The original question: "This is going to sound really lame, but how do I generate the symmetry related molecules I need to study the crystal packing? Symm_obj is good, but since they're only instances, I can't click on them eg for distance measurements. Symm_sphere generates lots of bits of molecules which I then have to go through and weed out all the straggly bits which I obviously don't need.
Is there a way of generating the whole molecule (zone) given it's symmetry operations (eg symmop 3, Shift 1-1-1). I'm looking at a P61 structure and so just really want the six molecules that make up the hexagon rather than all these little bits."
Mark Safro answered: "Hi! In order to display whole symmetry related molecule one can use the following: use symm_sphere command as usual and then
molz ; end (or ca object , etc)
The molecular object will comprise the whole symmetry related molecule and it will be possible to fulfill most of the operations allowed for normal molecular objects."
Alwyn added: "please don't go trying to lsq molecules. if you use sym_sph, every hit generates a full molecule with a name defined by something you've setup eg 'sym'. These are real O molecules that you can colour, draw Ca, spheres etc"