When you’re preparing animations of molecular systems, visual flow matters. Maybe you’re showcasing an assembly of biomolecules or walking your collaborators through a long supramolecular structure. In these cases, moving the viewpoint smoothly along your structure — not around it — can help keep attention on what’s important without disorienting viewers.
This is where the Pedestal camera animation in SAMSON becomes valuable. It allows you to move the camera vertically — up or down — between two keyframes, keeping both the camera’s position and its target point in sync. The result: a smooth, linear motion along your system, ideal for tall or elongated molecular models.
What the Pedestal Camera Does
The Pedestal camera effect moves the camera in the vertical direction within its own coordinate frame. This means the entire view appears to shift up (or down), instead of orbiting or rotating as in other camera motions. It modifies two key attributes simultaneously: the camera’s position and its target point. Both are displaced vertically by the same amount between frames, so the view remains stable and forward-facing, just higher or lower.
If you’re already familiar with the Truck camera — which does the same horizontally — then you’re halfway there. These animations are closely related and can be combined for planar motions.
Applying the Pedestal Camera Animation
To apply the Pedestal camera effect, follow this general workflow:
- In SAMSON’s Animator track view, pick your start frame.
- Set up your desired view by orienting the main camera.
- Double-click on the Pedestal camera effect in the Animation panel.
- The current camera position and target are saved for the start frame; for the end frame, they are both shifted up vertically (you can adjust this afterward).
- Set the end frame wherever you like to finalize the duration.
You can tweak the start and end frames any time. Moreover, if you need more precise control, SAMSON allows adjustment of the easing curve to change how the motion accelerates and decelerates during the animation.
When to Use It
This animation is useful in several situations:
- You are navigating vertically stacked molecular layers (e.g., membranes, crystals).
- You want to present a vertical transition or elevator-like motion through a scene.
- You need to align the animation precisely to your system’s vertical axis.
Do note that the camera’s orientation depends on whether the Grid is switched on. If the “Keep camera upwards” option is selected, and the grid is active, then the animation aligns accordingly. This makes it easy to maintain consistency when moving between scenes with different orientations.
Limitations to Keep in Mind
There are some constraints with Pedestal animations. Unlike freeform camera adjustments, the vertical motion restricts how much the camera’s positions and target points can be edited once the animation is applied. However, for most use cases where a strict upward or downward movement is desired, this is exactly the behavior you want.
Conclusion
The Pedestal camera animation is a simple yet useful tool to improve animated walkthroughs of molecular assemblies, especially when spotlighting vertical features. It complements the Truck and Move camera effects for flexible control in all spatial directions. To learn more or start applying this yourself, check out the full documentation page here: https://documentation.samson-connect.net/users/latest/animations/pedestal-camera/
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download SAMSON from https://www.samson-connect.net.