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How do I create high resolution images in RasMol...

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How do I create high resolution images in RasMol?

Unfortunately, raster images generated by RasMol are currently limited by the screen resolution (though this defficiency is actively being worked on). This means that images will generated at the resolution of about 72dpi (dots per inch) even though must printers (including colour printers) support resolutions of 300dpi, 450dpi or even 600dpi. This leads to jagged bitmap like printouts where the individual pixels are often visible.

The exception to the above rule is images produced in Vector Postscript format using the "write vectps" command. These output files have the advanatge of being generated at the printer's resolution, but the disadvantage of not supporting all of RasMol's representations.

One way to minimise the limitations of screen resolution is to expand or maximise the RasMol graphics window to the full size of the screen before generating an output file. This ensures that the image contains as much detail as possible. Another commonly used trick is post-process the image in a graphics package such as PhotoShop or "xv" to expand and then blur or smooth the images generated by RasMol.

See also the discussion on this topic in the RasMol FAQ by Martz.

As mentioned above RasMol's resolution limitations are currently being removed by four approaches:

  1. Support for high resolution output images (at x4 screen resolution).
  2. The ability to have large resolutions in UNIX command-line only mode.
  3. Vector PostScript support for all RasMol representations.
  4. Export of model file formats (including POV, Raster3D, DXF and VRML) to other rendering programs such as photo-realistic ray-tracers.

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