AtomView
AtomView is a lightweight atomic structure viewer inside Visual Studio Code.
Designed for computational materials and atomistic simulation workflows, AtomView provides fast in-editor visualization with automatic live updates as input files are modified.
The goal is not to replace full-featured visualization tools such as VESTA, GaussView, or VMD, but to provide a lightweight utility for rapid inspection, debugging, and sanity checking directly inside VS Code.
Installation
Install directly from the VS Marketplace:
AtomView on VS Marketplace
Features
- Visualization of VASP structures (
POSCAR, CONTCAR, .vasp) and trajectories (XDATCAR) with frame navigation and playback controls
- Visualization of SIESTA (
.fdf) structures
- Visualization of Quantum ESPRESSO (
.in) structures
- Visualization of Gaussian (
.gjf) structures
- Automatic live refresh on file changes
- Atom hover inspection with coordinate and constraint information
- Highlighting for constrained atoms
- Bond rendering using element-specific distance cutoffs
- Lightweight workflow-oriented design
VASP
- Supports
POSCAR, CONTCAR, XDATCAR, and .vasp
- Supports multi-frame trajectory playback for
XDATCAR and stacked .vasp files
- Files are recognized when their names contain
POSCAR, CONTCAR, or XDATCAR (case-insensitive)
- Supports coordinate constraints (
Selective Dynamics)
SIESTA (.fdf)
- Z-matrix-based structure definitions are not currently supported
- Supports coordinate constraints defined through
Geometry.Constraints
- Constraints that do not act on individual atoms (
center, rigid, molecule, rigid-max, molecule-max, cell-angle, cell-vector, stress, routine) are not currently visualized
Quantum ESPRESSO (.in)
- Nonzero
ibrav values are not currently supported; explicit CELL_PARAMETERS are required
- Space-group expansion (
crystal_sg) is not currently supported; all atoms must be explicitly listed in ATOMIC_POSITIONS
- Supports coordinate constraints (
if_pos)
Gaussian (.gjf)
- Supports Cartesian-coordinate molecule specifications only
- Z-matrix and other internal-coordinate molecule specifications are not currently supported
- Supports coordinate constraints (
freeze-code)
- Supports periodic translation vectors (
TV)
- Trailing atom indices, MM atom types, charges, isotopes, fragments, and other parameters are ignored for visualization
- Explicit connectivity information is not used for bond generation
Planned Features
- Expanded support and feature coverage for currently supported formats
- Additional structure format support (
.cif, .xyz, etc.)
Release Notes
0.3.1
- Added support for SIESTA
Geometry.Constraints coordinate constraints
0.3.0
- Added SIESTA (
.fdf) support
- Added Quantum ESPRESSO (
.in) support
- Added limited Gaussian (
.gjf) support
0.2.1
- Added VASP trajectory (
XDATCAR) support with playback and frame controls
- Added lattice-axis viewer and camera alignment tools
- Improved rendering and trajectory performance
0.1.2
- Improved bond rendering behavior
0.1.1
License
This project is licensed under the MIT License.
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