When working with complex molecular systems, clarity is everything. Having the right labels—on atoms, residues, or entire molecules—can guide understanding and communication. But when you’re visualizing thousands of atoms, labels can quickly become overwhelming. Fortunately, SAMSON helps molecular modelers manage this challenge with features that let you fine-tune label visibility based on zoom level and filtering parameters.
This blog post explores how to control label visibility in SAMSON, allowing you to highlight only the most relevant information at each level of observation without cluttering your viewport.
Progressive Visibility Based on Zoom
By default, SAMSON manages label visibility dynamically as you zoom in and out of your system. This means smaller nodes like atoms lose their labels when zooming out, while larger nodes like molecules become labeled instead. This behavior helps maintain a clean visualization and keeps your interface readable.
Manual Control: Using the Inspector
If you’d like more granular control over when labels show or hide, you can set visibility thresholds manually. To do this:
- Select the label you want to modify.
- Open the Inspector.
- Adjust the Maximum display radius and Minimum display radius parameters.
These parameters define the distance from the camera at which a label becomes visible or hidden. This is particularly useful when you have mixed-detail systems or specific parts of your model that should always (or never) display labels.
Structured Visibility Management
You can also toggle label visibility directly in the Document view. This allows you to switch on or off individual labels or entire groups, providing another method to reduce visual noise and focus on the essentials.
Why This Matters
In collaborative environments, presentations, or publications, a clutter-free visual makes a stronger impact. The ability to control how and when labels appear lets you tailor the visualization to your narrative—whether you’re explaining a mechanism, highlighting a binding site, or contrasting structures.
Not to mention, better label control also reduces the risk of misinterpretation, especially when visual data is shared across disciplines where users might not be familiar with molecular representations.
To dig deeper into label customization in SAMSON, including font changes, color settings, and positioning, you can explore the full documentation section on labeling: https://documentation.samson-connect.net/users/latest/labeling/.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can get SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.