When exploring molecular systems, staying focused on the part of the system that matters most can be surprisingly difficult. Molecules twist, fold, and shift in complex choreography, and during an animation it’s easy to lose sight of the biologically or chemically interesting structures—whether it’s an active site, a ligand, or a specific protein chain.
That’s where SAMSON’s Follow atoms animation becomes a valuable tool for researchers, educators, and anyone analyzing molecular dynamics. This feature allows the camera to continuously track a set of selected atoms throughout an animation while maintaining a consistent viewpoint relative to them.
Why Follow Atoms?
In molecular modeling, you often want to observe how a specific group of atoms behaves during a simulation. For instance, in a long protein folding trajectory, you might want to monitor how the binding pocket evolves or how a bound ligand moves.
Without a camera that follows the atoms, you’d need to manually reposition the camera throughout the animation or risk losing the relevant part of the structure as it drifts out of view. Follow atoms saves time and keeps your analysis focused.
How It Works
To use the feature, first select the atoms you want to follow. Then, orient the camera as desired. In the Animator’s Track view, choose the start frame and double-click the Follow atoms effect in the Animation panel.
Between the start and end frames, the camera’s target will track the geometric center of the selected atoms. Meanwhile, the camera itself will move to maintain the same relative position to those atoms, essentially “following” them no matter where they go.
This is particularly useful for zoomed-in views of small molecular substructures, where context is critical and slight shifts in position matter.
Adjusting the Behavior
You can fine-tune the effect in several ways. For example:
- Camera Position: You can still adjust camera positions using the animation controllers, while the target point remains centered on the selected atoms.
- Camera Up Direction: There’s an option to keep the camera upright depending on whether the grid is enabled. This can affect how the camera rolls while it follows moving atoms.
- Changing the Camera: By default, the effect is applied to the active camera but can be reassigned if needed by inspecting the animation and modifying the Apply to active camera property.
When to Use It
If you’re preparing an educational video showing molecular binding, a research presentation on conformational changes, or simply want to better understand a dynamic simulation at the atomistic level, using Follow atoms can provide clarity and focus to your visualizations.
And the best part? You don’t need to be an expert in camera control to use it. Just select the atoms and let SAMSON do the tracking for you.
To learn more about how this feature works and explore additional properties you can tweak, visit the official documentation page: https://documentation.samson-connect.net/users/latest/animations/follow-atoms/
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. Get SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net