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How to use the viewer

Each question has one place:

• What's in the model, and how is it drawn? The left panel: atoms and each kind of interstitial site, repeated cells and hidden atoms; then hard spheres or sparse, clipping to the unit cell, opacity, polyhedra, labels and camera views. Teaching tasks to try are at the bottom.
• What does a click do? The tool bar above the model. Exactly one tool is active, and its options appear right under it:
  • Select (S): click an atom or site to inspect it; Shift+click selects several.
  • Neighbors (N): click any atom or site to see what surrounds it. Solo hides everything else.
  • Hide (H): click an atom to hide it; click its outline to bring it back. Or hide all corner, face… atoms at once.
  • Plane (P): choose or add a plane (h k l), then show a Section or a Cutaway. ↑ / ↓ move the plane.
• What did I find? The Inspector on the right: what you clicked, with actions; the directions, planes and points you've added; and the structure's facts.

Selecting 2 objects offers the direction between them, 3 the plane through them. Nothing is added until you choose it.

Keys: S, N, H, P switch tools; Esc goes back to Select; ⌘Z / Ctrl+Z undoes and ⇧⌘Z / Ctrl+Y redoes. Drag the model to rotate it, scroll or pinch to zoom; clicking the same spot again picks the next object behind it.

The page address always describes the current setup, so it can be shared as a link.

Credit: Aaron M. Geller (Northwestern IT) and Jonathan Emery (Northwestern Materials Science and Engineering). The original version is still available.