-intact molecules. Single-Crystal Diffraction CrystalMaker has a new "helper" application: "SingleCrystal" is a program for visualizing sections of the reciprocal lattice and simulating transmission electron micrograph (TEM) diffraction patterns. SingleCrystal provides real-time measurement and manipulation of diffraction patterns, including mouse-driven rotation, and precise orientation controls. The latest version of CrystalMaker allows you to simulate TEM diffraction patterns for any displayed structure on screen, via a new Single-Crystal Diffraction command on the Transform menu. Executing this command will launch SingleCrystal (if it is installed on your hard disc) and display the current structure's diffraction pattern. This means that you can edit a structure in CrystalMaker, move to your desired orientation, and then see the corresponding diffraction pattern - in the same orientation - in SingleCrystal. Coming soon - real-time, interactive visualization of electron diffraction patterns and reciprocal space! This window shows a simulated TEM diffraction pattern for the wurtzite structure, colour-coded to show the phase of diffracted intensity. Improved Menus CrystalMaker's "Selection" and "Transform" menus have been greatly improved, with better organization of related commands and the use of submenus to reduce clutter. The "Transform" menu has been simplified, to reduce clutter and improve the grouping of related menu items. An "Optimize Range" submenu provides commands for improving the display of molecular crystals and other structures. Various "Lattice Plane" commands have been moved to a submenu, and a new "Diffraction Pattern" submenu gives a choice of single-crystal or powder diffraction patterns. The Selection Menu contains the same functionality as in previous versions, but is now much better organized. Commands are arranged in five groups: Making a Selection. Select all atoms in a clicked molecule, or invert the current selection. Showing or Hiding a Selection. Show all atoms, hide the selection, hide unselected atoms, or hide molecules with unselected atoms. Manipulating a Selection. Detach, duplicate or delete selected atoms. Setting a Selection's Properties. Edit atom and bond styles and colours, change atom types, coordinates and toggle the display of atom labels for selected atoms. Miscellaneous Commands. Calculate the central point of a selection and centre the plot on the selected atoms. More Keyboard Shortcuts In response to popular demand, CrystalMaker 6.3 contains no fewer than 12 new keyboard shortcuts, making your work quicker and easier. The new shortcuts include commands for adding atom vectors to selected atoms (cmd-shift-V), toggling atom labels for selected atoms (cmd-option-L), toggling the unit cell display (cmd-shift-L), toggling depth fading (cmd-;) and perspective (cmd-\) as well as displaying or editing a lattice plane (cmd-/). More Features A new "View Along Selection" command rotates the structure so that it is viewed parallel to the vector between two selected atoms on screen. Automatic launching of helper applications (including CrystalDiffract) is now possible: CrystalMaker will automatically locate and launch the application, removing the need for users to tell CrystalMaker where it is located. Other changes include perspective and depth fading toggling, an updated interface, designed to work with "Panther" (Mac OS X 10.3), optimized windows with improved icon display - and much more. Further Information: For a general introduction to CrystalMaker please see the CrystalMaker product description. Download a demonstration version of CrystalMaker 6.3 (can be used as a free crystal viewer for CIF, PDB, FDAT and other data files). For pricing and ordering information, please refer to the sales pages. Visit our updates page for the latest versions of our software. © 2008 CrystalMaker Software Limited. All rights reserved worldwide.