Tracking how molecules move during simulations or interactive presentations can be key when communicating your discoveries. But if you’ve ever tried capturing atom trajectories while modifying structures in real-time—be it docking ligands, assembling molecules, or simulating dynamics—you might know how tedious it can get.
The Record path animation in SAMSON offers a way to visually capture and preserve this motion, without needing to write a single line of code. Whether you’re preparing a talk or documenting a workflow, this tool creates a reliable visual history of spatial changes in your molecular models.
Why atom trajectory recording matters
Imagine the following scenario: you’re presenting a docking animation showing a ligand entering an active site, and a viewer asks, “Can we trace the exact trajectory again?” Or maybe you’re iteratively building a macromolecule, and want to generate a publication-quality visualization of its assembly.
Record path removes the guesswork. It creates a reusable, exportable visual track of atom positions over time that you can replay, analyze or use to create further animations.
Using Record Path in SAMSON
Here’s how it works:
- Insert the Record Path animation: In the Animation panel, double-click “Record path” to insert it into your Animator timeline. It will begin recording from the current frame.
- Placement matters: The Animator executes animations from top to bottom. Be sure to place Record Path after other animations (like Assemble or Dock) that affect atomic motion. This ensures it records the outcomes.
- Track color codes: Green segments indicate frames where atomic positions have been successfully captured. Red ones show missing or invalid data—this is a quick visual indicator to check your animation quality.
Efficiency tip: Toggle recording
Recording paths can sometimes slow things down during editing. SAMSON lets you disable recording temporarily from the Inspector, or by right-clicking the Record Path animation layer in Animator and using the Enable recording toggle. Disabled animations appear slightly darkened so you always know their status.
Export the path when you’re ready
Once your animation is complete and the track is fully recorded, you can convert the data into a Path node (a reusable data object in your SAMSON document):
- Click Create path in the animation’s Inspector, or
- Right-click the animation in the Animator and choose Create path.
This step makes the trajectory a standalone object you can use for further analysis, attach visual representations to, or replay with effects from the Play Path tools.
Learn more in the official documentation: Record Path in SAMSON.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download SAMSON at www.samson-connect.net.