3D Structure Viewer
The 3D viewer shows any molecule you have drawn as an interactive ball-and-stick model in a floating panel. The model is an idealized conformer generated from the 2D structure, so it gives a faithful sense of shape and geometry without being an experimental measurement. You can rotate it, recolor it to match your drawing, and capture it back onto the canvas as a picture.
Opening the viewer
- Click the 3D button in the action bar. Its tooltip reads “3D Structure”. The button toggles the panel open and closed.
- Or right-click an atom and choose View 3D structure. This scopes the view to the whole covalent molecule that atom belongs to.
A molecule is taken as a single connected unit through its covalent bonds. Hydrogen bonds and other dotted bonds do not merge separate molecules into one model. The panel shows the label Idealized conformer so the generated nature of the geometry is always clear.
If nothing is selected the panel asks you to select a molecule, and 3D is unavailable for generic groups (such as R or X) because their geometry is undefined.
Moving the model
Drag inside the panel to rotate the model, and use the mouse wheel to zoom. A control pad arranged as a three-by-three grid gives button equivalents: rotate up, down, left, and right; roll left and roll right; zoom in and out; and a center button that resets the view. The matching keyboard keys are the arrow keys, Q and E to roll, + and - to zoom, and Home to reset. Collapse the control pad with the toggle in the panel header.
The panel remembers its size, position, and collapsed state between sessions.
Element labels and colours
Element symbols appear as small chips over the atoms. They follow the atoms as you rotate, and a chip hides itself when a nearer atom passes in front of it, so labels never float over the wrong sphere. The labels button toggles them on and off.
Turn on Sync scheme to color the model with the canvas’s active element color scheme instead of the standard 3D colors. While it is on, a Match H and C colours option decides whether hydrogen and carbon also follow the scheme or keep their conventional white and grey.
You can also turn on Show net dipole to draw the molecule’s net dipole arrow over the model. See Net Dipole for what the arrow means.
Staying open while you work
The viewer is sticky: once a molecule is showing, it stays in the panel after you deselect it, and only changes when you select a different molecule. If the molecule on display is deleted, the view falls back to another molecule on the canvas. Editing a structure rebuilds its conformer; simply moving it on the canvas does not.
More than one molecule
When several molecules are present, they all appear in one scene, positioned to match their layout on the canvas. Each keeps its own idealized geometry while the spacing between them follows your drawing.
Capturing the view
The camera button (📷) in the panel header opens the Capture 3D view dialog. Its options are:
- Format: PNG (an exact render of what you see) or SVG (vector). PNG is the default.
- Resolution (PNG only): 1x standard, 2x HD, or 4x maximum. The estimated pixel size is shown. 2x HD is the default.
- Background: a color swatch, which can be set transparent. It starts from the viewer’s current background.
- Include element labels: matches whatever the viewer is currently showing.
- Destination: Insert on canvas (the default) or Save to file. Choosing save reveals a filename field.
Insert on canvas drops the current 3D orientation onto your drawing as a fully editable SVG, with shaded spheres and bonds, depth ordering, and the element labels and dipole arrow if they were on. From there it behaves like any other inserted graphic.
If 3D cannot load
The viewer relies on a 3D rendering library and the conformer generator. If either fails to load, for instance when you are offline, the panel says so and your 2D editing is unaffected. On the rare occasion a conformer cannot be generated for a structure, the viewer reports that too.