For any molecular modeler, diving into a new platform like SAMSON often comes with a steep learning curve. Feeling stuck while trying to grasp workflows can interrupt your research progress, particularly when you’re tackling intricate molecular design tasks. This is where SAMSON’s Interactive Tutorials can make a major difference. These tutorials are designed to guide you step-by-step inside the application itself, offering hands-on learning rather than theoretical study.
Why Interactive Tutorials?
Imagine you’re trying to visualize molecular structures or simulate a specific interaction inside SAMSON. Scoring through documentation can sometimes be overwhelming if you’re more of a hands-on learner. Interactive tutorials take care of this by embedding the learning process directly into the application. They guide you through the necessary steps for different workflows, ensuring you not only understand the process but can also repeat it confidently.
These tutorials are part of SAMSON’s broader onboarding experience. They are most helpful after you’ve taken a quick look at the interface areas (First look: the interface) and completed basic tasks like moving around and loading molecules.
Getting Started Is Simple
To begin your guided learning journey, follow these steps:
- Open SAMSON and navigate to Help > Tutorials in the main menu.
- Choose the interactive tutorial that matches the task you want to learn (e.g., molecular visualization or specific analysis workflows).
- Click Start tutorial and let SAMSON lead the way.
The guided steps will appear as contextual tips in the SAMSON interface, making it easier for you to follow along and learn as you perform actual tasks. With this approach, you’ll no longer be just reading about workflows—you’ll be practicing them directly.
Pause, Restart, or Stop Anytime
Learning at your own pace is key. If you need to stop, just close the tutorial tip window in the top-right corner of the Viewport. Don’t worry, you can always restart the tutorial from scratch whenever you’re ready by going back to Help > Tutorials. This flexibility means you can fit the tutorials into your schedule without the pressure of completing them in one go.
When Should You Use Interactive Tutorials?
If you’re new to SAMSON or struggling with a specific workflow, these tutorials are a great way to build confidence. While entirely optional, they are particularly useful once you’ve familiarized yourself with the basic interface operations. Tutorials are also a helpful resource to revisit when you need to perform a task you haven’t practiced in a while.
By the end of a tutorial, you should be ready to reproduce the demonstrated workflow on your own, and if needed, you’ll know which guide pages to refer to for further assistance.
Next Steps and Resources
Once you’ve completed an interactive tutorial, you can explore other areas of SAMSON to expand your expertise:
- Experiment with loading your own molecular structures.
- Discover SAMSON AI for assistant-led help, tailored to your queries and workflows.
Interactive tutorials are a practical solution for hands-on learners and researchers who want to hit the ground running with SAMSON. To learn more about getting started with these tutorials, visit the official documentation page.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download SAMSON at samson-connect.net.