A familiar frustration for molecular modelers: you know a tool can help with a task, but finding the right explanation means sitting through a long overview—or interrupting work to explore menus without knowing where to start. Webinar recordings can be more useful when you treat them not as lectures to watch from beginning to end, but as searchable, timestamped guides to specific tasks.
The SAMSON webinar recordings include chapter links, so you can jump directly to the part that matches the problem in front of you. That small change in how you use a recording makes it easier to learn in short sessions, revisit a feature later, and keep your attention on the modeling question you are trying to answer.
Find the chapter that matches your current task
Before pressing play, name the obstacle as specifically as you can. Are you trying to make a selection, inspect a structure, align proteins, create an interaction diagram, or prepare a visualization? Then use the chapter list to go straight to the related segment.
- Inspecting a structure: The 2025 recording covers Progressive Clipping at 7:27. This is a good place to start when your immediate goal is to examine a structure using that feature.
- Keeping useful selections organized: The Quick Groups chapter begins at 14:42.
- Working with protein sequences and structures: The Protein Aligner segment starts at 20:33.
- Communicating protein–ligand interactions: The Interaction designer segment, about creating and editing 2D and 3D diagrams, begins at 30:02.
- Building designs: The Pattern Builders chapter starts at 44:59.
These pointers are not a substitute for trying a feature in your own project. They are a way to reduce the time spent locating the relevant explanation. Watch the segment that addresses your question, pause when you see a step you want to reproduce, and then test it on a suitable document. If the feature is unfamiliar, replay the chapter rather than trying to remember every detail from a single viewing.
Use older recordings for broader workflow questions
Sometimes the problem is not one specific tool. You may be deciding how to approach selection, visualization, simulation data, or sharing a document. The 2024 webinar is useful as a wider survey, with chapters that let you choose a topic without watching the entire recording.
For example, its selection sections cover the Document View and Context Toolbar at 13:15, the Viewport and Selection filters at 16:29, and the Node Specification Language and SAMSON AI at 18:35. If you are preparing figures, jump to Cycles at 23:47 or the Visual Preset Editor at 26:32. For other workflows, the recording also includes chapters on GROMACS simulations, the integrated Python Environment, and sharing documents on SAMSON Connect.
Make a small learning loop
- Write down the task. For example: “I need to compare protein structures” or “I want to show ligand interactions clearly.”
- Choose one relevant chapter. Use the timestamp to avoid searching through the full recording.
- Try the feature. Apply what you learned to your own modeling work, and note any step that needs another look.
- Return to the chapter when needed. The timestamps make targeted review practical, even when you only have a few minutes.
This approach helps turn a webinar archive into a practical reference: a way to answer a question that has come up in your work, rather than another item on a watch-later list. Browse the SAMSON webinar page to find the recordings and chapter lists.
Note: SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. Get SAMSON.