When creating molecular presentations, it can be challenging to guide your audience’s visual focus across complex structures. Whether you are demonstrating a docking process or showing molecular assembly, static views often fall short. That’s where camera animations come in—more specifically, the Move camera animation in SAMSON.
The Move camera feature helps you interpolate smoothly between multiple points of view, giving your viewers a dynamic journey through your molecular model. Think of it as your director’s tool for crafting smooth transitions and visual storytelling.
Why it matters
Modelers often need to highlight specific binding sites, conformational changes, or spatial relationships that are not obvious from a single view. Jump cuts between perspectives can be disorienting. The solution? Animating the camera path to keep your viewer aligned with the logic of your explanation.
How it works
To use Move camera, first orient your view inside SAMSON the way you want it shown at a specific time. Then, in the Animator’s Track view, select the frame where you want this camera position to apply. Double-click on Move camera in the Animation panel to insert a keyframe at that position.
Want to guide your audience through multiple viewpoints? Just repeat this process: reorient the camera, select a new time frame in the track, and insert another keyframe. SAMSON will interpolate between keyframes to create a continuous animation path.
Pro-tip: Adjusting the path
You can refine the animation by dragging the keyframes along the timeline or modifying the properties of the animation. For example:
- Apply to active camera: Determines which camera the animation targets.
- Keep camera upwards: Dictates whether the camera should remain upright during transitions, which can depend on whether the grid is active.
- Easing curve: Controls the interpolation style between camera positions. This impacts how the camera accelerates and decelerates between keyframes.
You can also manually adjust the target point and position of the camera using animation controllers for higher precision. This is particularly useful when aligning animations with molecular events like docking or folding.
Try these examples
If you’d like to see examples before building your own animations, SAMSON provides several documents that use Move camera:
These examples illustrate just how flexible and informative a guided camera path can be. From walking through cavities in porous materials to emphasizing critical parts of a receptor site, the camera’s movement enriches the scientific narrative.
To remove a keyframe you no longer need, just right-click on it in the Animator’s Track view and select Remove keyframe. It’s that simple.
If you’re transitioning from older workflows, note that the Animation menu has been replaced by the Animation panel in the Animator. You still access all animations from the same place—now with clearer control integration.
Mastering the Move camera animation in SAMSON helps you ensure that your audience always sees what truly matters. It’s not just a visual flourish; it’s a tool for better scientific communication.
To explore all the settings and features, visit the official documentation: https://documentation.samson-connect.net/users/latest/animations/move-camera/
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can get SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.