Welcome to the CAChe Molecular Modeling Tutorials

Department of Chemistry

University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown

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Changing the Molecule Position

Task: Use the translate , rotate and zoom   to change the position of the molecule. 

Time: 4 minutes

  1. Begin with the cyclohexane molecule you built earlier. Open the cyclohexane molecule: File|Open "cyclohexane"
  2. Click on the Translate icon. The cursor turns into a hand.  If you click and drag the mouse, you can move the molecule around the screen.
  3. Click on the Rotate icon.  A circles appears in the center of the screen and the cursor turns into a curved arrow. If you click and drag the mouse, you can rotate the molecule.  If you drag inside the circle, you rotate the molecule around the X-Y axis.  If you drag outside the circle, you rotate the molecule around the Z axis.
  4. Click on the Zoom icon.  The cursor turns into a magnifying glass.  Click and drag the mouse up and down to zoom in or out.
  5. When you finish, you might want to reposition your molecule. There are a couple of key strokes you will find very handy.
    1. Press the the Control key and the F key simultaneously to "fit" the scale the structure and center it in the Workspace window.
    2. If only one atom is selected, Control / F the structure is centered around the selected atom.
    3. Pres i to return the molecule to the original scale and orientation.
  6. Click on the Select tool, , in your CAChe work space.

In the next lesson where you will learn how to select and change the Atom Attributes