The Selection Inspector lists certain attributes of the currently selected items and allows their values to be changed. The Selection Inspector can be opened:

• with Actions... Inspect in the menu
• by clicking the magnifying glass icon in the status line
• by choosing Inspect from the context menu obtained by double-picking an atom, bond, or pseudobond (that is, doubleclicking with the button assigned to picking)

Items available for inspection:

• Atom
• Bond
• Residue
• Molecule model
• Pseudobond
• Pseudobond group
• MSMS surface
• Surface piece
• Surface

The descriptions in the Selection Inspector are not necessarily the same as the attribute names. If the selection includes multiple items of the same type and their attribute values vary, “-- multiple --” or “ >1” will be reported for the attribute.

• atom style - atom draw mode
  • dot
  • ball
  • endcap
  • sphere
• color (a color well) - color at the atom level; see coloring hierarchy
• displayed - whether display is enabled at the atom level (see display hierarchy)
  • false
  • true
• IDATM type - atom type (currently shown in gray and cannot be changed)
• label - a text label for the atom. If the atom label was shown using the menu or the label command, standard information (such as atom name) will be shown in this field, but can be replaced arbitrarily; however, showing the atom label again with the menu or label will restore the standard information.
• label color (a color well) - if an atom label has no color of its own, it will inherit the color of its associated atom; see coloring hierarchy
• radius - radius in Å used when the draw mode is sphere; initially set to an approximate VDW radius
• surface color (a color well) - atom-level surface color; see coloring hierarchy
• surface displayed - whether surface display is enabled at the atom level (see display hierarchy)
  • false
  • true
• surface opacity - atom-level surface opacity, ranging from 0 (completely transparent) to 1 (completely opaque); a negative value indicates that the opacity included in the definition of the atom-level surface color(s) should be used instead

• bond style - bond draw mode
  • wire
  • stick
• color (a color well) - color at the individual bond level (see coloring hierarchy); can also be controlled with the command bondcolor. Note that the color assigned to the bond will only be visible when halfbond mode is off; when halfbond mode is on, the color of each half of the bond matches the visible color of the flanking atom.
• displayed - whether display is enabled at the individual bond level (see display hierarchy); can also be controlled with the command bonddisplay
  • true
  • false
  • if atoms shown (displayed only when both flanking atoms are displayed)
• halfbond mode - whether the two halves of a bond are handled as separate entities; when halfbond mode is on, the color of each halfbond matches that of the attached atom (can also be controlled with the command bondcolor).
  • on
  • off
• label - an arbitrary text label for the bond
• label color (a color well) - if a label has no color of its own, it will inherit the color of its associated bond; see coloring hierarchy
• radius - value to be multiplied by the molecule model stick scale to generate stick radius in Å (only applies to bonds in the stick draw mode)

• chi1 angle - protein/peptide sidechain χ₁ dihedral angle
• chi2 angle - protein/peptide sidechain χ₂ dihedral angle
• chi3 angle - protein/peptide sidechain χ₃ dihedral angle
• chi4 angle - protein/peptide sidechain χ₄ dihedral angle
• filled ring display - whether to fill rings (applies only to rings of up to 6 members; see also fillring)
  • false
  • true
• filled ring style (see also fillring)
  • thin
  • thick - track the thickness of the surrounding bonds
• in helix
  • false
  • true
• in strand
  • false
  • true
• label - a text label for the residue. If the residue label was shown using the menu or the rlabel command, standard information (such as residue name and number) will be shown in this field, but can be replaced arbitrarily; however, showing the residue label again with the menu or rlabel will restore the standard information.
• label color (a color well) - if a residue label has no color of its own, it will inherit the model color; see coloring hierarchy
• phi angle - protein/peptide backbone φ dihedral angle (C_i-1-N-CA-C)
• psi angle - protein/peptide backbone ψ dihedral angle (N-CA-C-N_i+1)
• ribbon color (a color well) - residue-level ribbon color; see coloring hierarchy
• ribbon cross section - ribbon style (see also ribrepr)
  • edged
  • flat
  • rounded
  • supersmooth
    (any additional styles created and named with the Ribbon Style Editor will also be listed)
• ribbon display - whether ribbon is shown; ribbons are only drawn for proteins and nucleic acids. Protein secondary structure assignments are taken from the input structure file or generated with ksdssp.
  • off
  • on
• ribbon scaling - ribbon scaling (see also ribscale)
  • Chimera default
  • licorice
    (any additional scalings created and named with the Ribbon Style Editor will also be listed)

• active - whether the model is activated for motion
  • false
  • true
• aromatic color (a color well) - color of aromaticity displays; No Color indicates matching the corresponding atoms
• aromatic display - whether to show aromaticity of displayed aromatic rings (see also the command aromatic)
  • false
  • true
• aromatic line style - line style of circles drawn to indicate aromaticity:
  • –––
  • – –
  • ·  ·
  • – ·
  • – ··
• aromatic ring style - style of aromaticity display (see also the command aromatic)
  • circle
  • disk
• auto-chaining - whether to connect atoms that precede and follow undisplayed segments (whether to draw pseudobonds between them)
  • off
  • on
• ball scale - scale factor for atoms in the ball draw mode. The ball scale is multiplied by individual atom VDW radii to generate ball radii in Å.
• color (a color well) - color at the model level; see coloring hierarchy
• displayed - whether display is enabled at the model level (see display hierarchy)
  • false
  • true
• line style - how to show bonds in the wire draw mode:
  • –––
  • – –
  • ·  ·
  • – ·
  • – ··
• line width - pixel width of lines depicting bonds (when in the wire draw mode)
• residue label positioning - which method is used to compute residue label position (see rlabel for more details):
  • centroid - geometric center of displayed atoms
  • centroid of backbone - geometric center of displayed backbone atoms, as defined by ribbon residue class (geometric center of displayed atoms for residues without a residue class)
  • primary atom - adjacent to the primary atom, generally CA in an amino acid, C5' in a nucleotide, the first nonhydrogen atom in residues of other types
• ribbon (cardinal) smoothing - whether to perform additional smoothing of cardinal spline ribbon, and if so, for which types of secondary structure
  • none
  • strand (peptide/protein strand)
  • coil (peptide/protein nonhelix, nonstrand; nucleic acid)
  • both (strand and coil)
• ribbon (cardinal) stiffness - “resistance” to changes in the path direction of cardinal spline ribbon (range 0.0-1.0)
• ribbon hides backbone atoms - whether showing ribbon for residues within the model hides backbone atoms for those residues (see the command ribbackbone for details)
  • false
  • true
• ribbon inside color (a color well) - if assigned, this color will be used for the insides of all protein helix ribbon segments in the model regardless of how the rest of the ribbon is colored; No Color restores the default behavior of matching interior and exterior
• ribbon spline - method used to determine ribbon path (see also the command ribspline)
  • B-spline - path smoothed over five successive residues, may not coincide exactly with any mainchain atoms
  • cardinal - path smoothed over four successive residues, follows guide atom positions exactly unless additional smoothing is applied
• silhouette - per-model setting for silhouettes, outlines that emphasize borders and discontinuities; the silhouettes will only be shown when the global setting is also true
• stick scale - scale factor for bonds in the stick draw mode. The stick scale is multiplied by individual bond radii (default 0.2 Å) to generate stick radii in Å. Changing stick scale is preferable to changing all of the bond radii in a model, because the former will also scale singleton atoms in the endcap draw mode appropriately. Either way, the other endcap atoms (those participating in bonds) will be scaled to match the thickest of the attached bonds.
• surface color (a color well) - model-level surface color; see coloring hierarchy
• surface opacity - model-level surface opacity, ranging from 0 (completely transparent) to 1 (completely opaque); a negative value indicates that the opacity included in the definition of the model-level surface color should be used instead
• vdw density - relative density of dots used in any VDW surfaces (as with the command vdwdensity)
• vdw dot size - pixel size of dots in any VDW surfaces

• bond style - pseudobond draw mode
  • wire
  • stick
  • spring
• color (a color well) - color at the individual pseudobond level; see coloring hierarchy. Note that the color assigned to the pseudobond will only be visible when halfbond mode is off; when halfbond mode is on, pseudobond color comes from the flanking atoms.
• displayed - whether display is enabled at the individual pseudobond level (see display hierarchy)
  • true
  • false
  • if atoms shown (displayed only when both flanking atoms are displayed)
• halfbond mode - whether the two halves of a pseudobond are handled as separate entities; when halfbond mode is on, the color of each halfbond matches that of the attached atom (except if the bond style is spring, one atom's color is used for the whole pseudobond)
  • on
  • off
• label - text label for the pseudobond; if the pseudobond is a distance monitor, this label reports the distance. Label text can also be assigned when a pseudobond is created with PseudoBond Reader.
• label color (a color well) - if a label has no color of its own, it will inherit the color of its associated pseudobond; see coloring hierarchy
• radius - value to be multiplied by the pseudobond group stick scale to generate stick radius in Å (only applies to pseudobonds in the stick draw mode)

• category - name of the pseudobond group
• color (a color well) - color at the pseudobond group level; see coloring hierarchy
• displayed - whether display is enabled at the pseudobond group level (see display hierarchy)
  • false
  • true
• line style - how to show pseudobonds in the wire draw mode:
  • –––
  • – –
  • ·  ·
  • – ·
  • – ··
• line width - pixel width of pseudobonds in the wire draw mode
• stick scale - scale factor for pseudobonds in the stick draw mode. The stick scale is multiplied by individual pseudobond radii (default 0.2 Å) to generate stick radii in Å.

• active - whether the model is activated for motion
  • false
  • true
• color source - whether the surface color reflects the color at the model or atom level (see coloring hierarchy). When surface color is set independent of these levels, unknown is reported. This occurs when the surface is custom-colored, for example with Surface Color.
  • model
  • atoms
  • unknown
• displayed - whether surface display is enabled at the model level (see display hierarchy)
  • false
  • true
• dot size - pixel size of dots used in the dot surface representation
• line width - pixel width of lines used in the mesh surface representation
• pieces - number of surface pieces (independently selectable subparts) in the model
• probe radius - radius in Å of the probe sphere used to compute the surface. A larger probe decreases surface bumpiness because it fits into fewer crevices. A radius of 1.4 Å is commonly used to approximate a water molecule.
• representation - which type of surface representation is being used
  • solid
  • mesh
  • dots
• selectable with mouse - whether the surface piece(s) comprising the model can be picked with the mouse
  • false
  • true
• show disjoint surfaces - whether to check for multiple disjoint surfaces rather than assuming there is only one (increases calculation time)
  • false
  • true
• silhouette - per-model setting for silhouettes, outlines that emphasize borders and discontinuities; the silhouettes will only be shown when the global setting is also true
• triangles - number of triangles in the surface model
• vertex density - vertices per Ų used to compute the surface. Greater density results in a smoother surface but increases computational demands for calculating and moving the surface.

• color (a color well) - surface piece color
• display style - type of surface display
  • filled (sometimes simply called surface)
  • mesh
  • dot
• displayed - whether the surface piece is displayed (see display hierarchy)
  • false
  • true
• dot size - pixel size of dots in the dot display style
• lighting - similar to mesh lighting except affecting both mesh and filled styles
  • false
  • true
• lighting, transparency - whether to dim transparent surfaces
  • dim
  • bright
• lighting, two sided - whether two-sided lighting is in effect
  • false
  • true
• line smoothing - whether to smooth lines in the mesh display style
  • false
  • true
• line thickness - pixel width of lines in the mesh display style
• triangles - number of triangles in the surface piece

• active - whether the model is activated for motion
  • false
  • true
• displayed - whether display is enabled at the model level (see display hierarchy)
  • false
  • true
• pieces - number of surface pieces (independently selectable subparts) in the model
• selectable with mouse - whether the surface piece(s) comprising the model can be picked with the mouse
  • false
  • true
• silhouette - per-model setting for silhouettes, outlines that emphasize borders and discontinuities; the silhouettes will only be shown when the global setting is also true
• triangles - number of triangles in the surface model