One common challenge faced by molecular modelers and scientific illustrators is creating images that are not only scientifically accurate, but also visually compelling. For presentations, publications, or science communication, the visual quality of molecular graphics plays a crucial role in engaging the viewer and conveying insights.
Fortunately, SAMSON provides a way to address this challenge directly through its integration of the Cycles path tracing renderer from Blender. One of the most useful features for time-saving and quality-enhancing rendering is the use of material presets.
What Are Material Presets in SAMSON?
Material presets are ready-to-use appearances that can be applied to molecular models or imported mesh objects to quickly create different textures and effects like metal, glass, plastic, or emissive surfaces. You can find and apply these directly in the Inspector when Cycles is activated (with a single click or by pressing F9).
Categories of Materials You Can Use
SAMSON offers a range of material types grouped into intuitive categories:
- Metallic: including Gold, Silver, Copper, Carbon Steel
- Semi-metallic: such as Pearl, Rust, Brass, Bronze
- Smooth: like Plastic, Paper, Polystyrene, Shiny plastic
- Rough: Concrete, Granite, Velvet, Wood
- Emissive: options from Faint to Intense emission, useful to simulate glowing labels or active sites
- Transparent: Glass, Ice, Water, and more
These materials can be used not only to make scenes more realistic, but also to highlight different parts of the model or encode function visually.
How to Apply and Edit Materials
Materials are applied through the Inspector. Simply select a node (like a molecule or mesh), open the Inspector, and pick a preset. From there, you can fine-tune individual parameters such as roughness, transmission, reflectivity, or emission intensity.
Here’s a closer look at the editable parameters you can adjust after applying a material:
- Color and tint
- Roughness (for glossy or matte surfaces)
- Transmission (for transparent materials)
- Emission strength (for glow effects)
Visual Examples
The documentation shows useful examples of realistic rendering with multiple materials. This makes it easy to imagine how materials can enhance your own scientific scenes.
When to Use This Feature
If you need to:
- Prepare a visually appealing image for a scientific talk
- Create illustrative figures for a paper
- Design educational material for molecular structure
- Highlight specific components in a complex scene
—material presets in SAMSON can save you significant time while improving clarity and engagement in your renderings.
To learn more, visit the full documentation: https://documentation.samson-connect.net/users/latest/rendering/
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can get SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.