Tutorial: Introduction to Molecular Animation
Tutorial hosted by RCSB PDB/Rutgers Institute for Quantitative Biomedicine | June 24, 2025
Interested in molecular animations but not sure how to get started? Learn how to create a simple storyboard and use theUCSF ChimeraX and other free resources to create simple animations of 3D protein structures available on RCSB.org.
The content of the video lecture provides a walk through the animation process from start to finish.
Users can also use the Full Animation Tutorial with the ChimeraX sessions provided below to recreate the example video used in the lecture.Course Objectives and Intended Audiences
After watching the videos in this course, you will be able to:
- Create a simplified storyboard
- Create a molecular morph using 2 PDB structures
- Highlight features of a 3D structure using animated transitions between multiple views
- Create labels and arrows
- Size your animation for different media
- Create scripts for animations
- Render out your animation as an .mp4 or .mov video
This course is intended for:
- Users with basic knowledge of UCSF Chimera wanting to create simple animations to enhance their presentations, websites, and social media
Additional Resources
- Full Animation Tutorial
- The tutorial provides step-by-step instructions with commands to create assets and animation scripts to recreate this'example video' shown in the lecture.
- The final section of the tutorial contains instructions for creating aGIF animation
- TheChimeraX sessions provide an entry point for each of the ChimeraX skills in the tutorial.
- Slides Used in the Video Lecture
- Commands Used in the Video Lecture
Course Videos
Click on the image below to play the video.
Agenda and Introduction to the Resources for the Tutorial
Maria Voigt
Senior Outreach Coordinator/Web Developer, RCSB PDB/Rutgers
Creating a Simplified Storyboard
Maria Voigt
Creating Assets for the Animation in ChimeraX
Maria Voigt
Scripting and Recording a Video in ChimeraX
Maria Voigt
About PDB-101
Researchers around the globe make 3D structures freely available from the Protein Data Bank (PDB) archive. PDB-101 training materials help graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and researchers use PDB data and RCSB PDB tools. Outreach content demonstrate how PDB data impact fundamental biology, biomedicine, bioengineering/biotechnology, and energy sciences in 3D by a multidisciplinary user community. Education Materials provide lessons and activities for teaching and learning.
PDB-101 is developed by theRCSB PDB.
RCSB PDB Core Operations are funded by theU.S. National Science Foundation (DBI-2321666), theUS Department of Energy (DE-SC0019749), and theNational Cancer Institute,National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, andNational Institute of General Medical Sciences of theNational Institutes of Health under grant R01GM157729.