When you’re building molecular models, clarity is everything. Whether you’re preparing a presentation, creating an educational resource, or documenting complex systems, annotations and visual cues can make your work much more effective. One underused but essential feature in SAMSON is the ability to add and customize labels.
Labels in SAMSON help you highlight atoms, residues, distances, or even provide custom notes directly in your molecular models. But many molecular modelers struggle with labels being too small to read, disappearing when you zoom out, or lacking visual consistency. Luckily, SAMSON provides a lot of customization options to take full control over how labels are displayed.
1. Understanding Label Visibility
Labels in SAMSON automatically adjust their visibility depending on zoom level. For example, labels on atoms may disappear when zoomed out, while labels of higher-level structures (like molecules) remain visible. This behavior is designed to reduce visual clutter but can be fine-tuned based on your needs.
If you want a label to always stay visible (or invisible unless very zoomed in), you can modify its display minimum and maximum radii:
- Select the label.
- Open the Inspector panel.
- Adjust the Minimum display radius and Maximum display radius.
This helps create cleaner visuals especially when preparing screenshots or animations at different scales.
2. Giving Labels a Voice with Fonts
Default fonts may not do justice to your carefully annotated molecular project. You can change the font for:
- All labels (set globally via Preferences > Rendering > Labels).
- Selected labels only (via the Inspector panel).
To reset a label to use the global preference, double-click on its font setting inside the Inspector. This way, you can ensure font consistency across your project or emphasize certain elements with distinct typography.
3. Adding Meaning with Colors
Labels can be colorized just like nodes. This is a helpful strategy for visual grouping and drawing attention. To set a specific color:
- Select a label.
- Open the Inspector or use the context toolbar.
- Choose Color > Constant then pick your desired color.
To revert to the default color, click the ❌ icon in the Inspector next to text color. You can even set transparency to improve label layering in dense structures.
When Labels Matter
If you’re collaborating on a project, documenting complex protein-ligand interactions, or teaching structural biology, effective labeling can bridge the gap between structure and meaning. Taking a few minutes to fine-tune your labels will make your work more accessible and impactful—without overwhelming your viewers.
If you’d like more control over label placement, offset, or even interactively dragging them, explore the full labeling documentation below.
Learn more in the original documentation page on labeling.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.