Technical Specifications

Integrated Structures Library

• Comprehensive materials library with ca. 1400 structures, grouped into "Hybrid Materials", "Inorganics" and "Organics" - and further sub-divided chemically and structurally.

• Direct access to Minerals: standard mineralogical classification into Silicates (organised structurally) and Non-Silicates (organised by chemical group) - as per Deer, Howie & Zussman.

• Navigational sidebar and "Go" menu.

• Browser interface with resizable structure thumbnails (animated for multi-structure documents) and folder notes.

• Optional list view; click column headers to sort.

• Optional "flat view": shows all folder and sub-folder contents.

• Additional Gallery of showcase materials.

Teaching Collection

• Atomic Radii: Periodic Tables of the Elements showing atomic, ionic, covalent, van-der-Waals radii.

• Lattice Types: Rotatable models of each of the 14 Bravais Lattices, plus Hexagonal/Rhombohedral comparison model.

• Lattice Defects: 3D models showing twins, polysynthetic twinning, edge & screw dislocations; dislocation loop; Frenkel, Schottky defects; stacking fault.

• Polyhedra: Coordination polyhedra found in typical crystals.

• Building Crystals: Self-guided tutorials introducing fundamentals of crystal chemistry. Each multi-structure document provides a unique tour of a key structure, building on concepts such as close-packing, interstices, polymerization and the use of structural motifs to represent coordination units or molecular groups and simplify visualization.

  1. Close Packing: Introduction to Close Packing; Hexagonal Close Packing; Cubic Close Packing.

  2. Filling Interstices: Introduction to Interstices; Wurtzite; Sphalerite; Halite; Olivine; Spinel; Hematite.

  3. Silicates: Introduction to Silicate Polymerization; Garnet; Pyroxene; Amphibole; Mica; Kaolinite; Feldspar; Quartz; Zeolite ZK5.

  4. Non Silicates: Calcite.

  5. New Materials: YBCO Superconductor; ZIF8.

• Crystal Chemistry: Crystallographic "Type Structures", organised by anion/cation ratios, e.g., "AB, AB2, AB2X4, etc.". Includes animated teaching models of cubic close packing, hexagonal close packing, diamond and graphite, etc.

• Quiz: Learn crystallography with these exercises on Lattice Types, Miller Indices and Basic Structure Types.

Selections

A selection of general-interest structures, cross-referenced from the main Structures Library, and arranged thematically.

• Health & Environment: Agriculture, Food, Medicines, Narcotics.

• High-Tech: Battery Materials, Hydrogen Storage, Semiconductors.

• Geology: Extraterrestrial, Gemstones, High-Pressure Crystals, Magnetic Materials, Ores.

• Topical: Asbestos, Chemical Weapons, Explosives, Pigments, Radioactive.

Powerful Search & Indexing

• Smart search.

• Search overrides: by location, filename, composition, keywords, notes.

• Searchable indexes of: Chemical Formulae, Structure Names, Minerals.

Interactive Viewer

• Spectacular "Retina" graphics.

• Instant 3D Stereo: in colour! Breathtaking "out-of-the-screen" visualization - customize depth and toggle between colour or greyscale modes.

• Multi-Touch rotation and scaling (plus mouse-, keyboard- and menu-driven commands).

• Measurement Mode: show atom info, bond distances and angles.

• Informative Notes and Crystallographic Summary (symmetry, cell parameters, density, etc.).

• Optional Legend, Scale Bar and Axes.

• Auto Rotation.

• Full-screen playback mode: watch sequences of rotating structures.

• Navigation controls: skip to previous or next file in the current folder, or click a File Strip thumbnail to jump to load its structure(s).

• Change model type: ball-and-stick, space-filling, wire frame, stick, polyhedral, ellipsoids (where relevant).

Animations

• Multi-structure documents include alternative views to highlight salient structural features: "see the wood for the trees" and understand fundamental building blocks.

• Self-running animations of phase transitions and structural behaviour.

• Use the Viewer's View Strip to rapidly "scrub" across an animation, or click on View Strip thumbnail to jump to that view.

Personalize

• Add your own structures by dragging-and-dropping documents and folders into the User Files collection.

• Add new folders, rearrange content, rename entries.

• Keep track of your recently-viewed structures.

• Favourite files.

• Preferences Panel lets you configure program and window settings.

Output

• Copy graphics

• Print

• Share images via Air Drop, Messages, Mail or Photos (Mac).

• Open any structure in CrystalMaker, CrystalDiffract and/or SingleCrystal.

• Export a list of the currently-displayed files and and contents of any subfolders.