Mineral Crystal Structures in 3D From measured data, free
Free. Use your own Anthropic or OpenAI key.
Also from Innerscene: Circadian Lab, a free lighting calculator for room illuminance, melanopic EML, and glare.
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
- Minerals come from published refinements, including high-pressure and high-temperature studies, so you can compare one mineral under different conditions.
- Rotate, zoom and measure bond lengths and angles in ångströms in the browser, with nothing to install.
- Print a unit cell as a ball-and-stick model for a classroom or a display case, or place it in AR on a phone.
Prompts to try
Click one to open it in the AI panel, then change the sizes to suit.
Taking a mineral structure further
- Export STL or 3MF for a 3D printer, scaled up so the thinnest bonds print cleanly.
- Export GLB for a website or a 3D app, or USDZ to place it in AR on an iPhone or iPad.
- Download the CIF to keep working in VESTA, CrystalMaker or Mercury.
Many minerals have mixed sites, such as iron and magnesium sharing one position in olivine. The viewer draws every listed atom, so a mixed site shows as overlapping spheres.
Best export formats: STL, 3MF, GLB, USDZ
Open Mineral Crystal Structures files in the free Mineral Crystal Structures viewer
Good to know
A mineral can only be shown if a structure for it has been deposited. Structures are drawn as balls and sticks for one unit cell; coordination polyhedra are not drawn.
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.