Some comments on the new version of VNL

[ziand]

Hallo,

I am testing the new version 11.2 of VNL (on WinXP) and have to say:
1.) It is nice to have some bonds between the atoms now.
2.) Maybe because of those bonds, the 3D output (e.g. rotating a molecule around) is very slow on my notebook, while it was quite fast at the previous versions.
3.) There could be an option to turn down the graphics quality for the purpose of previewing and playing with big structures (I know I should use a reasonable GPU anyway...)
4.) I could not find any way to totally hide the electrodes in a two-probe setup:
     a) If I uncheck Bond->Visible, only the central region bonds disappear
     b) If I uncheck Electrode1->Bulk config.->Visible, only the electrode atoms disappear but the bonds stay
     --> To summarize: I can not find a way to change the visual properties of the electrode bonds (Plots->Properties->Bonds should change the visual properties of all bonds)
5.) I have a custom builder. When I set the central region of my two-probe-setup invisible and change some parameter of the setup, it happens sometimes that the hidden atoms get visible automatically. I do not know why someone wants to hide the central region, but anyway, I would classify this behaviour as a bug.
6.) I personally would like the following feature: A small menu or whatever, where you can change the view in a controlled way (not only be dragging the mouse). Like turning the camera around a given axis by a user specified number of degrees (while keep looking at the molecule), or shifting the view along a given axis by a given distance. In principle it would be nice to be able to do everything that you can do with the mouse, also from within some menu.

Kind regards,
ziand

[Anders Blom]

Thanks a lot for the feedback.

1. Yes - but:
2. Correct. Graphics performance could be better, we know. We are already planning to make some rather big changes to the 3D framework, but results may not be seen until the winter.
3. I recommend setting bonds to "lines", that reduces the load quite a bit (and looks quite nice, actually, esp. for bulk materials).
4. Ok, we'll take this into account for 11.8, thanks.
5. Probably not sometimes, but always, even? The Custom Builder makes a full "reset" of the view when a parameter is changed. It's not a bug, because it's supposed to behave this way, but I can agree it's a bit annoying, so probably it will change (soon)
6. Me too! And it will be implemented. Can't say when, however, we are quite busy for 11.8 already.

Feedback like this is important, so please keep it coming!