Working with complex molecular scenes often means juggling many different types of nodes in SAMSON, including structures, graphs, annotations, views, and cameras. As molecular models grow in size and complexity, so does the challenge of managing these elements efficiently. One common pain point? Quickly identifying and isolating camera nodes, especially in systems that feature multiple viewpoints or animations.
If you’ve ever gotten lost among dozens of nodes trying to find that one specific camera you’ve set up — you’re not alone. Fortunately, the Node Specification Language (NSL) in SAMSON provides a simple, powerful mechanism to quickly filter and manage camera nodes using camera-specific attributes.
Using the camera Attribute Space
NSL defines a special attribute space named camera (shortcut: ca) that matches only camera nodes. This focused attribute space allows you to extract, filter, and manipulate cameras without sifting through unrelated elements.
Core Attributes for Cameras
Here are the key attributes you can use within the ca space:
- name (short name
n): Allows you to filter cameras by name. For example:
ca.n "Overview"
or use wildcards:
ca.n "L*" - selected: Indicates whether the camera is currently selected.
ca.selected→ matches selected cameras.
not ca.selected→ matches unselected cameras. - selectionFlag (short name
sf): Filters by selection flag status.
ca.sf false→ selects cameras with the selection flag set to false.
ca.sf→ selects those that have the flag set to true.
Practical Use Case: Cleaning Up Your Scene
Imagine opening an old project that contains multiple camera views for animations, comparisons, or cinematic exports. You want to keep just those cameras that begin with the name “L” and are not selected. Instead of manually clicking through the UI:
ca.n "L*" and not ca.selected
This short query instantly filters your camera nodes, saving you time and mental overhead. Once selected, you can rename, group, or delete them — all in a few clicks.
Why This Matters
Efficient camera management is key when setting up presentations, animations, or images for publication. NSL gives you the precision and speed to manage large projects without friction. Rather than searching node by node, you simply express your intent in a few characters.
Where to Go Next
This is part of a broader system that applies NSL across all node types in SAMSON — not just cameras. Learning how to leverage attribute spaces like ca can significantly streamline your workflow.
Learn more in the official documentation.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.