If you’ve ever created a molecular animation and noticed that the camera angle changes unexpectedly between frames — even though you didn’t mean to animate it — you’re not alone. This can be frustrating, especially when you want a specific part of the simulation to remain visually stable for clarity or comparison purposes. Fortunately, SAMSON offers a simple yet powerful solution: the Hold camera animation effect.
In interactive modeling sessions, users often move the camera to explore their systems. And when animations are created later, unintended camera motions can appear, making the final animation feel jumpy or inconsistent. Instead of trying to redo your view setups, it’s better to lock down the camera when needed — just like you would stabilize a tripod in photography. That’s exactly what the Hold camera effect does.
What does ‘Hold camera’ do?
The Hold camera animation freezes the camera’s parameters between two frames. This ensures the system is viewed from the same angle throughout the specified range, preserving the visual continuity of your animation.
Example use cases:
- Keeping the camera fixed during a key biochemical reaction frame-line
- Pacing an animation by grounding the viewer’s perspective during a fade or transition
- Ensuring consistency across multiple takes or storytelling sequences
How to use ‘Hold camera’ in SAMSON
Here are the simple steps to add a Hold camera effect:
- Set up your view. In the Animator’s Track view, choose the desired start frame. Use the mouse or navigation controls to orient the camera exactly how you want it.
- Apply the Hold camera effect. Double-click on the Hold camera effect in the Animation panel.
- Set the end frame. Adjust the effect’s duration as needed by setting the end frame to maintain this fixed viewpoint over time.
- You can always adjust the start and end frames later, so it’s flexible.
Additional tips
- Use Hold camera effects before and after more dynamic camera moves to create clear transitions.
- If you’ve worked with earlier versions of SAMSON: note that the Animation menu used in some tutorials has been replaced with the Animation panel accessible from the Animator interface.
- Shortcut guide: Access the Animator from Interface > Animator or using Ctrl + 7 (Windows/Linux) or Cmd + 7 (macOS).
Why this matters
For researchers and educators, smooth and precise animations are essential to communicate ideas effectively. The Hold camera effect gives you a simple way to eliminate jarring camera jumps — without having to animate the camera manually — so that your molecular animations stay focused on the science, not on accidental movements.
To learn more and see the full documentation, visit the official documentation page: Hold camera animation documentation.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download SAMSON at samson-connect.net.