Diamond Update Page

Version 3.1d

Once you have obtained one or multiple Diamond licences, you should visit this page from time to time, especially if you have deactivated the "Check for available updates" option. (Cf. command "Options" in the "Tools" menu, "Desktop" page of "Options" dialog.) If any bugfixes or (minor) improvements are available, you can download the concerning files from here.

The latest available version of Diamond is 3.1d, released on  July 5, 2006. Customers who already obtained version 3.0, 3.0a, 3.0b, 3.0c, 3.0d, 3.0e, 3.1, 3.1a, 3.1b, or 3.1c should download the software patch mentioned below. To check, if you are running the latest version, open the "Help/About Diamond..." dialog. If your version is still one of the versions 3.0 through 3.1c, you should follow these steps:

1. If Diamond is running, please close it.
2. Download the update file by clicking the link below.
3. Open the file (self-extracting executable). Confirm the message box "Please extract...to your Diamond program directory..." with "OK", and the "WinZip Self-Extractor" dialog will follow.
4. This dialog suggest the directory "C:\Program Files\Diamond 3" as default target. Change the directory, if necessary, e.g. on German Windows systems, the Diamond program directory usually is "C:\Programme\Diamond 3".
5. Click on the "Unzip" button to extract the file(s) archived in "update31d.exe".
6. Restart Diamond. This version should now list "version 3.1d" in the "Help/About Diamond..." dialog.

Download update31d.exe    (July 5, 2006 - 11,901 KB)

Users of the demonstration version can use the update as described above or download the complete demo version.

Go to demo version...

For a list of (repaired) bugs, open the "Start" page in Diamond ("Help/Start Page") and click on the link "Known Bugs" in the navigation list on the left side.

Enhancements in version 3.1d

Version 3.1d was released on July 5, 2006.

• A severe bug and a minor bug in printing could be resolved. See "Known Bugs" page.

Enhancements in version 3.1c

Version 3.1c was released on June 12, 2006.

• The main enhancement is an automatic online updating facility similar to Endeavour and Match!
• Several bugs could be fixed.

Enhancements in version 3.1b

Version 3.1b was released on April 10, 2006.

• The restriction to use atom radii not bigger than 5 Angstroems has been replaced by 1000 Angstroems. So you can e.g. create big (dummy) atoms that serve as transparent bulbs wrapping other real atoms inside.
• The commands "Cut" and "Paste" have been removed from the context menu. "Copy" has been replaced by "Copy Table".
• Several bugs could be fixed.

Enhancements in version 3.1a

Version 3.1a was released on December 16, 2005.

• An "i" symbol informs the user that plane and/or line objects are not displayed in flat mode (but are displayed in rendering mode).
• Several bugs could be fixed.

Enhancements in version 3.1

Version 3.1 was released on September 21, 2005.

• The function "Structure/Insert From File" has been enhanced: Now multiple files (not just one) can be inserted into the active document.
• The document overview (cf. "View/Structure Table") has been enhanced:
  • The small pictures in the "Pictures" pane are now sorted for the structures in the above table.
  • The functions "Picture/Start Picture" and "Picture Creation Assistant" (cf. "Picture/Guidance/Picture Creation Assistant...") as well as an Auto-Build scheme (cf. "Build/Auto-Build/Define Scheme...") can now be applied to multiple pictures that are selected in the "Pictures" pane. This makes it easy to apply similar building procedures to a series of pictures created for multiple (similar) structures.
  • A video sequence can be created from the selected pictures. Cf. "Tools/Video Sequence/Create...". This enables you to make an AVI from different pictures (structures), beyond what the video recorder offers (cf. "Tools/Video Sequence/Start").
• Plane objects:
  • "Objects/Planes/Create Lattice Plane...": You can now create a series of parallel lattice planes in one step by defining multiple values and/or ranges for "n".
  • The position and orientation of a lattice plane (but not of a plane through atoms) can now be changed after definition. Cf. "Objects/Planes/Edit Plane...".
  • One or more planes can be shifted (along their normal vectors) with the mouse. The d value of the plane (distance from origin) is increased (decreased) when you move the mouse upward (downward).
• The properties "Distances between selected objects", "Histogram", "Faces of selected polyhedron", "Edges of selected polyhedron", and "Ligand atoms of selected polyhedron"  can now be selected in the properties pane. (Cf. "View/Properties".)
• The option "Fill effects..." in the color selection box is now available and offers some hatching styles (for flat mode only).
• Additional columns in some tables:
  • The list of created atoms now can display the number of bonds starting from the atom each.
  • The list of created bonds now can display the type of bond, e.g. "H bond".
  • The lists of table and line objects now can display a column "Vis." indicating, if the object is visible in the structure picture or not.
  • The list of (measured or reported) distances now can display a column indicating, if the distance represents a bond or not.
• The new command "Add To Distances Table" in the table of created bonds adds entries to the table of distances from the selected bonds. This is to export selected bonds as "_geom_dist_XXX" records into CIF format.
• Symmetry records ("_symmetry_equiv_pos_as_xyz") are now written when exporting a structure into CIF format, to make it easier for other programs to assign the "_geom_XXX_site_symmetryYYY" statements to symmetry operations.
• Several bugs could be fixed.

Enhancements in version 3.0e

Version 3.0e was released on July 20, 2005 and contains only bug fixes.

Enhancements in version 3.0d

Version 3.0d was released on May 4, 2005.

• New command "More Pictures..." in the sub-menu "View/Structure Pictures", if more than eight pictures are available for the current structure data set. It runs a dialog with a list of structure picture titles available for that structure data set.
• New command "Run Scheme..." in the sub-menu "Build/Auto-Build", that runs a new dialog where the user can choose and run an auto-build scheme. The command is only available, if at least one auto-build scheme has previously been defined.
• Several bugs could be fixed.

Enhancements in version 3.0c

Version 3.0c was released on March 30, 2005.

• Function "Edit/Copy To New Picture" added. This creates a new structure picture object as a copy of the current structure picture but with the selected atoms, bonds, etc. only.
• Dialog "Auto-Build Settings":
  • Checkbox "Destroy all atoms, bonds etc." and "Create broken-off bonds" added. 
  • Option "Destroy all atoms, bonds etc." now active by default in a new auto-build scheme.
• Option "Common Windows Color dialog for 'More colors...'" added. When activated, the MS Windows common dialog to choose a color is being displayed rather than a specially implemented version. 
• Several bugs could be fixed.

Enhancements in version 3.0b

Version 3.0b was released on February 4, 2005 and contains several bug fixes, some of them also could be mentioned as "enhancements".

Enhancements in version 3.0a

Version 3.0a was released on November 15, 2004.

• Layout dialog: Since for a bitmap layout the page size in cm or inches rather than in pixels is defined, width and height are now automatically re-calculated. That means when changing the resolution (dpi), the size (in cm or inches) remains. The lines "Resolution..." and "Width..., Height..." have swapped vertically.
• Several bugs could be fixed.

Latest update of version 2.1

This information refers to users of the "old" version 2.1 of Diamond:
Once you have obtained one or multiple DIAMOND licences, you should visit this page from time to time. If any bugfixes or (minor) improvements are available, you can download the concerning files from here. Check your current version number first: if the number shown in the 'Help/About Diamond' dialog is 2.1e, then you are up-to-date. Otherwise you should follow these steps:

1. If DIAMOND is running, please close it.
2. Download the compressed update file by clicking on the link below.
3. Uncompress it into the DIAMOND program directory (normally C:\Programs\Diamond2) using WinZip or similar tools. Existing files should be overwritten.
4. Restart DIAMOND.

Download patch21e.zip    (September 28, 2001 - 3,731 KB)

What's new

• September 28, 2001 - The following bugs of version 2.1d have been removed in version 2.1e:
  • The function that searches for molecules, using a recursive search for neighbouring atoms, had a maximum recursion depth of only 128 and displayed a rather encryptic error message: "Maximum recursion depth encountered!". Now the recursion depth is limited by 16384 and the message has been replaced.
  • The function that checks for file format did not initialize correctly in some cases.
  • When deleting atoms from a structure picture by selecting them in the "list of created atoms" in the right half of the Diamond window, the wrong atoms could be deleted, if the atoms were not sorted for sequential numbers (default sort order) but e.g. for increasing x-coordinates.
  • The amount of memory space used by the Edit/Undo and Redo function has been reduced for the cases where only display options have changed, e.g. when rotating a large structure picture stepwise using the keyboard.
  • The function "Edit/Select molecules" did not work properly under some circumstances, if more than one atom has been selected.
  • There are now three instead of two commands in the Help menu that display pages from the Crystal Impact web site. These are:
    -- "Help/News From the Web",
    -- "Help/Update",
    -- "Help/Support".
  • In some cases, selected bonds were not deleted correctly when using commands such as "Destroy bonds" from the context menu, when no atom was selected at the same time.
  • When reading structural data from a file using XYZ format, i.e. containing no cell parameters and atoms with cartesian coordinates, the structure was not correctly transformed to a (pseudo-)crystal structure. The cell parameters were too short in some cases, leading to close encounters of the atoms at the edges or faces of the pseudo-unit cell, thus making simple molecular structures polymeric. Now cell parameter a is 2.5 Angstroem longer than the x-dimension of the molecule. Ditto for b (y) and c (z). When the XYZ file contained blank lines after the last atom record, the last atom was duplicated the often a blank line appeared.