Current EMAN2.1 Release Information

NOTICE - projects in EMAN2.1 are not backwards compatible with EMAN2.0x due to the retirement of BDB. An upgrade program (e2projectupdate21.py) is provided to duplicate EMAN2.0x projects and make them 2.1 compatible, but it is strongly recommended that you NOT delete your 2.0x projects after conversion until you are sure that it worked completely. The conversion script has worked well in testing on our projects, but if you have done anything out of the ordinary, some files may not be automatically copied/converted. Please check the new project carefully after conversion, and delay deleting the original for as long as possible.

The new project folder will contain aninfo/' folder containing human-readable text files in .json format, instead of the old EMAN2DB infrastructure. Similarly, all of the image files will now be in .hdf files. Unlike BDB/EMAN2DB, these files can be moved, renamed, copied, etc as desired.

Major changes in EMAN 2.1

  • New e2refine_easy.py
    • Automatically computes gold-standard resolution as part of refinement (no extra computation)
    • Typically 2-5x faster than EMAN2.07 due to parameter optimization
    • Typically 10-20x faster than Relion
    • 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
  • The much hated BDB system has been completely retired for EMAN2 programs
    • (it is still possible to read BDB files, of course and is still used in SPARX)
  • Improved infrastructure for single particle tomography
  • Convert EMAN2.1 projects to Relion or Frealign, for comparative refinement
  • Import Relion refinements to EMAN2.1, also for comparative refinement
  • Ability to use CTFFIND3 if desired
  • New 3-D viewer with support for multiple models, slices, isosurfaces, annotation, etc.
  • Support for DM4, FEI Falcon, MRCS 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