DLV Tutorial - Changing the Displayed Cell

This tutorial describes how to change the cell that DLV displays.

Select the Display -> Structure Menu item. The following panel will be displayed.


The type of cell that is displayed is controlled by the radio buttons in the lower left of the panel.


The three possibilities are

  1. Asymmetric - this displays the atom basis which along with the symmetry operators generate the atoms in the unit cell.


    For MgO the asymmetric unit is


  2. Primitive - this displays primitive cell for the model. Symmetry copies are drawn on the edge of the cell.


    For MgO the primitive cell is


  3. Conventional - this takes the primitive cell and applies any centering operations that may exist to generate the conventional unit cell. Symmetry copies are drawn on the edge of the cell. For space groups that contain no centering operations ,those with Hermann-Mauguin symbols starting with 'P', the primitive and conventional cells are the same.


    For MgO the conventional (crystallographic) cell is


The Close button is used to close the Structure Display panel.