Real-time rendering of solvent-accessible surfaces for molecular models

In molecular modeling, it is quite useful to exercise real-time rendering of solvent-accessible surfaces for three dimensional models. The real-time rendering helps researchers in analyzing three dimensional structures and behaviors of molecular simulations. The researchers can determine whether critical parts of molecular models are correctly visualized and properly combined at right locations. However, it is quite difficult to render solvent-accessible surfaces in real-time using conventional molecular modeling tools. It is because the surfaces are visualized as isosurfaces which express chemical information and three dimensional positions. In this paper, we propose a method which facilitates real-time rendering of solvent-accessible surfaces for three dimensional molecular models. We evaluated real-time interactivity of our method with molecular models. Therefore, researchers can observe and manipulate solvent-accessible surfaces of three dimensional molecular models in real-time.