eMovie is a plug-in tool for the molecular visualization program PyMOL. It is written in Python and makes use of tKinter ("Tk interface"), the standard Python interface to the Tcl/Tk GUI tookit.

Requirements

eMovie runs on Mac OS X, Unix/Linux and Windows and requires PyMOL.

1. Install PyMOL - eMovie requires a recent version of PyMOL installed (preferably v0.99 or newer). PyMOL is an open-source molecular visualization program. We recommend sponsoring PyMOL for the latest builds in executable format, for incentive builds, and for quality support. For those unable or unwilling to sponsor the PyMOL project, there are free educational-use-only builds of PyMOL as well as freely available older builds (v0.99 and older). The latest PyMOL builds are also freely available as open-source code for those who wish to compile the code themselves.
2. Special requirement for Mac users - Use the hybrid X11 mode of MacPyMOL that includes the Plug-ins menu on its main drop-down menu bar. To get the hybrid X11 mode of MacPyMOL: Assuming that X11 is already installed, simply duplicate the MacPyMOL package and rename the application package as "PyMOLX11Hybrid".
3. For morphing - eMovie requires a special, subscription version of PyMOL called iPyMOL (incentive PyMOL) that includes the morphing module RigiMOL. This incentive version of PyMOL is only available to those who sponsor the PyMOL project. We have been recently alerted by a couple of eMovie users to the fact that eMovie's morph feature may not work with versions of iPyMOL other than version 0.99. We are looking into this compatibility issue, but for now, recommend using iPyMOL v0.99 for morphing.

Installing eMovie

1. Download eMovie (version 1.04):

   eMovie.py	This is the main eMovie file (this is all you need if you do not plan to create morphs).
   eMovie_rigimol.inp	This file is necessary if you are planning to create morphs.
   eMovie_package.zip	This package includes both eMovie.py and eMovie_rigimol.inp and will preserve their proper extensions. (If the above two files are giving you trouble, download this instead.)

   
   eMovie is released under the GNU General Public License (GPL) system.

2. Find the directory where you have PyMOL installed on your computer. (Make sure you have PyMOL and all X11 windows closed).

   • On Mac OS X, this directory is usually /Applications/PyMOLX11Hybrid.app/pymol (or /Applications/PyMOLX11Hybrid.app/ipymol/).
   • On Windows, this directory is usually /Program Files/DeLano Scientific/PyMOL/ (or /Program Files/DeLano Scientific/iPyMOL/).
   • On Linux, this directory is usually /usr/local/pymol/ (or /usr/local/ipymol/).

3. Put eMovie.py into the folder /pymol/modules/pmg_tk/startup (or /ipymol/modules/pmg_tk/startup). If these directories do not exist, try creating them.

4. To create morphs, eMovie_rigimol.inp needs to be in the current working directory of your open iPyMOL program. By default it is /ipymol/ (and NOT /ipymol/modules/pmg_tk/startup/) so we advise putting eMovie_rigimol.inp into the directory /ipymol/. Note that you may navigate away from the default working directory while using iPyMOL and thus must check/change your current working directory using the typed command window of iPyMOL ("PyMOL Tcl/Tk GUI") so that your current working directory matches the directory in which eMovie_rigimol.inp resides before creating a morph.

Usage

Now that you have eMovie installed, it should load automatically when you start PyMOL.

A basic understanding of PyMOL and its graphical user interface (GUI) is a prerequisite for eMovie use, however PyMOL and its GUI are relatively self-explanatory.

Movies in PyMOL are composed of individual frames (or images) over which eMovie inserts modular actions.

To insert an action using eMovie, a user generally chooses the type of action (e.g. a zoom) from the eMovie menu bar and fills in the asked parameters for the action (e.g. 30 angstroms distance to zoom, action beginning at frame 101, action spanning over 40 frames).

Viewing the storyboard displays each action that comprises the movie, and information about each action (type of action, starting and ending frame, and other pertinent information). The order in which the actions are listed in the storyboard is determined by the numbers of the start and end frames and not by the order in which they were inserted by the user into the movie. It is possible to execute two actions simultaneously (e.g. rotate and zoom) by specifying overlapping frame ranges for the two actions.

Resources that may aid you in the creation of movies using eMovie include the recommended workflow page (explains how to go about using eMovie), the detailed examples page (explains how the sample movies were made), the sample movies on the title page including the demonstrative video-capture of eMovie in use, and the eMovie paper in Trends in Biochemical Sciences (TiBS).

Warnings applicable to the current version:

1. There is no error checking - Be careful not to click 'OK' on any dialog box that has invalid or blank values as this could crash eMovie and you will lose your current movie if it has not been saved.
2. Scene changes occur quite smoothly and beautifully within PyMOL, but in exporting the movie to an image sequence, the scene change occurs faster than PyMOL can save the frames, and as a result the scene change may appear fast and choppy in the exported movie. Using a screen-video-capture program such as Snapz Pro X for the Mac can overcome this problem. Alternatively, using rotations and zooms instead of scene changes can overcome this problem.

Please send us movies you've made using eMovie! We would love to display them on this website.

And don't forget to cite eMovie!