mmterm (Rust)

A terminal-based viewer for PDB protein structures, implemented in Rust. This is a port of the original mmterm Python tool by jgreener64.

It uses Braille characters to render 3D protein structures directly in your terminal.

Features

• Terminal Rendering: View protein structures in any terminal that supports Unicode (Braille patterns).
• Interactive Controls: Rotate, translate, and zoom the structure using keyboard shortcuts.
• Multiple Formats: Supports .pdb and .mmcif (and .cif) files.
• Filtering: Select specific chains or models to view.
• Performance: Written in Rust for efficiency.

Installation

From Source

Ensure you have Rust and Cargo installed.

cargo install --git https://github.com/mogura-rs/mmterm-rs

This will install the mmterm binary to your Cargo bin directory (usually ~/.cargo/bin).

Usage

mmterm <pdb_file> [options]

Options

Option	Short	Description	Default
--size	-s	Size of the viewing box (10-400)	100.0
--model	-m	Initial model to show (1-based)	1
--chain	-c	Filter to show only a specific chain ID	(All)
--format	-f	Force input format (pdb, mmcif)	(Auto)
--help	-h	Show help message

Examples

View a file:

mmterm 1CRN.pdb

View only chain A:

mmterm 1CRN.pdb -c A

Force mmCIF format:

mmterm structure.cif -f mmcif

Controls

Key	Action
W / A / S / D	Rotate the structure
T / F / G / H	Translate (move) the view
I / O	Zoom In / Out
U	Toggle Auto-Spin
P	Cycle through Models (if multiple exist)
Q / Esc	Quit

References & Credits

• Original Implementation: mmterm by Joe Greener.
• PDB Parsing: Uses the pdbtbx crate.
• TUI/Input: Uses crossterm.
• Math: Uses glam for 3D transformations.

License

MIT