[PyMOL] Export to COLLADA format

[Sampson, J. <Jar...@ny...>]

Hi all -

I'm working on generating some interactive 3D figures, and have found that PyMOL is able to write .obj and .wrl files, which is nice.  However, I would like to be able to use COLLADA (.dae) format.  I have found tools (MeshLab and Blender, for example) that can convert among various formats, but the process is somewhat convoluted and tedious, and so far I've been unable to replicate the lighting, view, and scale of the PyMOL session in the resulting scene entirely, and certainly not without without a lot of manual adjustment in these programs.

I don't know much about the internal data structures in PyMOL, but I wonder how complicated it would be to write a direct COLLADA exporter into PyMOL's save command (e.g. `save my_scene.dae`).  There is a module called pycollada that seems to be fairly well documented and might be useful.

In the meantime, I'd be interested in hearing about other solutions any of you may have worked out for converting .wrl files to .dae format, especially those that can be automated.  Thanks in advance.

Cheers,
Jared

--
Jared Sampson
Xiangpeng Kong Lab
NYU Langone Medical Center
550 First Ave MSB 398
New York, NY 10016
212-263-7898
http://kong.med.nyu.edu/