Characterizing surface properties is important for understanding how proteins execute their function by interacting with other molecules. This includes characterizing cavities. Perhaps the simplest characteristic measure of a cavity is its volume. The definition of a this volume requires use of a probe. Starting from a set of surface residues accessible to the probe, the cavity volume is defined as a connected volume enclosed by the protein surface and a plane whose intersection with the protein surface defines the outer edge of the enclosing protein surface.
What is a computationally simple (as in ideally "canned", "requiring minimal user input" - a pdb file and probe radius, and perhaps a residue to start searching - and "open-source") way for computation of the volume, probe-accessible surface area, and probe-accessible residues/atoms in such enclosed cavities? Example: assume I want to analyze these basic properties for the volume enclosed by a chaperone such as GroEL. A quick web search turns up a long list of software programs to explore cavities in proteins including CavVis, CavBench, CAVER, and CavityPlus, to name a few, but I am not familiar with many of these, and lack resources for an exhaustive exploration. What would be appropriate software for the task I am interested in?