Interactive Molecular Dynamics (IMD)

NAMD now works directly with VMD to allow you to view and interactively steer your simulation. With IMD enabled, you can connect to NAMD at any time during the simulation to view the current state of the system or perform interactive steering.

• IMDon $<$ is IMD active? $>$
  Acceptable Values: on or off
  Default Value: off
  Description: Specifies whether or not to listen for an IMD connection.

• IMDport $<$ port number to expect a connection on $>$
  Acceptable Values: positive integer
  Description: This is a free port number on the machine that node 0 is running on. This number will have to be entered into VMD.

• IMDfreq $<$ timesteps between sending coordinates $>$
  Acceptable Values: positive integer
  Description: This allows coordinates to be sent less often, which may increase NAMD performance or be necessary due to a slow network.

• IMDwait $<$ wait for an IMD connection? $>$
  Acceptable Values: yes or no
  Default Value: no
  Description: If no, NAMD will proceed with calculations whether a connection is present or not. If yes, NAMD will pause at startup until a connection is made, and pause when the connection is lost.

• IMDignore $<$ ignore interactive steering forces $>$
  Acceptable Values: yes or no
  Default Value: no
  Description: If yes, NAMD will ignore any steering forces generated by VMD to allow a simulation to be monitored without the possibility of perturbing it.