Utilities
FAQs
How easy is to install Biomovies?
Biomovies is not difficult to install, however, depending on the version of your operating system, there are some workarounds worth taking into account. See the documentation for installing in macOS, Windows and Ubuntu.
Which are the software / hardware requirements?
These are the recommended requirements:
- macOS: Mac OSX 10.12+ supported, 16GB of RAM recommended
- Linux: Ubuntu 18.04 or greater, 16GB of RAM recommended
- Windows: Windows 10, 16GB of RAM recommended
How to start a new project?
Please visit the Getting Started section of the documentation.
How to edit a movie?
Please visit the Video Editor section of the documentation. In this section, you will find exhaustive descriptions about all the sections of the editor, such as the Stage, the Timeline or the Representations.
How to export my own videos?
Please visit the Create Videos section of the documentation. In this section, there is a broad explanation about how to create a New Preview video, a New Movie and a New GIF.
Shortcuts
Home screen
| Feature | macOS | Ubuntu | Windows |
|---|---|---|---|
| About | |||
| Hide biomovies | ⌘H | ||
| Hide Others | ⌥⌘H | ||
| Quit biomovies | ⌘Q | Ctrl+Q | Ctrl+Q |
| Project | |||
| New Project | ⇧⌘N | Ctrl+Shift+N | Ctrl+Shift+N |
| New Project with Trajectory | ⇧⌘T | Ctrl+Shift+T | Ctrl+Shift+T |
| Open Project | ⇧⌘O | Ctrl+Shift+O | Ctrl+Shift+O |
| Import Template | ⇧⌘I | Ctrl+Alt+I | Ctrl+Alt+I |
| Help | |||
| Documentation | ⌘D | Ctrl+D | Ctrl+D |
Video Editor
| Feature | macOS | Ubuntu | Windows |
|---|---|---|---|
| About | |||
| Hide biomovies | ⌘H | ||
| Hide Others | ⌥⌘H | ||
| Quit biomovies | ⌘Q | Ctrl+Q | Ctrl+Q |
| Edit | |||
| Undo | ⌘Z | Ctrl+Z | Ctrl+Z |
| Redo | ⇧⌘Z | Ctrl+Shift+Z | Ctrl+Shift+Z |
| Cut | ⌘X | Ctrl+X | Ctrl+X |
| Copy | ⌘C | Ctrl+C | Ctrl+C |
| Paste | ⌘V | Ctrl+V | Ctrl+V |
| Project | |||
| Save Project | ⌘S | Ctrl+S | Ctrl+S |
| Save Project As | ⇧⌘S | Ctrl+Shift+S | Ctrl+Shift+S |
| Export Project As Template | ⇧⌘E | Ctrl+Shift+E | Ctrl+Shift+E |
| Close Project | ⌘W | Ctrl+W | Ctrl+W |
| View | |||
| Stage | ⌥⇧S | Alt+Shift+S | Alt+Shift+S |
| Timeline | ⌥⇧T | Alt+Shift+T | Alt+Shift+T |
| Representations | ⌥⇧R | Alt+Shift+R | Alt+Shift+R |
| Tools | ⌥⇧O | Alt+Shift+O | Alt+Shift+O |
| Status Bar | ⌥⇧B | Alt+Shift+B | Alt+Shift+B |
| Theme | ⌥⇧H | Alt+Shift+H | Alt+Shift+H |
| Timeline > New Item | |||
| Create New Clip | ⇧⌘C | Ctrl+Shift+C | Ctrl+Shift+C |
| Create New Cloned Clip | ⌥⌘C | Ctrl+Alt+C | Ctrl+Alt+C |
| Create New Transition | ⇧⌘T | Ctrl+Shift+T | Ctrl+Shift+T |
| Create New Fade In Transition | ⇧⌘I | Ctrl+Alt+I | Ctrl+Shift+I |
| Create New Fade Out Transition | ⇧⌘O | Ctrl+Shift+O | Ctrl+Shift+O |
| Create New Description | ⇧⌘D | Ctrl+Shift+D | Ctrl+Shift+D |
| Timeline > Controls | |||
| Reset Timeline | ⌥⌘R | Ctrl+Alt+R | Ctrl+Alt+R |
| Pan Mode | ⌥⌘A | Ctrl+Alt+A | Ctrl+Alt+A |
| Zoom Mode | ⌥⌘Z | Ctrl+Alt+Z | Ctrl+Alt+Z |
| Timeline > Keyframes Actions | |||
| Align to First | ⌥⌘⇧◄ | Ctrl+Left | Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Left |
| Align to Last | ⌥⌘⇧► | Ctrl+Right | Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Right |
| Select all Keyframes | ⇧⌘K | Ctrl+Shift+K | Ctrl+Shift+K |
| Associate transition to clip | ⇧⌘A | Ctrl+Shift+A | Ctrl+Shift+A |
| Move to Left | ⇧⌘◄ | Ctrl+Shift+Left | Ctrl+Shift+Left |
| Move to Right | ⇧⌘► | Ctrl+Shift+Right | Ctrl+Shift+Right |
| Timeline > Player | |||
| Go to First Frame | ⇧▲ | Shift+Up | Shift+Up |
| Go to Previous Frame | ⇧◄ | Shift+Left | Shift+Left |
| Play / Pause | ⇧P | Shift+P | Shift+P |
| Go to Next Frame | ⇧► | Shift+Right | Shift+Right |
| Go to Last Frame | ⇧▼ | Shift+Down | Shift+Down |
| Create Video | |||
| New Preview | ⌘P | Ctrl+P | Ctrl+P |
| New Movie | ⌘M | Ctrl+M | Ctrl+M |
| New GIF | ⌘G | Ctrl+G | Ctrl+G |
| Close Video Window | ⇧⌘W | Ctrl+Shift+W | Ctrl+Shift+W |
| Help | |||
| Documentation | ⌘D | Ctrl+D | Ctrl+D |
Specific Trajectory shortcuts
| Feature | macOS | Ubuntu | Windows |
|---|---|---|---|
| Decreases initial frame of trajectory | ⌥⌘1 | Ctrl+Alt+1 | Ctrl+Alt+1 |
| Increases initial frame of trajectory | ⌥⌘2 | Ctrl+Alt+2 | Ctrl+Alt+2 |
| Decreases final frame of trajectory | ⌥⌘3 | Ctrl+Alt+3 | Ctrl+Alt+3 |
| Increases final frame of trajectory | ⌥⌘4 | Ctrl+Alt+4 | Ctrl+Alt+4 |
Tips
In this section there is a summary of the Tips already explained in the rest of sections.
Stage mouse actions
Mouse drag / wheel
Actions of zoom in and zoom out can be done with the scroll mouse or the trackpad of a laptop, besides, rotation and translation can be applied as well:
Clicking on the stage with the left button and dragging will rotate the view.
Clicking on the stage with the right button and dragging will translate the view.
Mouse wheel (or using the trackpad with two fingers) on the stage will zoom in or zoom out.
Mouse over actions
Passing the mouse over the molecules of the structure will highlight them and show their information in the legend on the bottom right of the stage. Click here to see how to enable the legend.
Mouse click actions
Clicking with the mouse left button on an atom while pressing the Alt or ⌥ key will place a Label close to this atom. Click here to see how to edit labels.
Clicking consecutively on two atoms with the mouse left button will draw and calculate the distance in ångströms between these two atoms. Click here to see how to edit distances.
Clicking consecutively on three atoms with the mouse right button while pressing the Ctrl key will draw and calculate the angle in degrees between these three atoms. Click here to see how to edit angles.
Modify trajectory range
Apart from the obvious range slider, there are two more ways available in order to modify the trajectory range:
On the one hand, both of the numbers at the right top of the range are editable. Click on both of them in order to introduce the desired frame.
On the other hand, range values can be adjusted via keyboard with the following shortcuts:
⌘/Ctrl + ⌥/Alt + 1 decreases initial frame
⌘/Ctrl + ⌥/Alt + 2 increases initial frame
⌘/Ctrl + ⌥/Alt + 3 decreases final frame
⌘/Ctrl + ⌥/Alt + 4 increases final frame
Timeline
Select single clip in Timeline Editor
For selecting a clip, click with the left mouse button on the clip pressing Ctrl key (for any OS) at the same time. A clip can be selected as well just clicking and dragging over the Timeline Editor, but depending on the amount of clips or transitions and the selected zoom for the editor, it can be difficult to select only the desired clip.
Select clips / keyframes in Timeline Editor
Multiple clips / keyframes can be selected just clicking and dragging over the Timeline Editor.
Zoom
The Timeline Editor zoom can be applied just clicking Ctrl (any OS) and scrolling the mouse wheel.
Once the zoom mode is enabled via Timeline controls menu, the default zoom type is Zoom In. For doing Zoom Out, click ⌘/Ctrl.
Splitter
There is a splitter between the three main areas of the Video Editor. For changing the size of any of these areas, just put the mouse over one of the two splitters, click over it and drag the mouse.
Theming
At the moment of launching the current release, there are two themes available: Dark (default) and Light. For toggling between them, there are three options:
Click the Theme button on the status bar.
Via menu: View > Light / Dark Theme
Shortcut: ⌥/Alt + ⇧ + H
Show / hide Video Editor areas
All the areas of the Video Editor can be hidden totally (via menu or shorcut) or partially (via splitter) in case of the Stage, Representations and Timeline.
Show Stage
The Stage is the only area of the Video Editor that can’t be totally hidden, because it is the main area in the application.
For showing it occupying the whole application:
Via menu: View > Stage
Shortcut: ⌥/Alt + ⇧ + S
It can be partially hidden as well using the splitter.
Show / hide Timeline
For showing the Timeline (in case it is totally or partially hidden):
Via menu: View > Timeline
Shortcut: ⌥/Alt + ⇧ + T
It can be partially shown / hidden as well using the splitter.
Show / hide Representations
For showing the Representations (in case it is totally or partially hidden):
Via menu: View > Representations
Shortcut: ⌥/Alt + ⇧ + R
It can be partially shown / hidden as well using the splitter.
Show / hide Tools
For showing / hiding the Tools:
Via menu: View > Tools
Shortcut: ⌥/Alt + ⇧ + O
This menu is draggable around all the stage and can be collapsed / expanded by clicking twice on the handler.
Show / hide Status Bar
For showing / hiding the Status Bar:
Via menu: View > Status Bar
Shortcut: ⌥/Alt + ⇧ + B
Hide mouse when recording Preview Video or GIF
In macOS, the process of recording the screen captures the mouse as well, so though this is a preview video, if you don’t want to see the mouse in the video or animated GIF, it’s recommended to have it inside the Create GIF / Create Preview window. As the application only records the content of the main window, the mouse remains hidden in the render process.
Use Letterboxing for creating Movies
It is highly recommended to have the Letterboxing tool enabled during the process of generating a movie. After enabling it, two stripes will appear showing to the user which parts of the stage will be rendered and which not. In some cases (when the screen aspect ratio is 16:9) these stripes won’t appear.
Remember that the Letterboxing is useful only when recording a Movie, is not necessary for Previews or animated GIFs.