# Does anyone know what has changed with the rendering of MOs since earlier this year? **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Created:** [November 14, 2025, 6:23pm UTC](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/t/does-anyone-know-what-has-changed-with-the-rendering-of-mos-since-earlier-this-year/7229 "2025-11-14T18:23:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![callumhind](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@callumhind](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/u/callumhind)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2025, 6:23pm UTC](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/t/does-anyone-know-what-has-changed-with-the-rendering-of-mos-since-earlier-this-year/7229/1 "2025-11-14T18:23:33Z")
Apologies if this is not the correct place to ask this. Earlier this year I was using Avogadro2 (v1.98, 1.99, or 1.100 I believe) to render MOs from an ORCA TDDFT calculation, and the rendering looked quite nice for the inclusion in figures. I have since picked this up again for another project and have noticed that the rendering is not the same at all (have attached screenshots to show), and was wondering if anything has changed? ![Doc2](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/uploads/default/original/2X/e/e06550d37c6b81b1368899e5532bdc5fcd6e3add.png) Are there any settings that can be changed in the app, or has the rendering pipeline been changed in subsequent versions? I have downloaded v1.99 and the rendering is the same as the new style, which in my opinion is far too dark. I’m running the latest build on macOS Tahoe 26.1. ---
**Author:** ![ghutchis](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/user_avatar/discuss.avogadro.cc/ghutchis/32/456_2.png) [@ghutchis](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/u/ghutchis)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2025, 7:36pm UTC](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/t/does-anyone-know-what-has-changed-with-the-rendering-of-mos-since-earlier-this-year/7229/2 "2025-11-14T19:36:59Z")
As I mentioned on GitHub, I think it’s the opacity which affects the lighting. In your top image, you can see that the orbitals are slightly translucent. If you tap the Surfaces display style, you bring up the options panel. This allows you to change the opacity (and optionally the colors). ![Surface Options](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/uploads/default/original/2X/d/d80b83841aba971d595c7a620128aee64ac7ed50.jpeg) I suspect that at some point, you changed the orbitals from slightly translucent (top) to opaque (bottom). Give that a try and see if it changes things for you. My guess is that the top image is ~80% opaque. In the recent version, there’s now also a wireframe view, which shouldn’t have changed anything, but it’s possible that in the process it reset your options? 🤷‍♂️ ---
**Author:** ![callumhind](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@callumhind](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/u/callumhind)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2025, 9:28pm UTC](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/t/does-anyone-know-what-has-changed-with-the-rendering-of-mos-since-earlier-this-year/7229/3 "2025-11-14T21:28:24Z")
Thanks for replying so quickly! I’ve tried what you suggested and it has improved the look somewhat, but I have a feeling something has changed either in the rendering pipeline, or the way that macOS Tahoe displays graphics (apologies if this is a gross simplification). ![test](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/uploads/default/original/2X/2/218c9ecb4e6318f48ee21f7b69625045010fc8b5.jpeg) The colours are much less vibrant (even with a lower opacity, and especially with the yellow and blue), which I find strange. It’s by no means detrimental to anything, but I didn’t know if this change was intended at all, or not. These images were taken with Ambient Occlusion, Fog, Depth Blur, and Edge Outline all off (turning them on and changing the parameters doesn’t change much). Unfortunately I can’t remember the settings that were used to render the original image. If it’s behaving as intended then thats fine. Just wanted to check to see if this is the case or not 😀 ---
**Author:** ![ghutchis](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/user_avatar/discuss.avogadro.cc/ghutchis/32/456_2.png) [@ghutchis](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/u/ghutchis)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2025, 9:46pm UTC](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/t/does-anyone-know-what-has-changed-with-the-rendering-of-mos-since-earlier-this-year/7229/4 "2025-11-14T21:46:07Z")
> [@callumhind](#): > > something has changed either in the rendering pipeline, or the way that macOS Tahoe displays graphics Not that I’ve noticed on either side. It’s certainly possible, but nothing has changed in regards to colors with the Avogadro code, and I haven’t noticed anything different in Tahoe on my laptop. But it’s maybe possible the colorspace or gamma have changed without me noticing 🤷‍♂️ ---
**Author:** ![matterhorn103](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/user_avatar/discuss.avogadro.cc/matterhorn103/32/1751_2.png) [@matterhorn103](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/u/matterhorn103)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2025, 11:18pm UTC](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/t/does-anyone-know-what-has-changed-with-the-rendering-of-mos-since-earlier-this-year/7229/5 "2025-11-14T23:18:44Z")
I suspect it’s a manifestation of what I reported here [Fixing translucent orbital surfaces - #5 by matterhorn103](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/t/fixing-translucent-orbital-surfaces/6879/5) ---
**Author:** ![ghutchis](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/user_avatar/discuss.avogadro.cc/ghutchis/32/456_2.png) [@ghutchis](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/u/ghutchis)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2025, 1:59am UTC](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/t/does-anyone-know-what-has-changed-with-the-rendering-of-mos-since-earlier-this-year/7229/6 "2025-11-16T01:59:54Z")
Okay, I think this should fix it: ![Translucent HOMO of benzene](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/uploads/default/original/2X/e/ea37ad6b77b58f646ffbb2b45c969188d6d87d5e.png) ![Opaque HOMO of benzene](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/uploads/default/original/2X/6/64be157a48465239fe44543e4bc5ff351a165797.png) > > > Should fix inconsistent lighting / opacity > h/t to @matterhorn103 and @callumhin…d2302 > > Fixes #2417 > > Developer Certificate of Origin > Version 1.1 > > Copyright (C) 2004, 2006 The Linux Foundation and its contributors. > 1 Letterman Drive > Suite D4700 > San Francisco, CA, 94129 > > Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this > license document, but changing it is not allowed. > > > Developer's Certificate of Origin 1.1 > > By making a contribution to this project, I certify that: > > (a) The contribution was created in whole or in part by me and I > have the right to submit it under the open source license > indicated in the file; or > > (b) The contribution is based upon previous work that, to the best > of my knowledge, is covered under an appropriate open source > license and I have the right under that license to submit that > work with modifications, whether created in whole or in part > by me, under the same open source license (unless I am > permitted to submit under a different license), as indicated > in the file; or > > (c) The contribution was provided directly to me by some other > person who certified (a), (b) or (c) and I have not modified > it. > > (d) I understand and agree that this project and the contribution > are public and that a record of the contribution (including all > personal information I submit with it, including my sign-off) is > maintained indefinitely and may be redistributed consistent with > this project or the open source license(s) involved. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/uploads/default/original/1X/93fe5a56d10b304e678127e54139c28cde211662.png) [@system](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2025, 2:00am UTC](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/t/does-anyone-know-what-has-changed-with-the-rendering-of-mos-since-earlier-this-year/7229/7 "2025-11-19T02:00:23Z")
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