Quick Start
Command Line Usage
View a Single Structure
This opens your default browser with an interactive 3D viewer.
View a Trajectory
# View all frames
aseview trajectory.xyz
# View specific frames
aseview trajectory.xyz -i 0:10 # First 10 frames
aseview trajectory.xyz -i -1 # Last frame only
aseview trajectory.xyz -i ::2 # Every 2nd frame
Compare Structures (Overlay)
# Overlay multiple files
aseview reactant.xyz product.xyz
# Overlay with colormap
aseview trajectory.xyz -v overlay --cmap viridis
Normal Mode Visualization
# With ORCA Hessian file
aseview molecule.xyz --hess orca.hess
# With VASP OUTCAR
aseview POSCAR --hess OUTCAR
Python API Usage
In Jupyter Notebook
from ase.io import read
from aseview import MolecularViewer
# Load structure
atoms = read("molecule.xyz")
# Create and display viewer
viewer = MolecularViewer(atoms)
viewer.show()
Lightweight view() Helper
from ase.io import read
from aseview import view
atoms = read("molecule.xyz")
viewer = view(atoms, styles="cinematic", center=True, width=500, height=420)
See the Lightweight view() example for an embedded HTML preview and the full option list.
Save as HTML
Customize Appearance
viewer = MolecularViewer(
atoms,
style="neon",
atomSize=0.5,
bondThickness=0.15,
backgroundColor="#000000"
)
viewer.show()
Choose a Theme
Themes control the full look and feel of the viewer (colours, background, UI style):
import aseview
# Per-viewer
viewer = aseview.MolecularViewer(atoms, theme='spring')
viewer = aseview.MolecularViewer(atoms, theme='glass')
# Global — affects all subsequent viewers
aseview.set_theme('spring')
viewer = aseview.MolecularViewer(atoms) # uses spring
# List available themes
print(aseview.list_themes()) # ['dark', 'darkgreen', 'glass', 'simple', 'spring']
CLI:
See the Theming guide for the full API and how to create custom themes.
SSH Remote Usage
When running on a remote server: