Section: New Results

New rendering algorithm for secondary structures

Participants : Marc Aubert, Stephane Redon.

We developed a new algorithm for rendering secondary structures of proteins (Figure 11 ). The method relies on the determination of the most probable secondary structure elements (e.g. alpha helices and beta sheets) based on geometrical features of a protein. After construction of control points on the CPU, the method generates triangles directly on the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) through geometry shaders. The number of generated triangles may be adaptively chosen based on e.g. the camera distance and the desired resolution. The secondary structure algorithm and the rendering algorithm are both fast enough to allow for interactive modification of the protein (e.g. thanks to As-Rigid-As-Possible editing algorithms).

Figure 11. Protein secondary structure rendering on GPUs.