When you’re creating animations of molecular systems, even the smallest unintended camera shift can disrupt the story you’re trying to tell. Have you ever carefully crafted a molecular animation, only to find your view angle jumping between frames—even when you didn’t mean for it to?
This can occur in SAMSON when the camera isn’t explicitly controlled throughout the entire animation timeline. If you don’t use a camera-related animation effect at certain frames, the view can drift based on your last working perspective. This is where the Hold camera animation comes in.
Why keeping the camera fixed matters
In molecular modeling, precision storytelling is key—whether it’s showing the binding of a ligand to a protein, or visualizing structural changes during a simulation. A static view ensures clarity, avoids confusion, and allows colleagues or viewers to focus on what really matters: the molecular transformations.
Manual control of the view for every frame can be impractical. It’s time-consuming and error-prone. Instead, the Hold camera effect gives you precise control over how your animation is framed by locking the camera’s position and orientation between two frames.
How to use the Hold camera animation
- Choose a starting frame in the Animator Track view.
- Adjust the view to your desired static perspective. You can orbit, pan, or zoom to get the framing just right.
- From the Animation panel of the Animator interface, double-click on the Hold camera effect.
- Set the end frame where the view should remain unchanged. The camera will now stay fixed between these two frames.
Flexible and non-destructive
One handy feature of the Hold camera effect: you can always move the start and end frames later without needing to delete or recreate the effect. This means you can adapt your animation dynamically as your project evolves—without compromising your camera control.
And if you’re trying to combine sections with a moving camera and others with a static view, mix the Move camera and Hold camera effects on different segments of the timeline.
A visual example
Here’s a short illustration using the Hold camera effect. The camera remains focused and stable throughout the annotated frames, as molecular structures evolve within the frame:
To learn more about how to apply this effect and keep your animations consistent, visit the full SAMSON documentation: https://documentation.samson-connect.net/users/latest/animations/hold-camera/
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can get SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net