Skip to content

ChimeraX-Copick Plugin Tutorial

Mouse Required

We strongly recommend using a mouse for this workflow, as right-clicking is essential for placing and manipulating picks.

Installation

1. Download ChimeraX

Download and install ChimeraX from the official website

2. Install the Copick Plugin

  1. Open ChimeraX
  2. Go to Tools > More Tools... to open the toolshed
  3. Search for copick in the search bar
  4. Download and install the copick plugin by clicking on Install
Toolshed
copick on the ChimeraX toolshed.

Setup Remote Data Access

Optional Step

Skip this section if your data is already available on your local machine.

If your data is stored on a remote server (available via ssh), you'll need to establish an SSH tunnel:

ssh -L 2222:localhost:22 username@your-remote-server

This command creates a local port forwarding from port 2222 to the remote server's port 22, allowing secure access to remote data.

If your data is stored in an S3 bucket, ensure you have the necessary credentials configured using the AWS CLI. S3 credentials need to be set in the environment where ChimeraX is launched, or specified in the copick configuration file.

If you are using a copick configuration based on the cryoET data portal no additional setup is required. The plugin will automatically connect to the portal and retrieve available datasets.

1. Opening a Copick Project

To load a copick project into ChimeraX:

  1. Open ChimeraX

  2. In the command line at the bottom, enter: 

    copick start /path/to/your/config.json

    Example Config - Used in this tutorial. 
    {
  "name": "CZ cryoET Data Portal Dataset",
  "description": "This copick project contains data from datasets (10426,).",
  "version": "1.18.0",
  "pickable_objects": [
  ],
  "user_id": null,
  "session_id": null,
  "config_type": "cryoet_data_portal",
  "overlay_root": "local:///tmp/project/",
  "dataset_ids": [
      10426
  ],
  "overlay_fs_args": {
      "auto_mkdir": true
  }
}

    Results will be stored in /tmp/project/ Refer to the Examples for more information on creating config files.

  3. Press Enter

The plugin will launch and display the Annotation Panel on the left side of the window along with a Run Gallery showing thumbnail previews of all available tomograms.

Main GUI
Run Gallery showing thumbnail previews of all available tomograms. Each thumbnail displays a central slice preview with the run name.

Understanding the Main Interface

The Annotation Panel contains three main tabs (one for each annotation type). The Tomogram Panel contains a hierarchical view of the image data (Run -> VoxelSpacing -> Tomogram).

Annotation Panel

Annotation Panel

Icon Button Description
📄 New New annotation set
📋 Copy Copy annotation set
❌ Delete Delete annotation
🔍 Search Search/filter annotations by name

Tomogram Panel

Tomogram Panel

Icon Button Description
🧊 3D View Switch to 3D tomogram view
ℹī¸ Info Show detailed run information
📸 Gallery Return to gallery view
🔍 Search Search/filter runs by name

2. Adding an Object Type

Before you can pick particles of a specific type, you need to define Pickable Object Types in your configuration.

Opening the Edit Object Types Dialog

In the Copick Annotation Panel, click the ✏ī¸ Edit Object Types button (pencil icon) at the top.

The Edit Object Types Dialog

The dialog has two main sections: A table showing all currently defined pickable objects and a configuration form for new objects.

Edit Object
Empty "Edit Objects" dialog with sections highlighted.

Table Management Buttons

Icon Button Action
✏ī¸ Edit Selected Modify the selected object
❌ Delete Selected Remove the selected object
📄 Add New Create a new object type

Creating a New Object Type

  1. Click the 📄 Add New button

  2. Fill in the Object Configuration form:

Field Description Example
Name Unique identifier (e.g., "ribosome", "atp-synthase") `cytosolic-ribosome
Is Particle for point picks, for segmentation masks
Label Unique numeric identifier (auto-increments) 1
Color Click the color box to choose visualization color #155728
Field Description Example
EMDB ID Link to EMDB entry (e.g., EMD-1234) N/A
PDB ID Link to PDB structure (e.g., 1ABC) N/A
Identifier GO term or UniProt ID GO:0022626
Map Threshold Isosurface threshold for visualization N/A
Radius (Å) Particle display radius in Angstroms 150
Edit Object
Edit Objects Dialog form with metadata fields filled in.

  1. Click the ✅ Save Object button to add the new object type

  2. The status will show a success message

  3. Click Save & Close to apply changes to your configuration

Edit Object
Edit Objects Dialog with a new object added.

Changes Saved

Changes to object types are saved to your configuration file and persist across sessions.

3. Opening a Tomogram

  1. In the Run Gallery, browse available tomograms as thumbnails
  2. Click on any thumbnail to select that tomogram/run
  3. The tomogram will load into the 3D viewer
  1. Expand a Run in the tree view by clicking the arrow
  2. Expand a Voxel Spacing (e.g., "10.0")
  3. Double-click on a tomogram type (e.g., "wbp" or "denoised")

The 3D Visualization Interface

Once a tomogram is loaded, ChimeraX displays:

Opened Tomogram
ChimeraX picking interface: Copick Control Panel (left), tomogram visualization (center), toolbar (top), and navigation panels (right).

Visualization Modes

Use keyboard shortcuts to switch display modes:

Icon Shortcut Mode Description
Slab Q+Q Tilted Slab Single plane view (default)
Orthoplanes E+E Orthoplanes XY, XZ, YZ planes simultaneously
Volume E+E Volume Rendering Density-based olume rendering
Surface E+E Isosurface Threshold and compute isosurface
Picks X+X XY View View from Z axis
Picks Y+Y YZ View View from X axis
Picks Z+Z XZ View View from Y axis

Adjusting Contrast

Use the Contrast panel (right side) to adjust visualization:

  • Center: Midpoint of the grayscale range
  • Width: Contrast range

Invert Contrast

Press .+. (two periods) to quickly invert contrast for better particle visibility.

4. Creating a New Particle List

A Particle List (Pick Set) is a collection of particle locations for a specific object type.

Steps to Create a New Pick Set

  1. Ensure you have a tomogram open

  2. In the Picks tab of the Copick Annotation Panel, click the 📄 New button (document icon) in the bottom-right corner

  3. The Create New Pick dialog appears:

Create New Pick dialog

Field Description Default
Object Select the particle type to pick First in list
User ID Your identifier From config or "ArtiaX"
Session ID Unique session identifier "manual-1", "manual-2", etc.

  1. Select your desired Object from the dropdown (objects are color-coded)

  2. Optionally modify the User ID and Session ID

  3. Click Create

What Happens Next

After creating the pick set:

  • [x] A new entry appears in the Picks table
  • [x] The mouse mode automatically switches to "mark plane" for picking
  • [x] You can now start placing particles!

Create New Pick dialog

The Picks table displays:

Column Description
User/Tool Who created the picks
Object Particle type (color-coded)
Session Session identifier

Info

Apart from the picks we just created for manual picking you can now also see two (read-only) sets of ribosome coordinates from the cryoET data portal! Objects are found/matched via the Gene Ontology identifier.

5. Picking Particles

Placing Particles

With a pick set selected and mouse mode set to "mark plane":

  1. Navigate to the region of interest using:

    • Shift + Mouse wheel to scroll through Z-planes
    • F+F shortcut for "move planes" mode (need to switch back to "mark plane" after use!)

  2. Right-click on the tomogram where you see a particle

  3. The particle marker appears at the clicked location

Picked
A tomogram with selected particles.

Mouse Modes for Picking

Shortcut Mode Description
A+P Mark Plane Add particles on current plane (default for new picks)
D+P Delete Picked Remove particle under cursor
S+S Select Select particles for batch operations

Info

The active mouse mode is always displayed at the top of the canvas!

Use the Stepper Widget below the Picks table:

Control Action
<< Jump to previous particle
>> Jump to next particle
Index Shows current particle number

Keyboard shortcuts:

  • A+A - Previous particle
  • D+D - Next particle

Editing Particles

  1. Press S+S or select "Select" mode
  2. Click on a particle to select it
  3. Use toolbar buttons:
  • Press -+- to remove the currently active particle
  • Or press D+P for "delete picked" mode, then right-click on particles
  1. Press S+S for select mode
  2. Click particles to select them (or S+A to select all)
  3. Press D+S to delete selected particles

Controlling Particle Display

Shortcut Effect
W+W Toggle particle list visibility (show/hide all)
0+0 Set 0% transparency (fully opaque)
5+5 Set 50% transparency
8+8 Set 80% transparency

Saving Your Work

Automatic Saving

Picks are automatically saved when you:

  • Switch to a different tomogram
  • Close the Copick tool
  • Exit ChimeraX

The picks are stored in the overlay directory specified in your copick configuration.

Quick Reference: Keyboard Shortcuts

Show All Shortcuts

Press ? to display all shortcuts in the ChimeraX log window.

Particles

Shortcut Action
W+W Toggle particle display
A+A Previous particle
D+D Next particle
S+A Select all particles
-+- Remove active particle

Picking

Shortcut Action
A+P Add on plane mode
D+P Delete picked mode
S+S Select mode
D+S Delete selected particles

Visualization

Shortcut Action
Q+Q Single plane (slab)
E+E Orthoplanes
X+X XY view
Y+Y YZ view
Z+Z XZ view
C+C Toggle clipping
F+F Move planes mode
R+R Rotate slab mode
.+. Invert contrast

Transparency

Shortcut Action
0+0 0% transparency (opaque)
5+5 50% transparency
8+8 80% transparency

Info

Shortcut Action
I+L Toggle info label
? Show all shortcuts

Troubleshooting

Picks aren't appearing
  • Ensure a pick set is selected in the Picks table
  • Check that mouse mode is set to "mark plane" (A+P)
  • Verify you're right-clicking, not left-clicking
Can't see particles
  • Press W+W to toggle visibility
  • Adjust transparency with 0+0, 5+5, or 8+8
Keyboard shortcuts not working

Run cks in the ChimeraX command line to enable Copick keyboard shortcuts: 

cks

Tomogram not loading
  • Check that your config file path is correct
  • Verify the data files exist at the paths specified in the config
  • For remote data, ensure your SSH tunnel is active