If you’re a molecular modeler, precise measurements between atoms, bonds, angles, or dihedrals can be essential to your workflow. Measurements are often the foundation for understanding interactions, conformations, and geometrical properties of molecular systems. But keeping those measurements organized—and ensuring they are visible and usable—is sometimes an overlooked challenge.
In SAMSON, the Measure editor makes it easy to not only gather critical measurements but also save them for reference. This article focuses on how you can save those measurements as labels and streamline your molecular modeling process by organizing your observations more effectively.
Why Save Measurements as Labels?
While SAMSON’s temporary measurement displays are convenient for quick insights, they disappear when you take your next measurement. If you are working on complex molecules or comparing distances and angles across different molecules, you’ll want to save your measurements for later use as labels.
The beauty of saving measurements is twofold:
- Persistence: Saved labels remain in your document, ensuring you don’t lose key data throughout your workflow.
- Customizability: Once saved as labels, measurements can be customized in appearance—making your workspace both clearer and tailored to your needs.
Saving Your Measurements
Saving a measurement as a label is straightforward in SAMSON. After using the Measure editor to take a measurement—whether it’s a bond length, an angle between three atoms, or a torsion involving four atoms—simply press Enter. This will save the measurement as a label within the current document.
These labels are not just static annotations—they’re dynamic. If the molecular structure changes, for example, during a simulation or while adjusting conformation, the measurements update automatically, ensuring real-time accuracy right in the Inspector panel.
Customizing Your Measurement Labels
Once measurements are saved as labels, you can modify how they appear to suit your preferences:
- Colors and Fonts: The Inspector allows you to change the font, color, and visibility level of your labels, down to details like the colors of distance lines, angle planes, and text.
- Resetting to Defaults: If you prefer to return to standard formatting, you can quickly reset the line or text color by double-clicking the label in the Inspector. Clear text colors via the button (
) next to the text color section.
Here’s an example of modifying label colors:
For labels applied to torsion angles, you can adjust the colorization of angle planes for an even clearer representation:
Best Practices
Here are some tips to make the most out of measurement labels:
- Use Preferences: Access Preferences > Rendering > Labels to set default fonts and adjust the number of decimal places for distance or angle label precision.
- Inspect and Adjust: Use the Inspector to inspect saved labels and refine their properties while keeping your workspace organized.
By incorporating saved measurement labels into your workflow, you won’t just keep track of important data—you’ll also ensure clarity and precision for better results.
For more detailed instructions and features, take a look at the original documentation page: https://documentation.samson-connect.net/users/latest/measuring/.
Note: SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can get SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.