Creating effective and visually insightful molecular models often feels like solving an intricate jigsaw puzzle, especially when dealing with complex molecular systems. Wouldn’t it be great to have a way to quickly apply predefined visual styles to your models, all without getting lost in endless settings? SAMSON’s Visual Presets provide exactly this solution, bringing a faster and smarter way to visualize molecular systems without compromising on depth and customization.
The Power of Visual Presets
Visual presets are a comprehensive feature in SAMSON that allow you to instantly apply multiple visual representations and color schemes to a molecular system. Instead of tediously setting individual visual models or color schemes for each part of your system, visual presets let you do this in just a few clicks. Whether you want to focus on receptor-ligand interactions or highlight specific atoms, visual presets help streamline this task with ease.
The magic lies in their flexibility. SAMSON provides a set of default visual presets, such as the Protein-ligand preset, which is specifically designed to present protein-ligand complexes efficiently. For instance, applied to PDB code 1AA1, this preset creates a clean, digestible view of the protein and its interaction partner:
How to Quickly Apply Visual Presets
Applying visual presets is simple:
- Click on Home > Visual preset or Visualization > Visual preset in the main menu.
- Choose a default or previously saved visual preset from the list.
Just like that, your molecular system is transformed. If nothing is selected, the preset applies to the entire document. If a specific selection is made, the preset focuses on that part and adds visual models and groups accordingly. For users analyzing multi-component systems, this feature can save significant time and effort.
Customizing and Creating Your Own Presets
Discovering the beauty of visual presets doesn’t stop at the defaults. The Visual Preset Editor lets you create custom presets tailored to your needs. Each preset consists of one or more steps, and each step provides the following options:
- Choosing the nodes the step applies to (e.g., “Receptor,” “Ligands” or even custom selection using the Node Specification Language).
- Adding actions like “Zoom on selection” or “Label atoms.”
- Selecting visual models such as “Ribbons” or “Van der Waals.”
- Applying a color scheme (e.g., “Constant” or “Per chain”).
Custom presets can also include multiple actions in a single step, all applied sequentially. By clicking the 
Add step button, users can layer steps to build intricate visualization styles. Here’s a look at the customization interface:
Fine-Tune Your Models
Within each step, users can also refine details like color palettes by double-clicking on the color field and choosing or creating new palettes. This level of customization ensures that your molecular visualization aligns perfectly with the research focus, making communication and publication all the more effective.
Once satisfied, save the preset so it automatically appears in your future sessions. By incorporating custom presets into your workflow, you’ll always have quick access to visualization styles tailored to specific project needs.
Enjoy Faster and Smarter Visualizations
Visual presets significantly enhance productivity in molecular design projects. They are particularly helpful for anyone striving to deliver clear, expressive molecular models — whether for academic presentation, drug discovery, or any visual storytelling in molecular science.
Want to dive deeper? Learn more about using and customizing visual presets in the full documentation here: https://documentation.samson-connect.net/users/latest/visual-presets/.
Note: SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. Download SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.