Main features of CrystalDesigner Main features of CrystalDesigner Built in crystal structure data - 230 space groups and over 700 covalent, ionic and metallic radii are built into the software.
User friendly input methods - The input fields for lattice parameters are adjusted for each crystal system. The program includes popup menus for selecting crystal systems, space groups, elements and lookup table for selecting a radius.
Import and export of crystal structure data - Crystal structure data can be imported and exported from/to text files in CIF format.
Multiple graph and crystal structure data application. For each crystal structure, multiple graph windows can be displayed. There is an active link between the crystal structure data and the graph windows. CrystalDesigner also allows several crystal structures to be open at the time.
Export of graphics - Graphics can be exported in PICT format.
Rendering options - The crystal structure may be displayed with parallel or perspective projection. Atoms, bonds and polyhedra may be displayed with; colour shading; single colour fill with black frame; white fill with colour frame; or as white fill with black frame. In addition it is possible to display the unit cell framework with or without label on the axes. The colour of the background can be freely chosen; it is also possible to turn off screen buffering to lower the memory requirements.
Atom display options - It is possible to change the relative size, colour and appearance of the atoms. The colour can be changed for each element or for each atom position. The relative size can be adjusted from 1 to 100 %. Individualy selected atoms can be hidden .
Bond display options - It is possible to change the relative size and colour of the bonds.
Coordination polyhedra - Several methods for calculating coordination polyhedra bonds are available.
Unit cell view - You can set the number of unit cells to be displayed in each crystal system direction. Real numbers are also allowed.
Plane view - It is possible to display all lattice planes of a (hkl) set. The boundary of the plane displayed is defined by the first octant. If the plane is parallel with any of the crystal system axes, you can define how many unit cells that should be included in the specific direction.
Coordination view - You may change the maximum variation in distance from the core atom to surrounding nearest neighbours. Alternatively you can change the radius within which the atoms are included.
Molecule view - Displays a molecule defined by the atom positions.
Rotation - The crystal structure may be rotated in any direction or around a fixed axis by dragging or by using the arrow keys. Alternatively you can set the view direction from a dialog box. The user may define the rotation centre.
Measurement - Distance, angle and torsion angles between atoms can be measured by selecting different atoms in the drawing.
Preference options- It is possible to change the default settings of: the graph windows, rendering options, rotation steps, element colours, element ratios, atom design, bond design, unit cell view parameters, plane view parameters and the coordination view parameters.
System requirements- The program requires System 7 or higher, 2.5 Mb available memory and a Macintosh with a 68020 CPU or higher.
Accelerated for Power Macintosh- Three different versions are available to take advantage of the different processor configurations on the Macintosh platform, including a version accelerated for Power Macintosh.
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