VMD User's Guide

Chapter 12Customizing VMD SessionsThere are a number of ways to change the behavior of VMD from the default settings, both in howthe program starts up and in how the program behaves during a session. This Chapter describesthe data files, command-line options, and environment variables which are used to customize aVMD session.These files control the initial appearance and behavior of VMD at the start, and may becustomized to suit each user’s particular tastes. Default versions of these files are placed in the VMDinstallation directory (On Unix this is usually /usr/local/lib/vmd, on Windows this defaults toC:\Program Files\University of Illinois\VMD ). Each user may specify their own versions ofsome of these files, but unless this is done the commands and values in the default files are used. Inthis way, an administrator may customize the default behavior of VMD for all users, while givingeach user the option to change the default behavior however they choose.Several configurable parameters may also be set in a number of ways, including use of commandlineoptions or environment variables. The order of precedence of these methods is as follows(highest precedence to lowest):1. Command-line options.2. Environment variable settings.3. Built-in defaults, as specified by compilation configurable parameters. These are used onlyif no other values are specified by the other methods mentioned in this list. The InstallationGuide describes how to change these default values when compiling VMD.12.1 VMD Command-Line OptionsWhen started, the following command-line options may be given to VMD. Note that if a commandlineoption does not start with a dash (-), and is not part of another option, it is assumed to be afilename, and its extension is matched to the extension registered by the proper plugin. Thus, theUnix commandvmd molecule.pdbwill start VMD and load a molecule from the file molecule.pdb, while the commandvmd molecule.psf molecule.dcd171