Molden with OpenGL

In addition to the standard X-Windows version (executable molden), there is the mixed OpenGL / Xwindow version of molden (executable gmolden). Older versions of molden communicated with an external helper program moldenogl to generate OpenGL quality graphics. The communication was mediated by .ogl files. gmolden can read these files from the file manager. Although moldenogl is now obsolete it is still functional.

An addition to molden is the capability to view orbitals/density etc. with the OpenGL graphics library. This is accomplished via a helper program called moldenogl, this needs to be build separately (make moldenogl). You need to place this program in a directory which is in the default path, say /usr/local/bin. You can evoke it from the Xwindows interface under the icon in the density mode, option OpenGL.
Molden will write a file molden.ogl, which will be read by the helper program. If you want to save this file you will have to rename it before you choose OpenGL again. You can run 'moldenogl' standalone.


		  moldenogl file.ogl

This has been tested for Silicon Graphics and linux. The latter needs the MESA graphical library have a look at Mesa Home Page You may need to activate the 'LIBSG' line for your platform in the makefile for molden. You can built it by typing:


		  make moldenogl

HOW TO OPERATE MOLDENOGL

Use the mouse to rotate the scene, drag while holding down the left mouse button. Further commands:

		  Left Mouse button           - rotate
 		  Left Mouse button + Shift   - translate
		  Left Mouse button + Control - zoom in / out
		  Right Mouse button          - bring up options

                  One letter commands:

		  m                           - toggle molecule
		  x,y,z,X,Y,Z                 - move position of light

You can download the moldenogl for SGI here and moldenogl for linux here.
On windows95/98/nt the helper program is called MOGL, it is included in the latest PC version of molden.

You can download two example files for moldenogl here: example1 and example2

PS  On linux the mesa libraries are installed in the
    the directory /usr/local/lib. This may give the
    problem that moldenogl cant find these libraries,
    you can remedie this by either copying the libraries
    to /usr/lib, or setting the environment variable;
    LD_LIBRARY_PATH, in say /etc/csh.cshrc
    (setenv LD_LIBRARY_PATH "/usr/lib;/usr/local/lib")
    Older implementation of mesa use the library names libMesaGL and
    libMesaGLU instead of libGL and libGLU, if you use the moldenogl
    from the anonymous ftp site, you will have to create links for
    these library names to the actual libraries:

    In the directory where libMesaGL.so and libMesaGLU.so reside:

    ln -s libMesaGL.so libGL.so
    ln -s libMesaGLU.so libGLU.so

Mesa 2.5 and later includes Mark Kilgard's GLUT library (GL Utility Toolkit).
GLUT is built automatically on systems which support it.

if you have an older version you need to install it your self, have alook
at The 
GLUT home page

You can generate a .ogl file from a molden keyword file by use of the keyword OPENGL.