For molecular modelers, precise measurements and annotations are essential in understanding structures and communicating findings. From bond lengths to torsion angles, visualizing and retaining key data can be a challenge—especially when working on complex molecules. SAMSON’s Measure editor provides valuable tools for measuring and managing molecular properties with ease.
Effortless Distance, Angle, and Torsion Measurements
With the Measure editor in SAMSON, you can quickly assess molecular properties:
- Select a single bond to reveal its bond length.
- Click two atoms to measure the distance between them.
- Select three atoms to calculate the angle they form.
- Choose four atoms to observe the torsion (dihedral angle).
These features empower you to efficiently analyze spatial relationships in molecules, saving time while ensuring accuracy.
Temporary or Persistent Labels: Your Choice
By default, measurements appear as temporary visual aids in SAMSON’s viewport. Temporary measurements are displayed regardless of the zoom level, but they are overridden when the next measurement is performed. To retain important results for longer-term reference, you can save measurements as labels. Simply press Enter after creating a measurement to save it in the associated document.
Once saved, measurement labels act as permanent elements, fully integrated into your molecular design workspace. These annotations are preserved when saving your project in SAMSON’s file formats (.sam or .samx), allowing you to revisit and share key insights.
Enhanced Measurement Insights with the Inspector
When you save measurement data as labels, additional tools become available in SAMSON’s Inspector interface:
- Distance labels gain additional information, including projections on atom planes.
- Atoms involved in any measurement can be easily accessed directly from the associated label in the Inspector.
Leveraging the Inspector, you can modify measurement colors (e.g., lines and planes) for clearer visualization. You can even customize fonts and reset to default styles as needed.
Expanded Visual Customizations
Fine-tuning the appearance of labels is especially important for presentations and publication-ready visuals. Measurement labels in SAMSON can be customized in several ways:
- Change font styles and sizes for better readability.
- Adjust colors for distance lines, angle planes, and labels to match your visualization needs.
- Reset colors and appearance settings through intuitive options in the Inspector.
Global preferences for label fonts and decimal precision are also available in the Preferences menu, ensuring that your workspace stays consistent and tailored to your workflow.
Labels aren’t limited to measurements alone. You can also annotate atoms with formal or partial charge data by using the corresponding context toolbar. These additional annotations make molecular modeling in SAMSON comprehensive and insightful.
SAMSON offers an efficient and customizable way to conduct and save your measurements, fully integrating them into your molecular design process. If you frequently find yourself juggling temporary readings or struggling to annotate molecular insights, these tools will make your workflow smoother and more productive.
Discover more about the measurement tools in SAMSON’s official documentation: https://documentation.samson-connect.net/users/latest/measuring/.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. Get SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.