AVS Chemistry Viewer

["DOUGLAS A. SMITH" <FAX0236 { *at * } uoft02.utoledo.edu>]

	For the last several weeks my research group has been serving as
 a beta site for the Polygen/MSI AVS Chemistry Viewer.  We are running it
 on our Stardent 3040, using it as an input unit and post-processing analysis
 unit for G90 and MOPAC 6.0.
 	The AVS Chemistry Viewer is great.  Drawing molecules is easy, the
 heuristic algorithm for "cleaning up" geometries prior to MO
 calculations
 is fast, and the visualization and analysis tools are gorgeous.  I would like
 to know who else (beta or non-beta) has used this Viewer, and what other
 comments you may have about it.  This product makes me believe in AVS as
 a de facto standard for visualization.  In fact, some of our own software
 development is currently being done with AVS.
 	One comment I have heard is that there is a significant activation
 barrier to using this product.  Let me say that I found it's use intuitive,
 and learning to build networks or modify existing networks was trivial.
 The online documentation is also very good,and includes many examples.  The
 learning curve is pretty flat.  In fact, I have several graduate students
 and a sophomore undergraduate using the Chemistry Viewer for research, and
 they all love it.
 Doug Smith
 Assistant Professor of Chemistry
 The University of Toledo
 Toledo, OH  43606-3390
 voice    419-537-2116
 fax      419-537-4033
 email    fax0236 { *at * } uoft02.utoledo.edu
 P.S.  I am not an employee, now or in the past, of Stardent (Kubota), AVS Inc.
 Polygen or MSI.  I am just a satisfied user.