# Electrostatic potential **URL:** \ **Category:** User discussions\ **Created:** [February 12, 2021, 9:44pm UTC](https://gromacs.bioexcel.eu/t/electrostatic-potential/1588 "2021-02-12T21:44:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sasha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/54ee81/32.png) [@Sasha](https://gromacs.bioexcel.eu/u/Sasha)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2021, 9:44pm UTC](https://gromacs.bioexcel.eu/t/electrostatic-potential/1588/1 "2021-02-12T21:44:31Z")
Hi all, Is anyone aware of a third-party tool to calculate electrostatic potential distributions as 3D maps or along a given vector? Basically, I have a membrane with a hole and would like to plot electrostatic potential along the vector crossing the hole, perpendicularly to the membrane. The box is a hexagonal prism, periodic in all directions. gmx potential is entirely inadequate for this, so I wonder how others have accomplished similar tasks. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![pjohansson](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/gromacs.bioexcel.eu/pjohansson/32/316_2.png) [@pjohansson](https://gromacs.bioexcel.eu/u/pjohansson)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2021, 11:37am UTC](https://gromacs.bioexcel.eu/t/electrostatic-potential/1588/2 "2021-02-13T11:37:23Z")
Hello, you can check out the [pmepot](https://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Research/vmd/plugins/pmepot/) plugin for VMD. It can compute the 3D potential and write it to disk, after which you can analyze it. Kind regards, Petter ---
**Author:** ![Sasha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/54ee81/32.png) [@Sasha](https://gromacs.bioexcel.eu/u/Sasha)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2021, 8:03pm UTC](https://gromacs.bioexcel.eu/t/electrostatic-potential/1588/3 "2021-02-13T20:03:50Z")
I’m not sure if this is the same plugin, but there is the PME Electrostatics tool in VMD and it does produce a .dx file (with hexagonal symmetry unfortunately mangled into some orthorhombic thing). Now the question is what to do with that file, given that all I really need is a subzone along a straight line. Is there an existing software that could do this? Chimera seems to be mostly a visualization tool… Thanks!