Molecular modelers trying to produce high-quality images for publications, presentations, or communication often face a recurring issue: getting the visuals to look realistic without spending hours tweaking parameters. Representing molecules in photorealistic styles—whether they’re embedded in a glassy matrix, glowing from within, or covered in a metal-like appearance—can be tedious and technically demanding.
The Cycles Renderer in SAMSON, however, offers an efficient solution to this problem. It includes an intuitive way to apply a wide variety of material presets directly from the Inspector—no shader knowledge required.
What Are Material Presets?
Material presets are predefined visual appearances that can be easily applied to objects in your scene—in this case, to your molecular models or imported 3D objects. In SAMSON’s Cycles Renderer, these presets instantly give surfaces qualities such as shininess, transparency, or glow, to name a few.
From a practical standpoint, this feature helps you:
- Create better-looking illustrations with minimal time investment
- Separate elements visually by giving them different surfaces
- Highlight specific regions, such as active sites or functional groups
Getting Started
To apply a material preset in SAMSON:
- Select the object or molecule you want to visualize differently
- Go to the Inspector panel
- Choose a material preset from the available categories
The presets are organized into several categories:
- Metallic: Carbon Fiber, Copper, Gold, Silver
- Semi-metallic: Brass, Bronze, Rust
- Smooth: Ceramic, Latex, Plastic
- Rough: Concrete, Granite, Velvet
- Emissive: Soft, Glowing, Intense
- Transparent: Ice, Glass, Jade
Each of these comes with tuned parameters for realistic visual behavior when rendered with Cycles: reflection, transparency, emission, and texture roughness are already in place. This means you can invest more time in the science and less time in rendering settings.
Fine-Tuning Materials
If you’d like more control, you can modify individual parameters of the materials directly in the Inspector—adjusting the reflectivity, color, index of refraction, and more.
Want an emissive ligand and a metallic protein shell, placed in a transparent matrix? This can be done in just a few clicks.
Examples
Here are some images rendered using SAMSON where material presets make a notable difference in overall look and clarity.
Why This Matters
Scientific communication increasingly depends on high-quality visuals. Whether you’re rendering a small molecule, a macromolecular complex, or a combined scene with imported meshes, being able to apply realistic materials quickly makes it easier to turn your models into clear and engaging visuals. The Cycles Renderer coupled with SAMSON’s material presets bridges the gap between technical depth and user-friendliness, making it a valuable feature for modelers looking for visual efficiency.
To learn more about other rendering capabilities in SAMSON including lighting and animation, visit the full documentation page on rendering.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download it from the SAMSON official website.