VRChem: A virtual reality molecular builder

Otso Pietikäinen; Perttu Hämäläinen; Jaakko Lehtinen; Antti J. Karttunen

doi:10.3390/app112210767

VRChem: A virtual reality molecular builder

Otso Pietikäinen
, Perttu Hämäläinen
, Jaakko Lehtinen
, Antti J. Karttunen^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review

14 Citations (Scopus)

361 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Virtual reality provides a powerful way to visualize the three-dimensional, atomic-level structures of molecules and materials. We present new virtual reality software for molecular modeling and for testing the use of virtual reality in organic chemistry education. The open-source software, named VRChem, was developed primarily for building, visualizing and manipulating organic molecules using a head-mounted virtual reality system. The design goal of the VRChem software was to create an easy-to-use and entertaining user experience for molecular modeling in virtual reality. We discuss the design and implementation of VRChem, together with real-life user experiences collected from students and academic research staff.

Original language	English
Article number	10767
Pages (from-to)	1-18
Number of pages	18
Journal	Applied Sciences
Volume	11
Issue number	22
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/app112210767
Publication status	Published - 15 Nov 2021
MoE publication type	A1 Journal article-refereed

Funding

Funding: This research received no external funding. The research was internally funded by Aalto Science Institute (project 3DMM) and Aalto Online Learning Programme (project 3D-CHEM).

Keywords

Chemical education
Chemistry
Human-computer interaction
Molecular modelling
Virtual reality

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10.3390/app112210767Licence: CC BY

VRChem_A_Virtual_Reality_Molecular_Builder-11-10767Final published version, 9.52 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "VRChem: A virtual reality molecular builder",

abstract = "Virtual reality provides a powerful way to visualize the three-dimensional, atomic-level structures of molecules and materials. We present new virtual reality software for molecular modeling and for testing the use of virtual reality in organic chemistry education. The open-source software, named VRChem, was developed primarily for building, visualizing and manipulating organic molecules using a head-mounted virtual reality system. The design goal of the VRChem software was to create an easy-to-use and entertaining user experience for molecular modeling in virtual reality. We discuss the design and implementation of VRChem, together with real-life user experiences collected from students and academic research staff.",

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AU - Lehtinen, Jaakko

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N1 - Funding Information: Funding: This research received no external funding. The research was internally funded by Aalto Science Institute (project 3DMM) and Aalto Online Learning Programme (project 3D-CHEM). Publisher Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

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VRChem: A virtual reality molecular builder

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