Why Patinae
Built for the next 25 years
Its roots are in PyMOL, but Patinae has grown into an
independent engine of its own — built in a language
designed for performance and safety.
⚡
WebGPU rendering
Modern wgpu backend with GPU impostor shaders for
spheres and cylinders, multi-directional shadow
mapping, and multi-light Phong shading.
🔒
Memory-safe by design
Rust's ownership model guarantees correctness at
compile time. No buffer overflows, no segfaults, no
use-after-free.
🐍
Python API via PyO3
The familiar cmd.* interface, custom
commands via cmd.extend(), script
execution. Drop-in compatibility for existing
workflows.
📦
Modular crates
Independent crates for every component. Use just the
selection parser, or the file readers, or the full
GUI. No monolith.
🗂️
Format support
PDB, mmCIF, bCIF, MOL2, SDF, XYZ, GRO — and PyMOL
session files (.pse). Load structures from any
source.
🎯
Full selection language
Boolean algebra, distance operators, expansion
operators, numeric comparisons, slash-macro syntax.
Full PyMOL compatibility.
🧩
Plugin system
Dynamic native Rust plugins (dylib/cdylib), IPC
server, and embedded Python via PyO3. Extend the
viewer your way.
🔬
Structural analysis
Kabsch alignment, CE structural alignment, symmetry
detection, SVD decomposition — built-in, not bolted
on.
🖥️
Cross-platform
macOS, Linux, Windows. A native Slint desktop app
with docked panels, sequence and movie views, and
REPL — that looks native everywhere.
🧪
Molecular mechanics
A dedicated patinae-mm engine: GROMACS
force fields (Amber19SB, CHARMM27, OPLS-AA), energy
evaluation, minimization, hydrogens, mutations,
rotamers, and scoring.
💎
GPU-native ray tracing
The ray command traces renderer-owned
GPU artifacts with the BVH built on the GPU. Large
scenes stay resident instead of streaming through the
CPU.
📊
Renderer memory profiles
Auto, performance, balanced, lite, and
manual:<MiB> policies with
budget-aware planning — so constrained and integrated
GPUs scale down deliberately, not mysteriously.
