Membrane models

The input of a membrane model is a set of points defined typically in several z-slices of a tomogram. Through the workflow specific for this model geometry, Dynamo will create a smooth continuous surface that represents the membrane. The output is a set of crop points and orientations. Each orientation will point in the direction of the outwards normal. The membrane model needs to have a center defined, which is merely used to defined the laterality of the surface (which side is "inward" and which side is "outward" )

Workflow description

Step by step

1. Creation of control points.
2. Creation of a supporting mesh
3. Refinement of the supporting mesh
4. Creation of the cropping mesh
5. Extraction of the table points

Control points

Control points are equispaced points distributed along all user points defined for a same level (typically z). They are used as vertices for the initial triangulation that will be used to represent the continuous surface.
The original points need to have been picked in the right order on each z-level.
They are stored in the crop_pointsproperty of the model.

Supporting mesh

The continuous membrane will be represented by a triangulation, stored in the mesh property of the model.

Refining the supporting mesh

Each refinement step subdivides the triangulation stored in the mesh property of the model.

Cropping mesh

A new triangulation (property crop_mesh) will be defined on top of the membrane defined in the previous step. The final cropping points will be located in the centers of these triangles. The triangulation procedure will try to create these points on a regular distribution with a given average distance. This average distance is provided in pixels as property crop_mesh_parameter A failure to create a cropping mesh normally indicates that the supporting surface (in 'mesh') is too coarse for the expected distance between the particles. You have thus two options:

1. Refine the supporting triangulation one (or more) step(s) further, or
2. Provide a smaller value for crop_mesh_parameter

Table points

This is merely a formatting step. In this point is crucial that the center property in the model has been already defined.