One of the recurring challenges in molecular presentations is preserving how atoms move during a simulation or an animation. Whether you’re docking molecules, assembling structures, or applying custom motion, understanding and showcasing atomic trajectories is crucial.
But what happens when you want to reuse these trajectories? Or share them with a colleague? Without a clear way to record paths, you might find yourself redoing animations or losing valuable movement data.
This is where the Record path animation in SAMSON becomes an indispensable tool.
Why record atom trajectories?
Imagine running a complex docking animation and wanting to visualize or analyze the exact path the ligand takes while interacting with the target. Without trajectory recording, you’d have to re-run the animation and watch the movement frame by frame.
Recording the path means you can keep a digital snapshot of how atoms moved through time. You can then:
- Reuse the trajectory in other animations or simulations.
- Export and share it with collaborators.
- Create clearer, reproducible scientific presentations.
How to use the Record path animation in SAMSON
The Record path animation creates a separate track in your presentation timeline that stores atom trajectories. To add it:
- Open the Animation panel in the Animator.
- Double-click on the Record path effect. This inserts a keyframe where you’re currently located in the timeline.
- Move or adjust the keyframe as needed.
The track line will help you visualize the recording progress. Green segments show frames where positions have been successfully recorded. Red segments, on the other hand, indicate that data is missing or has become invalid (for example, due to modifications made after recording).
Tips for seamless recording
- Animations in SAMSON execute from top to bottom. So, if you’re recording movement resulting from multiple animations (e.g., Assemble, Dock, Simulate), make sure to place Record path after them in the Animator stack.
- You can disable the recording temporarily to enhance performance while preparing your presentation. Re-enable it when you’re ready to capture the full trajectory.
- If recording is disabled, the animation controller will appear darkened. You can toggle this by either right-clicking on the animation in the Animator or through the Inspector.
Exporting the path
After recording (once the track is fully green), you can extract the path:
- From the Inspector, click on Create path.
- Or right-click on the animation in the Animator and select Create path.
The resulting Path node is a fully independent object that you can inspect, visualize, or use in future projects.
Final thoughts
Recording trajectories in molecular animations doesn’t just add structure to your workflow – it adds clarity, reproducibility, and shareability too. Whether you’re preparing a paper, compiling a teaching module, or simply organizing your own data, Record path helps make your molecular animations more powerful and reliable.
To learn more, visit the original documentation here: https://documentation.samson-connect.net/users/latest/animations/record-path/
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.