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PyMOL

Example of some molecular editing features of PyMOL, dihedral bond rotation and interactive molecular relaxation with "Sculpting mode", these are useful features for preparation of input geometry for quantum chemistry software

PyMOL is an open-source, user-sponsored, molecular visualization system created by Warren Lyford DeLano and commercialized by DeLano Scientific LLC, which is a private software company dedicated to creating useful tools that become universally accessible to scientific and educational communities. It is well suited to producing high quality 3D images of small molecules and biological macromolecules such as proteins. According to the author, almost a quarter of all published images of 3D protein structures in the scientific literature were made using PyMOL.

PyMOL is one of few open source visualization tools available for use in structural biology. The Py portion of the software's name refers to the fact that it extends, and is extensible by the Python programming language.

Non-free binaries

On August 1, 2006, DeLano Scientific adopted a controlled-access download system for precompiled PyMOL builds (including betas) distributed by the company. Access to these executables is now limited to paying customers but is free for students and teachers. However, current source code continues to be available at no cost, as are older precompiled builds. While the build systems for other platforms are open, the win32 build system is not. Non-students and teachers can either compile an executable from the source code or pay for a subscription to the support services to obtain access to pre-compiled executables.