In molecular modeling, repetitive selection of the same atoms, residues, or fragments can quickly become tedious—especially when dealing with complex biomolecular systems. Whether you’re analyzing ligand binding sites, highlighting functional groups, or toggling between different molecular regions, having to re-select the same elements over and over again interrupts your workflow and breaks concentration. SAMSON introduces a feature called Quick Groups to help solve this common issue efficiently.
Quick Groups are temporary, keyboard-accessible selection bookmarks. Think of them like hotkeys for your favorite molecular selections. You can assign a selection to a key (1 through 10) and return to it later with a single press.
Why Quick Groups?
- Rapidly switch between different parts of your system.
- Avoid repeated manual selections.
- Improve consistency when comparing structural features.
- Apply the same visualization or transformation workflow to multiple areas.
If you’ve ever played a real-time strategy game, you’ll find this feature familiar—you create a control group, and recall or zoom to it instantly. In SAMSON, that translates directly to faster modeling and better focus.
Assigning a Quick Group
- Select any group of atoms, residues, or molecules.
- To assign this selection to Quick Group 1, press Shift + 1.
- To assign additional groups, use Shift + 2, 3, and so on, up to 10.
Alternatively, you can hover over a Quick Group slot in the Document view and click while holding Shift to save the current selection.
Using Quick Groups
Once you’ve set your Quick Groups, simply press the number key (1, 2, …) to instantly recall the corresponding selection. Double-tapping the number key (e.g., 1 then 1 again) centers the camera on that group.
This makes navigation and visual comparison much easier during tasks like:
- Analyzing active sites
- Comparing conformations
- Setting up docking regions
- Documenting processes for teaching or collaboration
Example Workflow
- Select a ligand → Shift + 1
- Select the receptor → Shift + 2
- Select surrounding water molecules → Shift + 3
- Now switch between them using 1, 2, 3, or focus the camera with double-presses
This method reduces friction in iterative work and helps structure your approach when managing complex systems.
Clearing or Redefining Groups
Quick Groups are not permanent—they’re lightweight and flexible. If your system changes or your focus shifts, you can easily overwrite a group by assigning a new selection to the same number. And if that group no longer makes sense, you can simply ignore it and redefine it later.
To learn more about selection techniques in SAMSON—including selection filters, Node Specification Language, and scripting—visit the official selection documentation.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.