Bond Create

Set here the bond visual representation.

Style

The Style option menu controls the bond visual representation: with cylinders in Solid mode, with simple lines in Wired mode. By default, the Wired mode is used. To change the default select Bond->Config.

The cylinder gives a high visual quality, when coupled with lights and perhaps a perspective projection. A cylinder uses considerable screen space though and is time consuming.

Wired objects do not have a 3D representation, so diffuse and specular lights are not reflected, becoming poorly invisible when using lights, unless the ambient component is important.

Size

In Solid mode, this parameter controls the size of the bond cylinders. Combining bond Size with atom Variancy and Size, it is possible to obtain a wide range of styles to represent atomic structures.

The default is to represent atoms with a Size (0.8) slightly larger than bonds (0.5). To change the default select Bond->Config. An elegant style is to represent bonds with the same Size as atoms (0.5). To guarantee that bond cylinders are closed by atom spheres, bond Size should not be larger than atom Size.

Color

The Color button controls whether the bond is represented with its own, independent color, or inherits the colors of the parent atoms. By default colors are inherited. To change the default select Bond->Config.

R, G, B

Set the bond color, from black (0.0, 0.0, 0.0) to white (1.0, 1.0, 1.0), when the bond is rendered with its own, independent, color.

Scale

Set the bond size, including its child objects. Bond objects are scaled around the bond line. The visual representation of an object is always scaled by its own scale factor multiplied by the scale factor of all its parent objects until layer, inclusive.

Line widths in GAMGI are not affected by Scale attributes, so bonds represented in Wired mode remain unchanged by Scale (but not its child!).

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