Ribbons Software Information 			page 1 of 2



        The "ribbons" software distribution package (the software) 
        for general molecular illustration and for error analysis
        in protein crystallography is copyrighted 1987-1997 by 
        Mike Carson (the author) and licensed through the University 
        of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Center for Macromolecular
        Crystallography (CMC).
	"Ribbons" interactively displays molecular models,
	analyzes crystallographic results, and creates publication quality images.


        The CMC's NASA grant encourages commercialization of our work.
        Thus we are selling the program.  Old unsupported (free) versions
	also exist.


	License Options include:

		No support.   Don't get the source code and don't ask me any
		    questions (read the manual).
		    Cost (academic):   $100   ( $0 for ACA members )
		Full support.   Get the source code and e-mail support 
		    for all your questions.
		    Cost (academic):   $300   ( $200 for ACA members )

	To receive "ribbons", FAX or US-mail the author the signed 
	"ribbons" license agreement, and make contact via E-mail.   
	A password for an FTP account will be issued.
	Hopefully we can conduct all business on the internet.



	Our licensed products:

	Ribbons 2.6  (for SGI workstations running IRIX 5.2 or higher)
	Ribbons 2.7  (for SGI workstations running IRIX 6.2 or higher)

	This is the current version of the popular, easy to use and robust 
	software package that has been distributed the last six years
	(See: "Ribbons 2.0" in J.Appl.Cryst. (1991) 24:958-961).
	"ribbons" is designed to display molecular models as rendered images.  
	The data required consist of atomic coordinates in Protein Data Bank 
	format and optional files of color-coding information.
	The program is coded in ANSI C using OpenGL for graphics and X/Motif
	for the window interface.


	   Features include:

	   *  Complete Online Manual in HTML format.

	   *  Display of multiple chains of proteins and/or nucleic acids;
	      interactive control of the style, size and texture of ribbon drawings.

	   *  Color coding by a wide variety of biological and geometrical
		properties, including our crystallographic error analysis,
		plus tools to add color coding from the output of "XPLOR" and "O".

	   *  Display of spheres (atoms), cylinders (bonds), and text;
	       interactive control of size, style, and color.

	   *  Display of triangular and dot surfaces;
	       interactive control of style, and color.

	   *  Interactive control over the material colors and the light sources.

	   *  Display of simple animation sequences.

	   *  Output of primitives for several ray-tracer formats,
		and in Inventor (VRML) format.

	   *  Full-screen antialiasing of for very high quality output images.



	Ribbons for DEC Alpha (UNIX)

		should work, if you have C/OpenGL/X/Motif.
		We pretty much had it going on a test machine here.
		Contact the author if interested.


	Ribbons 3.0/Ribbons++  (in the works)

	A version with all the capabilites of ribbons 2.6, plus
	lots of advanced graphics tricks and very high-quality PostScript
	output is partially ready.  This is written in C++ and uses the
	object-oriented IRIS Open Inventor 3-D toolkit.
	Anticipated by '97.   Full-support ribbons 
	licensees will get the executable version at no charge. 



	Protein Crystallographic Error Analysis:

	A suite of non-graphical programs for error analysis
	are available for a variety of machines, including VAXen.
	(see: "Error Detection in Crystallographic Models" in
        Acta Cryst.D (1994) 50:900-909).
	This package is supplied with "ribbons".





	Ribbons Software Information 			page 2 of 2




	Unlicensed Options include:

		No support whatsoever.   
		Software supplied as-is.  
		No questions answered.


	Our free software:


           Ribbons 2.40 (SGI version 2.4 compiled under IRIX 4.0.5)
 	   Ribbons 2.45 (SGI version 2.4 compiled under IRIX 5.2)

		These were the licensed versions until 1994.
		Should work fine on the right SGI machine.
		About 75% the capabilities of the present version.
		No online help, put a decent manual.


	   ESV Ribbons 2.2  (ESV ????)

		Converted to PEX through heroic efforts of Lily Yang at the UAB/CMC.
		Not as robust and very picky as to your exact ESV configuration.


	   IBM Ribbons 2.4  (IBM RS/6000)

		A conversion has been made by Mike Tung of NIST.
		I have never seen this one, but if you have this machine...


	The past and the future:

	The author first got involved with graphics trying to understand
	molecular dynamics simulations while working with Jan Hermans
	at UNC in the early '80s.  Much of the organization and style 
	is due to the historical baggage from working with E&S PS300s
        (ASCII files created and loaded on the PS300 for viewing or photography).
	The old BSribbon ('85) program was developed on a PS300.  
	This software has evolved over a long time into its present state.

	Much is planned for Ribbons++, primarily in the area of user
	interaction.   However, I'm also trying to do some science,
	with four other projects currently going on in crystallography and
	structure-based drug design.  All information is subject to change 
	without notice and should not be construed as a commitment 
	by the author or the UAB/CMC for further development and support.
	As long as I am here and healthy,  I shall continue to incrementally
	develop "ribbons" and offer assistance to its users.

	ps, I'm well-meaning but somewhat absent-minded.   If you don't
	get a response in a reasonable time, please get back to me.	-mike


        Mike Carson
        UAB/CMC
        July 12, 1997