ChemDoodle 2 will be released shortly, so I will begin divulging some of the great new features. One addition is the ability to use different stroke patterns to draw bonds. All chemical drawing programs produce fairly plain structures. You have your line, your dotted line and your wedge, which are perfect for making clear precise figures. But what if you wanted something with more flair, maybe for a more interesting group meeting or a poster for class? Well, now you can with ChemDoodle!

UPDATE: ChemDoodle 2 was released on 5/27/09.

This new feature is very easy to use due to a new stroke toolbar placed under the structure manipulation toolbar. It’s composed of three comboboxes: one that controls the stroke style, one that controls the stroke width and a third that controls the texture magnitude as seen in the following image. Changing the stroke style is as simple as lassoing the objects you want to change and selecting the wanted items in the comboboxes.

The following images show a number of structures made with different stroke styles, bond specifications and fonts to create very unique appearances.

This is a brush stroke combined with the Hurculanum font.

This the a charcoal stroke combined with the Cracked font.

This is a scribble stroke combined with the Bradley Hand ITC font. I like this one the best because it’s very similar to the ugly structures I draw by hand. In fact, that’s probably one of the main reasons ChemDoodle was developed.

This is a wobble stroke combined with the Comic Sans font.

This is a bristle stroke combined with Hobo Std font.

Of course, I can get even more creative by mixing them up, changing colors and placing shapes around them. Use this feature to wow your professor in a report, create attractive images for your webpage, or lure prospective graduate students to your research group posters. And now that ChemDoodle can utilize different stroke styles, almost anything imaginable can be produced, including the structure style seen on the slashscreen and ChemDoodle webpage.

ChemDoodle 2 will be released at the end of May, with dozens of new features. We want to thank all the customers that have supported us thus far and complimented us on our work, we really appreciate it. As a thank you, all customers will be receiving an upgrade to ChemDoodle 2, free of charge, when it is released!