When preparing molecular presentations, communicating structure and dynamics clearly can be a challenge. Static images often miss the 3D context, and manually aligning frames for a flyaround animation can be time-consuming and imprecise.
Fortunately, if you’re using SAMSON, the Orbit camera animation allows you to effortlessly create smooth rotations around molecular assemblies or areas of interest — ideal for presentations, teaching materials, or supplementary videos for publications.
What Is the Orbit Camera Animation?
The Orbit camera animation makes the camera rotate around its current target point — typically the center of your view. It’s a quick way to create intuitive “flyaround” animations with minimal setup.
How to Add an Orbit Camera Animation in SAMSON
- First, orient the view in the direction you want the camera to rotate.
- Open the Animator, and double-click the Orbit camera animation in the Animation panel.
- Define the end frame to set the duration of the orbit.
That’s all it takes to set the foundation. Now you can customize the animation path and smoothness.
Fine-Tuning the Animation: Control the Experience
Orbit camera animations automatically apply to the active camera, using the current target point (center of the viewport) as the orbit center. But fine control over the behavior is available through the Inspector and animation controllers.
Adjust the Rotation Plane
- Grid OFF: The camera rotates in a plane through the center horizontal line of the viewport and the target point.
- Grid ON: Rotation aligns with the grid’s plane, providing structured navigation (especially handy for crystalline systems).
Whether the camera maintains an upright orientation also depends on the grid; enabling the Keep camera upwards option forces consistent up directions during the orbit.
Editing Keyframes & Thumbnail Previews
You can adjust the target point and camera paths using visual controllers. Keyframes are previewed with thumbnails in the interface, helping you storyboard your scene at a glance.
If controllers are not visible, zoom out using your mouse scroll or press Ctrl/Cmd + “-” to reveal them. This feature helps especially when working on large molecular assemblies or when initial camera positions are far off from the target.
Use Easing Curves for Smoother Animations
From the Inspector, you can apply various easing curves to control how camera motion interpolates between frames. For example, choosing an ease-in-out curve makes the motion appear more natural and cinematic — helpful when exporting videos.
Tried-and-Tested Examples
These examples demonstrate the flexibility of the Orbit camera animation in visually engaging ways. Whether it’s a protein complex or a metal-organic framework, being able to rotate the camera while keeping focus makes these structures more accessible.
Final Thoughts
For molecular modelers, educators, and science communicators, Orbit camera animations offer an approachable way to improve visual storytelling. It saves time versus manual keyframing and ensures a professional look with minimal effort.
You can learn more in the full documentation.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download SAMSON here.