You have a molecule framed just right: the binding site is visible, the surrounding structure gives enough context, and the view is ready for a comparison or a presentation. Then you rotate to inspect another region—and have to spend time trying to get back to the original angle. This is a common navigation frustration in molecular modeling: exploring a structure can mean losing a useful view.
In SAMSON, a practical way to avoid repeatedly reconstructing views is to keep multiple cameras in the same document. Each camera provides a 3D view of the document’s visualizable objects. A document has at least one camera, and although several can be present, only one is active at a time. You can therefore keep different viewpoints available and switch between them as your task changes.
Build a small set of purposeful views
Think of cameras as saved viewpoints for different moments in your work—not as a replacement for navigating. For example, one view might show the whole document, another might focus on a selected region, and another might provide a close-up. The documentation specifically describes switching between positions, projections, close-up views, and a full view as useful reasons to have multiple cameras.
To add a camera, choose Visualization > Camera. The new camera starts at a default position, so it may need to be adjusted for the view you want. Use the camera controls to point it toward a location, zoom, translate, or rotate. When you want to return to a different viewpoint, double-click its camera in the Document view, or right-click it and choose Set as active camera.
A useful habit is to decide what each view is for before switching away from it. That makes the camera list a simple navigation aid: return to a broad structural view when you need context, or activate a closer view when you need to inspect a particular area. It also helps keep exploration from turning into a repeated cycle of zooming and rotating until a previous composition looks familiar again.
Use camera actions to reset or refine a view
Right-click a camera in the Document view to open its context menu. From there, you can center the camera on the current selection or on the whole document. These options are useful when a view has drifted away from the structure you want to inspect, or when you need to re-establish context around a selected part of the model.
The same menu includes options for camera inertia and orthographic projection. Inertia allows movement with inertia; orthographic projection can be useful, for example, when viewing crystals. The menu also lets you set the camera as active and move the camera. These controls let you choose a view that suits the job rather than assuming that one perspective works equally well for every inspection.
Check the camera properties
If you need to inspect or adjust camera settings, select the camera and open the Inspector. The Inspector provides access to camera properties such as position, projection, and inertia. This is especially useful when a view does not look the way you expect: instead of only changing the viewport by trial and error, you can inspect the selected camera’s settings directly.
Keep the viewpoint with the document
Cameras are part of a SAMSON document, and are saved and loaded with it in .sam and .samx formats. That means your document can retain its cameras alongside the work they help you view. For a modeling session, this makes it easier to move between inspection and overview without treating every change of angle as something you must undo manually.
If you have the special glasses required for stereo viewing, stereo can also be activated from the Visualization menu. For everyday navigation, see the guide to Moving around. For camera controls and related options, visit the SAMSON camera documentation.
Note: SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. Get SAMSON.