Creating clear and instructive molecular animations can be challenging, especially when you want to highlight vertical structures or transitions—like showing a ligand moving through a channel, traveling along an alpha helix, or simply scanning through layers of a molecular system. A common issue in such animations is how to cleanly and efficiently move the point of view upward or downward without making the camera path distracting or unnatural.
The Pedestal camera animation in SAMSON is a useful tool to address this. It allows you to move both the camera’s position and its target point in a vertical direction, while keeping the view steady. This blog post will explain how and why to use the Pedestal camera animation, including common scenarios in molecular modeling where it can add clarity.
Why Choose Pedestal Camera Animation?
The pedestal movement adjusts both the camera’s position and the target point simultaneously and vertically. This makes it possible to preserve the orientation of the structure while simply shifting the point of view along the vertical axis in the camera reference frame—ideal for linear molecules or channel visualizations.
Consider this: If you were studying a membrane-spanning protein and wanted to present how a molecule travels through a pore, a smooth and parallel vertical shift of the camera creates the visual impression of movement through space without changing focus. You keep the central features in view while gliding the point of view upward—no tilting, no zooming, just pure vertical transition.
How to Add a Pedestal Camera Animation
- Go to the Animator’s Track view and select the desired start frame.
- Orient the view manually by rotating or translating the scene as you need for your starting position.
- In the Animation panel, double-click on the Pedestal camera effect to insert the animation at the current frame.
- The camera’s starting position and target point are both recorded automatically. Then, SAMSON shifts them vertically by the same amount for the end frame.
- Set the end frame according to the desired animation length.
Fine-Tuning the Animation
You can modify how the camera moves vertically by adjusting the animation’s properties. Here are a few key options:
- Apply to active camera: This ensures the animation affects the currently viewed camera. You can change it via the Inspector.
- Keep camera upwards: When this option is checked, camera alignment depends on whether the grid is visible. This can offer more natural geometry-aware camera shifts.
- Easing curve: You can control acceleration and deceleration of the animation using common easing functions—helpful when adjusting pacing.
It’s also possible to manually tweak the starting and ending target points using animation controllers, though pedestal animations have limitations in how these can be edited (since the directionality must remain strictly vertical).
Clearer Molecular Storytelling
By using the Pedestal camera animation, you can offer a more intuitive spatial perspective within your molecular story. Rather than a disorienting fly-around or zoom, a vertical tracking motion allows the audience to remain focused on a specific structural path. It’s a subtle yet powerful tool for better scientific communication.
To learn more and for step-by-step guidance, visit the full documentation: https://documentation.samson-connect.net/users/latest/animations/pedestal-camera/.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. Download SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.