Visual clarity is often underestimated in molecular modeling. When working on complex structures, subtle differences in depth, lighting, and background can lead to misinterpretations or eye fatigue over long sessions. If you’ve ever struggled to perceive spatial relationships in your molecular models, adjusting the rendering settings in SAMSON might provide the comfort and clarity you’ve been missing.
The Rendering section of SAMSON’s Preferences panel offers a comprehensive set of tools designed to improve how molecules appear on your screen. These settings aren’t just cosmetic — they can impact how efficiently you understand and manipulate molecular scenes.
Your Visual Toolbox
Let’s walk through a few notable rendering tweaks you can make in SAMSON, and why you might want to.
1. Ambient Occlusion
This feature enhances depth perception by simulating shadows in crevices and overlaps.
You can choose between Object-space, which is more realistic but slower, and Screen-space, which is faster and surprisingly effective. This subtle shading can greatly improve your perception of molecular topologies.
2. Anti-Aliasing
Aliased edges can be a major distraction — especially when rotating a structure. Enabling Fast Approximate Anti-Aliasing (FXAA) smooths jagged lines and gives your molecules a cleaner, more professional look.
3. Background Customization
You can choose between a default, black, white, or custom gradient background. The Transparent background option is ideal for when you’re preparing images for publications or presentations using PNG format.
4. Depth of Field
This option simulates real-world camera focus: distant molecules blur, while focused regions stay crisp. It’s a subtle but effective way to emphasize key parts of a model.
5. Lighting and Shadows
SAMSON gives you control over two point lights — their color, intensity, and specular reflection. Adjusting these can dramatically change material appearance. Combine this with Shadows for clearer spatial context.
And More
The Preferences panel also includes settings for effects like bloom, silhouettes, fog, and stereoscopic (3D) views. These may not be necessary for everyone, but can be invaluable depending on your workflow — especially if you’re generating visuals for teaching or outreach.
Where to Begin?
All these preferences are readily available via Interface > Preferences or by pressing Ctrl + K (on Windows/Linux) or Cmd + , (on Mac).
Changes take effect immediately if the Automatically test option is enabled, so you can explore what works for you without constant restarting.
Learn more about all available rendering preferences and how to customize your environment.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can get SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.