Head-mounted display and/or virtual reality video output and mapping handheld input degrees-of-freedom to properties of molecular structure

1. A system for simulating a molecular structure, comprising:

a processor;

a head-mounted display (HMD);

at least one handheld input device; and

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

simulate the molecular structure,

instruct the HMD to display the molecular structure,

receive input from a user via the at least one handheld input device, the input being indicative of movement of the handheld input device in 6 degrees-of-freedom (DoF),

map, based on additional user input and at least one property of the molecular structure, at least one of the DoF to one of a plurality of defined techniques for altering the molecular structure,

alter the molecular structure based on the received input and the mapping of the one of the DoF to the one of the defined techniques, and

determine whether the type of the molecular structure is a crystalline molecular structure,

wherein the mapping of the at least one of the DoF comprises mapping three translational DoF of the handheld input device to three scaling values that define the scale of the molecular structure along three axes in response to determining that the type of the molecular structure is the crystalline molecular structure and

wherein the scaling of the molecular structure along one of the three axes comprises increasing or decreasing the number of particles comprising the molecular structure in the one of the three axes.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein modifying the molecular structure using the one of the defined techniques comprises applying a transformation matrix to the molecular structure and wherein the mapping the at least one of the DoF to the one of the defined techniques comprises mapping changes in the one of the DoF to changes to one of a plurality of values of the transformation matrix.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the mapping of the at least one of the DoF further comprises mapping at least one rotational DoF of the handheld input device to a Miller plane of the crystalline structure.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the non-transitory computer readable storage medium further has stored thereon instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to instruct the HMD to display a resistance value of the crystalline structure in response to the user moving the handheld device in the at least one rotational DoF.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the non-transitory computer readable storage medium further has stored thereon instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to determine whether the type of the molecular structure is a carbon nanotube, wherein the mapping of the at least one of the DoF comprises mapping only one of the translational DoF of the handheld input device to a scaling value that defines the scale of the molecular structure along the length of the carbon nanotube.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the mapping of the at least one of the DoF comprises mapping at least one rotational DoF of the handheld input device to a value indicative of the chirality of the carbon nanotube.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the non-transitory computer readable storage medium further has stored thereon instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to instruct the HMD to display a resistance value of the carbon nanotube in response to the user moving the handheld device in the at least one rotational DoF.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the non-transitory computer readable storage medium further has stored thereon instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

instruct the HMD to display a graph of properties of a plurality of materials selectable by the user,

receive a selection of one of the materials from the user via the at least one handheld input device, and

instruct the HMD to display the molecular structure in response to the selection of the one of the materials.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one handheld device further comprises a button and wherein the non-transitory computer readable storage medium further has stored thereon instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to toggle activation of the selective mapping based on actuation of the button by the user.

10. A system for simulating a molecular structure, comprising:

a processor;

at least one handheld input device; and

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

simulate the molecular structure,

receive input from a user via the at least one handheld input device, the input being indicative of movement of the input device in 6 degrees-of-freedom (DoF),

map, based on additional user input and at least one property of the molecular structure, at least one of the DoF to one of a plurality of defined techniques for altering the molecular structure,

alter the molecular structure based on the received input and the mapping of the one of the DoF to the one of the defined techniques, and determine whether the type of the molecular structure is a crystalline molecular structure,

wherein the mapping of the at least one of the DoF comprises mapping three translational DoF of the handheld input device to three scaling values that define the scale of the molecular structure along three axes in response to determining that the type of the molecular structure is the crystalline molecular structure and

wherein the scaling of the molecular structure along one of the three axes comprises increasing or decreasing the number of particles comprising the molecular structure in the one of the three axes.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein modifying the molecular structure using the one of the defined techniques comprises applying a transformation matrix to the molecular structure and wherein the mapping the at least one of the DoF to the one of the defined techniques comprises mapping changes in the one of the DoF to changes to one of a plurality of values of the transformation matrix.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the the mapping of the at least one of the DoF further comprises mapping at least one rotational DoF of the handheld input device to a Miller plane of the crystalline structure.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the non-transitory computer readable storage medium further has stored thereon instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to instruct a head-mounted display (HMD) to display a resistance value of the crystalline structure in response to the user moving the handheld device in the at least one rotational DoF.

14. A method of simulating a molecular structure, comprising:

generating a virtual-reality (VR) video stream including the molecular structure;

receiving input from at least one handheld device, the received input being indicative of movement of the handheld input device in 6 degrees-of-freedom (DoF);

mapping, based on additional user input and at least one property of the molecular structure, at least one of the DoF to one of a plurality of defined techniques for altering the molecular structure;

altering the molecular structure based on the received input and the mapping of the one of the DoF to the one of the defined techniques, and

determining whether the type of the molecular structure is a crystalline molecular structure,

wherein the mapping of the at least one of the DoF comprises mapping three translational DoF of the handheld input device to three scaling values that define the scale of the molecular structure along three axes in response to determining that the type of the molecular structure is the crystalline molecular structure and

wherein the scaling of the molecular structure along one of the three axes comprises increasing or decreasing the number of particles comprising the molecular structure in the one of the three axes.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

applying a transformation matrix to the molecular structure,

wherein the mapping the at least one of the DoF to the one of the defined techniques comprises mapping changes in the one of the DoF to changes to one of a plurality of values of the transformation matrix.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the mapping of the at least one of the DoF further comprises mapping at least one rotational DoF of the handheld input device to a Miller plane of the crystalline structure.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:

displaying a resistance value of the crystalline structure in response to the user moving the handheld device in the at least one rotational DoF.