Creating molecular visuals that are both accurate and visually engaging is a common challenge among molecular modelers. While generating molecular structures can be straightforward, rendering them with materials that are scientifically meaningful—or simply aesthetically pleasing—can become time-consuming without the right tools.
That’s where the Cycles renderer, integrated directly into SAMSON, offers a convenient solution. One particularly useful feature: material customization right inside the platform, without the need for exporting models or using external editors.
Appearance Presets: Less Guesswork, Better Results
SAMSON provides a rich library of material presets categorized by type, including metallic, transparent, rough, and emissive materials. These presets can be applied with a few clicks in the Inspector, dramatically speeding up the rendering workflow.
For example, you might want to apply a gold-like surface to a nanoparticle, or simulate ice-like transparency for a solvent molecule. You can do this by selecting a node in your model, going to the Inspector, and choosing a preset like Gold or Ice from the available options. The changes are rendered interactively so you can immediately see the results.
What Kinds of Materials Are Available?
- Metallic: Carbon Fiber, Gold, Silver, Steel
- Semi-metallic: Brass, Bronze, Pearl, Rust
- Rough and smooth: Latex, Marble, Velvet, Wood
- Transparent: Glass, Ice, Water, Jade
- Emissive: Faint to Intense Glowing materials
This range allows users to simulate different surface properties relevant to their fields—from drug delivery to materials science—without getting lost in shader programming.
Fine-Tuning: If You Need More Control
Each material’s individual parameters, such as roughness, metallic nature, emission strength, and transparency, can also be customized in the same Inspector panel. Whether you’re refining the sheen on a gold nanoparticle or dialing in the glow of a fluorescent probe, you can adjust the parameters interactively for immediate feedback.
Real Use: Visualizing Protein-Ligand Systems
The ability to assign different material properties to parts of your system is useful in real-world scientific storytelling. For example, visualize a protein in matte plastic, and the ligand in glowing or glass-like materials to draw attention. Here are some examples rendered with Cycles in SAMSON:
By clearly differentiating elements through their material properties, you make your figures more intuitive, which is particularly helpful in slides, posters, and publications.
Material control in SAMSON offers both simplicity (via presets) and flexibility (via parameter tuning). It’s a practical feature worth exploring if you aim to create publication-ready images directly inside your molecular modeling platform.
To learn more about material rendering in SAMSON, visit the official documentation page.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can get SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.