Current EMAN2.1 Release Information

This page will be updated frequently until the final EMAN2.1 release.

The current release of EMAN2.1 is an alpha release. In software parlance, this means it is an early pre-release without complete functionality. Some tools which worked perfectly in EMAN2.07 do not yet function properly in EMAN2.1alpha1. This is due to the wide-reaching changes we've made in 2.1 to make it easier to use, and resolve all of the major user complaints about the 2.0x releases.

DANGER - projects in EMAN2.1 are not backwards compatible with EMAN2.0x due to the retirement of BDB. An upgrade program is provided to duplicate EMAN2.0x projects and make them 2.1 compatible, but this is still a preliminary version, so it is strongly recommended that you NOT delete your 2.0x projects after conversion.

We have removed items that do not yet work from e2projectmanager, so you will find fewer selections than available in EMAN2.07 for the moment. They will be added back to the projectmanager when they are tested and functional.

Major changes planned for 2.1 final (incomplete)

• The BDB system has been completely retired for EMAN2 programs
  • (it is still possible to read BDB files, of course)
• New e2refine_easy.py
  • Automatically computes gold-standard resolution as part of refinement (no extra computation)
  • Typically 2-10x faster than EMAN2.07 due to parameter optimization
  • Most parameters automatically selected (user can override if needed)
  • Generates full refinement report explaining which parameters were used and why
  • Automatic filtration of structures during refinement
• Improved infrastructure for single particle tomography
• Convert EMAN2.1 projects to Relion, Frealign and XMIPP3.0, for comparative refinement
• Import Relion and Frealign refinements to EMAN2.1, also for comparative refinement
• New 3-D viewer with support for multiple models, slices, isosurfaces, annotation, etc.
• Support for DM4, FEI Falcon and other file format improvements
• MPI support for clusters now shared with SPARX with an easy to use installer
• Experimental Direct Detector movie-mode support
• Integrated tilt-validation and RCT

Major features which are working in 2.1alpha1

• e2projectupdate21 to convert EMAN2.0x files to EMAN2.1 (works, but may have bugs)
• Micrograph evaluation
• e2boxer, particle import, box file import
• all CTF estimation/correction tools
• set building (manual bad particle marking not fully functional)
• 2-D reference-free class-averaging
• initial model building
• 3-D refinement with new e2refine-easy
• Resolution plotting
• Euler angle distribution analysis
• Most command-line tools (e2proc2d, e2proc3d, etc.)

Major features which do NOT yet work and known bugs in 2.1alpha1

• Tilt validation/RCT
• Simultaneous multi-model refinement
• XMIPP3 connectivity
• e2evalparticles only partially functional
• browsing to a read-only directory may make the browser lock-up

We expect to have a sequence of alpha (feature incomplete) and beta (feature complete but may have bugs) releases through July/August 2013. During that time, adventurous users are encouraged to download the test releases and try them out. Just remember that projects used in EMAN2.1 cannot be reverted back to 2.0. The upgrade program will duplicate EMAN2.0 projects during conversion so you don't lose anything.