One of the most overlooked yet essential challenges in molecular modeling presentations is maintaining clarity while guiding viewers through complex 3D structures. Whether you’re creating an educational video, showcasing molecular docking, or simply navigating large biomolecules during a meeting, poor camera control can make even the best models hard to follow.
SAMSON, the integrative molecular design platform, provides a suite of camera animations tailored to help you compose precise, intuitive, and visually engaging presentations. Knowing when and how to use each of these animations can significantly improve the experience for your audience.
What Are Camera Animations?
Camera animations in SAMSON enable you to move the viewer’s point of view throughout your presentation. They do not affect the molecules themselves, just how they are displayed. This distinction is critical: the atoms stay put, but your perspective on them changes.
These animations are especially useful in scenarios like:
- Zooming in on a binding pocket
- Orbiting around a new conformation
- Tracking a reaction pathway
- Creating clear, cinematic transitions between molecular states
Types of Camera Animations
SAMSON provides several camera animation types, each with its specific use case:
- Orbit camera: Rotate the camera smoothly around a specified point, ideal for giving full-context views.
- Move camera: Translate the camera from one point to another — good for transitioning between areas of interest.
- Dolly camera: Move the camera along its viewing direction, simulating moving forward or backward.
- Truck camera: Slide the camera sideways or up/down, like panning in photography.
- Zoom camera: Adjust the zoom level without altering the perspective position.
- Hold camera: Useful for pausing the motion, maintaining the viewer’s attention on a specific scene.
- Pedestal camera: Move the camera up or down without tilting it – useful for vertical transitions.
- Look at atoms: Automatically orient the camera toward a molecular group, ensuring focus remains on relevant content.
How to Apply Camera Animations
All camera animations are accessible through the Animation panel in the Animator. Simply:
- Open the Animator
- Select the camera object from the document view
- Add keyframes at desired times in your timeline
- Choose the type of camera animation and its parameters
You can preview the animation sequence directly in the timeline, tweak durations, and combine different motion types for intricate paths.
Best Practices
To get the most out of camera animations:
- Use Hold camera before and after major movements to give your audience time to process what they see.
- Combine Orbit and Zoom to draw attention to a specific site while maintaining spatial awareness.
- Use Play path to define a full trajectory if you need a highly customized route.
Where to Learn More
For a video tutorial on creating molecular animations in SAMSON, you can watch this YouTube tutorial. And for a complete list of camera actions, visit the SAMSON Animations documentation page.
By mastering camera movements, you can make your molecular presentations substantially more informative and navigable, improving communication in both research and education settings.
Click here to explore all SAMSON animation capabilities.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.