Crystallography Open Database Viewer Search and view 535,000 crystals
Free. Use your own Anthropic or OpenAI key.
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Search the Crystallography Open Database
Type a name, a mineral, a formula (SiO2 or C10 H10 Fe) or a seven-digit COD number. Searching and viewing are free and need no account or API key.
Examples from the database
Click a structure to open it in the viewer above. Each one is an entry in the Crystallography Open Database.
Watch how it works
How it works
- 1. Describe it or add a photoType what you want in plain words, with sizes if you know them, or add a photo as a reference. Describe an object or a person.
- 2. The AI builds and checks itThe AI writes an OpenSCAD program for an object, or sets up the character generator for a person. It looks at six rendered views of the result and fixes what is wrong, up to five builds per message.
- 3. Refine and exportThe model opens in the viewer at real size. Ask for changes in the chat, move the sliders, then download it or pick a format from the Export menu.
Why make it with AI here
- All 535,187 experimental structures in the database (minerals, metals, salts, organic, organometallic and metal-organic compounds) are searchable here and open in seconds.
- The viewer applies the symmetry operations in each CIF, so the whole unit cell is drawn with its edges, and you can measure bond lengths and angles in ångströms.
- Structures export to STL and 3MF for 3D printing, GLB and USDZ for AR and 3D apps, or PNG for slides, and the original CIF downloads for VESTA, Mercury or Avogadro.
Prompts to try
Click one to open it in the AI panel, then change the sizes to suit.
Getting a structure out
- Download the original CIF from the link beside a search result, or from the version list in the AI panel.
- Open the Export menu for STL or 3MF (3D printing), GLB or USDZ (AR and 3D apps), or OBJ.
- Save a PNG of the current view for slides, handouts and papers.
Entries are the experimental structures as their authors deposited them, so hydrogen atoms appear only where they were located. Our copy of the database is topped up from COD, and an entry newer than the copy is fetched from COD itself.
Best export formats: GLB, STL, USDZ, PNG
Open Crystallography Open Database files in the free Crystallography Open Database viewer
Good to know
Only structures deposited in COD can be loaded. Proteins are in the Protein Data Bank (the AI uses that too), and many inorganic structures are only in paid databases such as the ICSD. Disordered sites are drawn as listed, so some entries show overlapping atoms.
Cost and privacy
You use your own Anthropic or OpenAI API key. It is stored only in your browser and sent only to that provider, which bills you directly: a model typically costs $0.05 to $0.30 at Standard quality and up to about $1 at Detailed, and Innerscene charges nothing. Your key and prompts are not sent to Innerscene; we record anonymous usage statistics such as the steps used, the model chosen, token counts, a cost estimate and whether a model was made.