Tool: Scale Bar
Scale Bar draws a horizontal bar to show the length scale of objects
in the graphics window.
A text label is not included, but can be added with the
2dlabels command.
See also:
Color Key,
making images
The Scale Bar dialog can be opened from the Depiction
section of the Tools menu and manipulated like other panels
(more...).
It is also implemented as the command
scalebar.
All settings can be edited interactively:
- Show scalebar – whether to display the scale bar
- Length
– scale bar length in physical units of distance
(typically Å) based on the pixel-to-length
correspondence at the center of rotation.
The length in pixels will automatically adjust for changes in zoom.
In perspective projection, objects appear progressively larger in the front
and smaller in the back; for a constant relationship of pixels to length
at all depths, use orthographic projection instead
(command camera ortho).
- Color – scale bar color
(click the square color well to use the system color editor)
- X and Y
– position of the scale bar's lower-left corner expressed in fractional
coordinates 0.0-1.0, where 1.0 represents the full width (X) or height (Y)
of the graphics window
and 1.0,1.0 its top right corner.
Alternatively, the scale bar can be repositioned by dragging
with the move label
mouse mode
.
- Thickness (pixels)
– scale bar height in pixels
The scale bar is a 2D object (no depth, cannot be moved forward/backward)
and is simply drawn on top of the view, like
2D labels.
It is created as a 2D labels submodel that can be controlled with
the Model Panel and
general commands such as close and
show/hide.
UCSF Resource for Biocomputing, Visualization, and Informatics /
July 2021