One common pain point for molecular modelers is maintaining a consistent view of a molecular system while working on complex animations or navigating the molecular environment. Changes in the camera’s perspective can disrupt the workflow and make it harder to present a cohesive story. Enter the Hold Camera animation in SAMSON. This feature ensures that your camera parameters remain static across selected frames, maintaining a stable view of your system without unexpected shifts.
Why use the Hold Camera animation?
Imagine you are orchestrating an animation sequence to simulate molecular movement or protein-ligand interactions. While some frames require dynamic camera movements to follow the action, others demand a fixed perspective for clarity or emphasis. However, SAMSON’s workflows or user interactions may sometimes unintentionally alter the view between transitions. The Hold Camera animation ensures that doesn’t happen by letting you lock the camera’s position, focus, and orientation across specific frames.
It is particularly useful when interspersing different types of animations or when a consistent visual reference is required for presentations and collaborative work.
How to add the Hold Camera animation
Adding the Hold Camera animation to your animation sequence is a straightforward process:
- Start by selecting the initial frame where you want the static camera view to begin. Use the Animator’s Track view to set this frame.
- Adjust the camera orientation and viewing parameters to the desired setup by simply navigating your molecular scene. Make sure it represents the ideal static view you want to maintain in your animation.
- Next, open the Animation panel within the Animator interface and double-click on the Hold Camera effect.
- Finalize by defining the end frame for the animation. This establishes the range of frames throughout which the camera will remain fixed.
You can easily adjust the start and end frames at any point later to fine-tune your scenario.
Additional notes and tips
Here are some helpful pointers to maximize your use of the Hold Camera feature:
- In legacy versions of SAMSON, the Animation menu was used for these actions. However, all animations are now managed via the Animation panel in the Animator interface.
- For users creating videos or stills of molecular structures, a stable camera view enhances visual clarity and makes it easier for collaborators to comprehend the molecular interactions being presented.
Here’s an example of the Hold Camera animation in action:
Learn more
The Hold Camera animation is a simple yet powerful tool to keep your animations polished, your presentations cohesive, and your workflow frustration-free. Dive deeper into its capabilities by visiting the complete documentation at https://documentation.samson-connect.net/users/latest/animations/hold-camera/.
*SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can get SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.