Zooming into specific regions of molecular systems is a routine task for many modelers. Whether it’s to highlight a binding site, a mutation zone, or explore conformational states, the ability to intuitively navigate molecular scenes is crucial. However, standard zoom techniques often lack finesse. They can feel abrupt, or may not place the target region exactly where you want it. That's where the Dolly camera animation in SAMSON comes in.
The Dolly camera animation lets you smoothly transition both the position and target of the camera between two frames, mimicking the classic cinematic 'dolly' effect. This is especially useful when you want to focus on different parts of a molecular system and control how special effects (like Fog or Depth-of-Field) behave throughout the animation.
Why not just use zoom?
While SAMSON also provides a Zoom camera animation, it allows movement only toward a single fixed target point. If your animation goal is to zoom while tracking a moving region—such as following an active site during a conformational change—the Dolly camera gives you much finer control over the viewpoint.
Setting it up in three steps
1️⃣ Select a starting frame: Use the Animator's Track view to pick a start frame and orient your camera as desired.
2️⃣ Add the Dolly camera animation: Open the Animation panel and double-click on the Dolly camera animation effect.
3️⃣ Set the end frame: Move to your desired end frame and adjust the camera’s orientation to where you want the animation to finish.
Fine-tuning your motion
Once added, you can inspect the animation to modify how it behaves. Here are some useful settings:
- Apply to active camera: Defines whether the animation affects whichever camera is active at run time or a specific one.
- Keep camera upwards: Useful when working with or without the grid—this controls whether the vertical orientation of the camera stays consistent.
- Easing curve: Adjust how smoothly (or suddenly) camera position and target move between frames. This can be key to creating a more natural animation.
Adjusting camera path in SAMSON
If after adding the animation you find the path too sharp or not quite right, you can tweak it by adjusting positions with animation controllers. These help you refine the trajectory between start and end frames without redoing the animation from scratch.
For molecular animations that require both movement and focus change, the Dolly camera unlocks a lot of visual storytelling potential—without the jarring zooms you might get from basic camera shifts. To learn more and access full documentation, visit the full Dolly camera animation guide.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download SAMSON from https://www.samson-connect.net.