v2.5.3 for Blender 3.5.0+

Cryo-EM .map support

Along with several bug fixes and refactoring, the big news is that 2.5 brings support for import .map files for Cryo-EM maps 🥳

Because of this, MolecularNodes is only available with Blender 3.5 and above

This is thanks to Blender now shipping with pyopenvdb as part of the core library, and the addition of a new dependency mrcfile for reading the .map files themselves. Maps imported this way should align with corresponding PDB structures imported via other methods.

EM-specific Nodes

Only a couple of nodes have been created for dealing with EM density data so far. There is the choice of surface and wire as a representation by thresholding the density and generating mesh (which most users will be familiar with). As the density is imported as a volume, Blender sees it as smoke; thus, it can be shaded as an actual density.

Secondary Structure

With the updated biotite to 0.36.1, structures are now imported with a secondary structure attribute in the form of an integer, specifying if part of an alpha-helix, beta-sheet or looping / unstructured region. No nodes have been created to specifically take advantage of this data yet, but the field is available for users to get creative.

What's Changed

• Create qurto-publish.yml by @BradyAJohnston in #179
• Fix consistency in load_trajectory function call by @janash in #182
• Attribute secondary structure of proteins by @OLaprevote in #160
• Refactoring of package management and installation. by @YaoYinYing in #172
• Bring density up to date with main by @BradyAJohnston in #184
• intiial support for CryoEM .map import in Blender 3.5 by @BradyAJohnston in #164

New Contributors

• @janash made their first contribution in #182
• @OLaprevote made their first contribution in #160
• @alisterburt helped with code review in #164

Full Changelog: v2.4.3...v2.5.3