Molecular Visualization Styles

Rendering style

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Molecule

Caffeine

Formula

C₈H₁₀N₄O₂

Atoms

Bonds

How it works

The same caffeine molecule (atom positions and bonds are fixed) is redrawn in four classic molecular-graphics styles, each built from the same underlying data but tuned to emphasize different information:

Ball-and-stick — small spheres mark atom positions, thin cylinders mark bonds. Best for reading connectivity and bond geometry — the actual graph of the molecule.
Space-filling (CPK) — atoms are drawn at their real relative Van der Waals radii (H smallest, C/N/O larger), with no bonds shown. Shows the molecule's true occupied volume and outer surface — what actually collides with other molecules.
Wireframe — only thin bond lines, no atom spheres at all. Fastest to render and least visually cluttered, useful for large structures where spheres would hide everything behind them.
Sticks — uniform, thicker cylinders for every bond and no separate atom spheres; each half of a bond is colored by its own atom, so the CPK element colors still read clearly along a continuous stick skeleton.

Element colors follow the standard CPK convention: carbon grey, nitrogen blue, oxygen red, hydrogen white — the same palette used by PyMOL, VMD, ChimeraX and Mol*.

Ball-and-stick

Carbon Nitrogen Oxygen Hydrogen

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