BKChem is a free chemical drawing tool developed in Python, an interpreted and very nice programming language.
This implies some of the program features:
· platform independence - BKChem should run on any platform that Python does.
· performance - as Python is interpreted language you should not expect the performance of a native code compiled application (in present days a very cheap tradeoff for platform independence). However BKChem should be pretty usable on all modern systems.
Here are some key features of "BKChem":
Drawing:
· bond-by-bond drawing
· bond lenght and angle restrictions to assist with the drawing
· ready to use templates of common rings
· ability to expand common groups from abbreviated to structural form
· Support for linear formulas (such as -CH2CH(COOCH3)2)
· radicals, charges...
· arrows (several types - normal, retro, equilibrium, etc.)
· rich text
· color support
· simple vector graphics (rectangles, circles, polygons etc.)
Editing:
· unlimited undo and redo capabilities
· aligning
· scaling
· rotation (2D, 3D)
· aligning of molecules so that particular bond is horizontal/vertical
· rotation of molecular fragments around bonds (conformation changes)
· definition of personal preferred drawing style (bond lenghts, widths, colors...)
Export:
· full export to SVG (native data are transparently embedded into SVG file)
· full export to OpenOffice Draw format
· full export to ODF (OpenOffice 2.0) format
· full export to Encapsulated PostScript
· full export to PDF
· full export to PNG (if pycairo is installed, available in Windows binary build)
· basic support for both CML1 and CML2
· Molfiles
· generation of SMILES
Import:
· basic support for both CML1 and CML2
· Molfiles
· SMILES (subset)
· INChI (subset)
Other features:
· localization support (currently English, French, Czech, Polish, German and Traditional Chinese translations are available)
· native format is XML based
· validity checking of drawn structures
· support for user written plugins
· support for user written batch scripts
· searching for BKChem files containing specified molecules or molecule fragment
What`s New in This Release: [ read full changelog ]
bugfixes:
· redraw bonds when adding bond to -NH and it turns into -N
· freeze in export window, bug #23665
· use real minus in groups
· convert commandline input to Unicode
· import/export with Unicode filenames, bug #23686
· opening BKChem together with a file on Windows, bug #17256
· cleaner uninstallation on Windows
· fix assertions in Piddle
· fix string exceptions
· documentation generation
· enhancements - plural forms in translations
· update open documents on use_real_minus change
· delete unused files
changes:
· new maintainer - Reinis Danne
· sources are now managed using Git
· main source archives are now hosted on gitorious.org
· OASA library has separate project on Gitorious
· drop PS postprocessing in Cairo output
· increase required Python version to 2.5
· drop PS version of documentation
· open BKChem on Windows in "My Documents" by default
translations:
· update strings from sources
· lv updated (Reinis Danne)
· es update (Angel Herr???
