When a molecular system moves during an animation, the camera can quickly lose the part you meant to watch. Manually panning to keep up interrupts the viewing experience—and makes it harder to focus on what the motion is showing. In SAMSON, the Follow atoms animation keeps the camera with a chosen set of atoms, so you can watch their trajectory without repeatedly repositioning the view.
The key idea is simple: the camera target follows the geometric center of the atoms selected when the animation is created. The camera position moves along with that target, preserving the vector between them. In other words, the camera follows the selected region while maintaining its established relative position, rather than leaving it behind as it moves.
This is useful when you want to follow a moving part of a larger system—for example, to keep a region centered while inspecting its motion. It also helps make an animation easier to follow: viewers can concentrate on the movement instead of watching the subject drift out of frame.
Set up the view before adding the animation
Before creating the effect, decide which atoms should remain in view and how you want to look at them. The starting camera position matters because it establishes the camera’s initial relationship to the selected atoms.
- Select the atoms you want the camera to follow. The animation uses this selection, so choose the relevant region rather than assuming it will follow the entire system.
- Orient the camera to get the starting view you want. The current camera position is used at the animation’s start.
- Choose a start frame in the Animator’s Track view, then double-click Follow atoms in the Animator’s Animation panel.
- Set the end frame to define how long the camera-following effect should run. You can move the start and end frames later if the timing needs adjustment.
Between the animation’s keyframes, the target point follows the geometric center of the selected atoms. At the end, the camera is moved with the atoms while keeping the target-to-camera vector constant. This makes the initial framing a useful reference: choose a comfortable viewing angle and distance before adding the effect.
Two details that can affect the result
By default, camera animations apply to the active camera. If you need to change this, inspect the animation and adjust Apply to active camera. The animation’s target point is defined using the active camera’s current target position, which is generally the center of the view.
Camera positioning can also behave differently depending on whether the grid is on or off. Inspect the animation’s Keep camera upwards option to control this behavior. If the option is checked, the result depends on the grid state.
You can adjust the camera position with the animation controllers. Keep in mind that the target remains at the geometric center of the selected atoms. So, if you want a different viewing angle or distance, make the adjustment while remembering that the target itself will continue to track that center.
A practical takeaway: select the atoms carefully, establish the starting view first, and then set the animation’s timing. That small bit of preparation can save repeated camera corrections and keep the moving region easy to inspect.
For the complete instructions, see the Follow atoms documentation.
Note: SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. Get SAMSON.