When building or analyzing molecular models, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by numbers and visuals—distances, angles, charges, and more. Many molecular modelers rely heavily on visual clarity to communicate results or simply navigate complex systems. One small but impactful pain point is the difficulty in distinguishing measurement labels, especially in crowded or dense molecular environments. If all your measurement labels look the same, identifying specific values at a glance can become tedious.
Fortunately, SAMSON offers a straightforward way to customize the appearance of your measurement labels. Whether you’re measuring a bond angle, distance, or torsion, changing colors and font styles can make your model much clearer, both for yourself and anyone reviewing your work.
Quickly Adjusting Label Colors and Fonts
Once you’ve saved a measurement as a label, you can modify its appearance through the Inspector. This includes adjusting:
- Distance line color: distinguish different types of distance with color coding.
- Angle or plane color: make angular or torsional relations more noticeable.
- Text font and color: increase readability and visual consistency with your theme or presentation.
Reset When Needed
Experimented too much with color? No problem. You can always revert to the default look:
- Reset line color by double-clicking the color field in the Inspector.
- Reset text color by clicking the X button next to the label color field.
Apply Your Favorite Font
Whether you prefer something that mimics handwritten notes or a clean sans-serif for screens, you can set the font individually for each measurement label. This might seem like a small detail, but it can make your visuals more tailored and easier for collaborators to follow.
Set Global Defaults in Preferences
If you find yourself applying the same font and style to every label, save time by setting default rendering preferences. In Preferences > Rendering > Labels, you can choose default font and control the number of decimal places used for angle and distance values. This efficient setup ensures consistency and helps avoid manual repetition.
By customizing label appearance, you don’t just make your models prettier—you make your workflow more intuitive and better suited for precise communication. These small improvements can make a big difference when dealing with complex molecular systems or preparing materials for publication or collaboration.
To learn more about measurements and working with labels in SAMSON, visit the official documentation: https://documentation.samson-connect.net/users/latest/measuring/
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.