Creating engaging molecular animations can be time-consuming, especially when trying to guide the viewer’s attention across complex molecular structures. One of the common frustrations among structural biologists, medicinal chemists, and molecular modelers is achieving smooth camera movements that emphasize the right features without feeling jerky or disconnected.
If you’ve ever asked yourself “how can I easily control the camera’s path in my molecular animation, without coding or exporting to other platforms?”, the Move camera animation in SAMSON might be exactly what you need.
Guided Camera Movement Without Scripting
The Move camera animation lets you direct the camera’s flight path across your molecular system by using keyframes. You set up preferred view angles at specific frames in the animation timeline, and SAMSON automatically interpolates camera positions between them.
This allows you to focus the viewer’s attention along an intended visual path: zooming in on an active site, revealing molecular interactions, or transitioning smoothly between structural domains.
No Need to Start Over
Adjusting your animation is not destructive. You can always add, delete, or move keyframes in the Animator’s Track view. This gives you freedom to tweak the motion until it feels just right.
To add a new camera position:
- Go to the frame where you want the change.
- Orient the view as desired.
- Click in the animation track or right-click and select Add keyframe.
What Happens in the Background
Behind the scenes, the animation stores each camera state—position, orientation, and target. The default behavior applies the animation to the currently active camera, and the target point is the center of the current view.
You can change these defaults by inspecting the animation. For example, enable or disable the Keep camera upwards option if you want the orientation to depend on grid visibility.
Final polish comes through easing curves—control how quickly or slowly the camera accelerates between frames.
When to Use It
If you’re preparing a molecular presentation where spatial understanding is vital—think docking poses, channel views, or allosteric site exposure—this feature becomes very useful. Combine several Move camera sequences to build complete tours.
Real Examples from Users
Need inspiration? Check these animations made with Move camera:
To learn more, visit the full documentation: https://documentation.samson-connect.net/users/latest/animations/move-camera/
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download SAMSON from https://www.samson-connect.net.