BALL and BALLView 1.2 released

We are happy to announce the release of BALL 1.2 and BALLView 1.2.

The new version of BALL and BALLView provide numerous new features. The release notes provide more detailed information on changes and additions; here, we will only highlight a few new features:

BALLView

• Integrated molecule editor
• Volume rendering for electrostaticsm, projection onto planes, field lines
• Improved cartoon and ribbon models, non-photorealistic shading (toon shader)
• Off-screen rendering
• Toolbars for quick access to important functionality
• Numerous improvements to the interface
• Merck Molecular Force Field (MMFF 94)
• Automated download of structures from PDB and PubChem

BALL

• Protein-protein docking code based on Fourier correlation (requires FFTW library)
• MMFF94 force field
• Small molecule database interface (FORMAT/DBInterface) allows the storage and retrieval of small molecules and their conformations in a relational database
• A SMARTS matcher
• Kekulizer algorithm for aromatic structures
• Support for Dunbrack's backbone-dependent rotamer libraries

General things

• Autobuild script allows much simpler installation of BALL
• Support for PowerPC architecture (Linux)

As usual, you can download the latest version in the downloads section of our Website (www.ball-project.org)

Enjoy the new version and let us know what you think of it!

The BALL Team