Mapping volumetric properties on molecular surfaces in real-time

A method for the fast generation of solid molecular surfaces is described. Based on a three dimensional grid, a template driven procedure generates the so called “contact surface”, also known as Connolly surface. The main advantages of this method are its good performance and that it directly generates continuously tessellated geometry. Texture mapping is a powerful computer graphics procedure, which can be used to visualize molecular properties on top of solid molecular surfaces. By using texture mapping, traditional color coding can be extended to multidimensional color coding, information filtering and property clipping. Three dimensional textures can be used for interactive color updates on a moving surface, representing the property of a surrounding static scalar field