A simple, line-drawing-like appearance can be achieved by combining black silhouette edges with flat, ambient-only lighting. The image at left of a small molecule in ball-and-stick style can be generated with a few Chimera commands. The same visual effects can be applied to ribbons and other representations, as shown in Neuraminidase Flowers and other Image Gallery entries.

Mutations that inactivate the tumor suppressor p53 are found in over 50% of human cancers, and most of the cancer-associated mutations are within its DNA-binding domain. The image shows a tetramer of the p53 DNA-binding domain complexed with DNA (Protein Data Bank entry 2ac0). The tetramer subunits are shown as light blue, green, orange, and yellow ribbons, with red spheres marking several major "hot spots" of mutation. The DNA is shown in purple and blue. (More samples...)