When working on molecular presentations or animations, giving viewers a smooth and informative camera journey through your molecular system can make all the difference. Especially in molecular systems that span vertically—like long proteins, nanowires, or membrane structures—navigating and presenting vertical motion in a comprehensible way can be tricky.
That’s where the Pedestal camera animation in SAMSON can help. This built-in animation tool enables vertical camera movement between two keyframes, keeping both the camera’s position and target point aligned as they move in parallel along the vertical direction. This ensures a stable viewpoint while exploring structures along the vertical axis, avoiding any unwanted tilting, wobble, or jerky transitions.
Why use the Pedestal camera?
If you’ve struggled with presenting elongated DNA helices or vertical protein complexes in an engaging way, you’re not alone. One common challenge is ensuring that the camera follows the system clearly and smoothly—especially in the absence of natural horizontal markers or when orbiting doesn’t make sense.
With the Pedestal camera animation, the camera’s vertical movement feels intentional and controlled. Since both the camera position and its target move upward (or downward) together, the viewer perceives a natural rise along the structure, keeping the focus consistently centered on the molecular system.
How to apply the Pedestal camera animation
1. In the Animator’s Track view, define your start frame.
2. Orient the camera to the starting view as desired.
3. In the Animation panel, double-click on the Pedestal camera animation effect.
4. Set the end frame—the camera’s position and target will be vertically shifted together.
5. Adjust the start or end frames later if needed.
Advanced control
By default, the animation uses the currently active camera. However, you can customize this using the Inspector panel: toggle the Apply to active camera option to specify a different camera if needed.
You can also modify how the camera interpolates between keyframes by tweaking the easing curve. For example, if you want the motion to slow down toward the end, you can use a corresponding easing curve to achieve this effect.
Things to keep in mind
– The pedestal animation is distinct from the Truck camera, which moves horizontally.
– You may notice different behavior depending on whether the coordinate grid is on or off. If the Keep camera upwards option is enabled, the movement will take the state of the grid into account.
– While some camera positions can be adjusted directly, the Pedestal camera enforces vertical alignment. This protects the vertical motion from unintended drifts or offsets.
See it in action
Want to fine-tune how your audience experiences your molecular structure? Try adjusting easing curves, experiment with different vertical distances, and explore how the vertical motion enhances the clarity of your animations.
To learn more about how to use the Pedestal camera animation in SAMSON, visit the official documentation:
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 at https://www.samson-connect.net.