Creating clear, communicative visualizations of molecular systems is often a crucial—but time-consuming—part of working in molecular modeling. Whether you’re demoing an interaction site to collaborators or preparing a presentation for a larger audience, the camera movement in your animations can make the difference between clarity and confusion.
If you’ve ever tried to manually rotate around a molecule to build an animation only to struggle with choppy transitions or uncertain framing, the Orbit camera effect in SAMSON can help streamline the process. In this blog post, we’ll show you how to use the Orbit camera animation to easily produce smooth and professional-looking flyaround videos of your molecular systems.
What Is the Orbit Camera and Why Use It?
The Orbit camera animation automatically rotates the active camera around a central target point. This is ideal for:
- Creating flyaround animations of molecular assemblies
- Illustrating conformational landscapes without manual camera work
- Capturing binding pockets or interfaces from multiple angles smoothly
By automating one of the most frequently used video effects in scientific visualization, the Orbit camera frees you up to focus on what matters most: communicating your molecular story clearly.
Step-by-Step Guide to Adding an Orbit Animation
1. First, orient your view/camera in the plane you’d like the camera to follow. The camera will rotate around this orientation.
2. Open the Animator in SAMSON. In the Animation panel, double-click the Orbit camera animation effect to add it to your animation timeline.
3. Adjust the endpoint (final frame) of your animation as needed. A longer animation typically yields smoother motion.
Adjusting and Controlling the Camera
Once your animation is added, you can fine-tune the camera’s path using SAMSON’s camera controllers. These tools allow you to:
- Change the target point (the rotation center)
- Adjust camera orientation along the orbit
- Modify the animation’s easing curve (for smoother or more dynamic motion)
The camera will default to orbiting around the active camera’s current target. You can view or modify this by inspecting the animation in the Inspector panel and adjusting the Apply to active camera option.
Controlling the Rotation Plane
The plane in which the camera orbits is determined based on whether the grid is active:
- Grid off: camera rotates in the plane defined by the central horizontal line and the target point.
- Grid on: camera follows a plane parallel to the grid. You can toggle this behavior via the Keep camera upwards option.
Previewing Your Animation
As you adjust keyframes and camera orientation, thumbnails appear at the bottom of the view to help you frame each key moment in your animation. This streamlines the process of creating visually cohesive and effective molecular flyarounds.
Want to See It in Action?
Check out a couple of documents on SAMSON Connect for inspiration:
Using the Orbit camera tool in SAMSON is a simple yet powerful way of lifting the quality of your molecular presentations. Whether you’re communicating within your research team or sharing your work more broadly, clear camera movements help make complex structures more intuitive to follow.
To learn more and explore additional camera animation options, visit the full documentation: SAMSON Documentation – Orbit Camera
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can get SAMSON at www.samson-connect.net.