This image demonstrates the Alexandra Institutes real-time molecular visualization application written using OpenGL and GLSL. The video features three distinct visualizations: Stick-and-ball, Connolly surface and density plot. The application renders the molecule using image-based lighting combined with depth-of-field. Ambient occlusion and fog is further used to enhance the perception of depth. The Connolly surface can be dynamically recreated when changing the orbital or probe radius. When recreating the Connolly surface the ambient occlusion is dynamically updated. The density plot, which features five separate density fields, is composited onto the rasterized geometry using raymarching.<br />
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The project was done as part of a research project funded by &quot;Animation Hub&quot;.<br />
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You can find a video showcasing the application along with our other work at:<br />
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Main blog page:<br />
http://cg.alexandra.dk<br />
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Project blog post:<br />
http://cg.alexandra.dk/2012/09/12/molecular-visualization-using-opengl-glsl/<br />
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Click here to view the iotd

WOW! For my bEng IT project, I actually extended a Volume raycaster (http://www2.imm.dtu.dk/~janba/VoxelRay/main.html) with a few features, but although it ended up looking rather good, it doesn't match this. Also, at those resolutions it would've been a slideshow, even on my decent hardware.

-What sort of framerates are you getting in the density plot mode? (I'm assuming you also use a glsl volume raycaster there)

Thank you both.

We are getting quite good framerates - full HD 128^3 datasets at 100+ fps with all effects active on a 470GTX.

Yes - we are using a GLSL raycaster.