When a molecular model needs a small adjustment, editing atoms one at a time can be tedious—and it is easy to lose track of which values belong to which atoms. The Inspector in SAMSON offers a more direct workflow: select the nodes you want to work with, inspect their attributes, and edit a shared property across the selection.
This is especially useful when you need to reposition several atoms while preserving the shape of the group. The key is understanding what the Inspector displays and how the Relative option affects position edits.
Start with the right selection
Select the atoms or other nodes whose properties you want to inspect. Open the Inspector from Interface > Inspector, with Ctrl+2 on Windows or Linux, or Cmd+2 on Mac. You can also open it from the context toolbar of a selection.
The Inspector organizes attributes into groups by node type, with attribute groups inside each node-type group. Depending on your selection, you may see groups such as Atom, Bond, or Residue. This organization helps you find the relevant properties when a selection contains different kinds of nodes.
Know what the displayed value means
When multiple nodes of the same type are selected, the Inspector shows the attribute values of the last selected node of that type. For example, with several atoms selected, the displayed position belongs to the atom selected last. It is not an average or a summary of all their positions.
That distinction matters when editing. If you change an attribute, SAMSON applies the change to all selected nodes of the same type. So the displayed value helps you inspect one representative node, while the edit can affect the whole matching selection.
Some properties are editable and others are determined by related properties. An atom’s atomic weight, element name, and symbol depend on its element type, so those values cannot be directly changed. Change the element type and dependent attributes update accordingly. For some attributes, you can restore the default: hover over the attribute description, and if the cursor indicates the option is available, double-click the label.
Adjust a group without collapsing it
To find a position property quickly, select the atoms and type position into the Inspector’s filter. The filter narrows the displayed attributes to matching entries, avoiding a long manual search through property groups.
Before changing positions, check the Relative option. When it is on, position edits affect the selected atoms while retaining their relative arrangement. This is the setting to use when you want to move the group as a group rather than place every atom at one identical position.
If Relative is unchecked, the selected atoms’ positions are changed to the same value. That can be useful for a specific operation, but it will not preserve the group’s internal arrangement. If the result is not what you intended, you can undo the change using SAMSON’s history mechanism.
A careful editing routine
- Select only the nodes you intend to affect.
- Open the Inspector and confirm that the expected node-type groups appear.
- Filter for the attribute you need, such as
position. - Remember that the shown value belongs to the last selected node of that type.
- For a group position edit, leave Relative enabled so the atoms’ relative positions are retained.
- Review the result and undo if needed.
This small check—especially confirming the selection and the Relative setting—can prevent a common modeling frustration: changing a whole group when you meant to inspect one node, or making several atoms coincide when you meant to move them together.
For more details, see the SAMSON Inspector documentation.
Note: SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. Get SAMSON.