This script cycles through the physical systems in a Collection Document (XOD), switching the visibility of each physical system on and off. I combine it with screen capture tools to make videos that cannot easily be animated in a single trajectory document (ie cross-linking where the bonding changes, or processes where molecules are added or deleted).

It can also be used to show lots of different molecules in quick succession (eg for a QSAR dataset visual).

A limitation of this is that all the physical systems need to be held in a single Collection Document and this can use a significant amount of memory.

You should use the Script library to execute this and it needs to be run on client only. I have included the xml configuration for the User Menu.

The default mode is to play from the first physical system to the last, showing and hiding each physical system. You can also record it going from last to first (play backwards) or keeping the first frame visible (useful if you have a fixed structure and just want to show the parts that vary - minimizing memory requirements again!).

To use:

• Import XODCycleV3.pl into a Materials Studio project

• Open Tools | Scripting | Library and add it to your My Favorites library

• In the User Menu tab of the same dialog, click Import and select “XODCycleV3.xml” in the file browser

With the collection document in focus, select User | Visualization | XODCycle to open the user interface, choose your settings and run.