Creating high-quality molecular visualizations often takes time, especially when manually adjusting styles, models, and color schemes. Whether you’re preparing a figure for a publication or want a clean, informative image to include in a presentation, hitting the right visual balance can be a tedious task. This is where Visual presets in SAMSON can dramatically streamline your work.
Visual presets are predefined configurations combining multiple visual models and color schemes. Instead of applying each visual setting manually, you can apply complex styles to your molecular system in just a few clicks. It saves time and ensures visual consistency across molecules and projects.
Why visual presets can become your go-to tool
Manually adjusting representations—for example, viewing proteins using ribbons, tuning their transparency, colorizing them by chain, and adding rendering settings like lighting or shadows—can be time-consuming and sometimes inconsistent. Visual presets solve this by letting you:
- Apply multiple layered representations at once (e.g. ribbons plus sticks)
- Use consistent coloring per chain, residue type, element, etc.
- Switch quickly between styles depending on your audience (illustrative for presentations vs. detailed for analysis)
- Save your own presets and share them with your team
Applying a visual preset
To apply a visual preset in SAMSON:
- Go to Visualization > Visual preset
- Choose one of the default presets (e.g., Protein-ligand, Illustrate…)
You’ll instantly see your molecular system updated with a ready-to-use combination of visual styles and colors. Below is an example of how the Protein-ligand preset looks when applied to PDB structure 1AA1:
Customizing Your Own Presets
You’re not limited to the built-in presets. SAMSON lets you create and save your own:
- Start by modifying an existing preset
- Customize visual models, colors, rendering effects
- Save it as a new preset from Visualization > Visual preset
This is especially useful for labs or teams that want a uniform style across figures, or when you frequently work with similar types of systems.
Tip: Try the Illustrative Style
If you’re presenting or teaching, you might want to apply the Illustrate… preset, inspired by David S. Goodsell’s iconic Molecule of the Month visualizations. It uses van der Waals representations and bright chain-based coloring, perfect for slides and posters.
Don’t forget—presets aren’t permanent
You can always return to a simpler or more detailed rendering style. Just go to Visualization > Presets and choose defaults like High quality or Default.
Whether you’re preparing publication-ready images or need quick, clear visuals for your work, visual presets reduce repetitive tasks while improving presentation consistency. Try them on your next structure!
To learn more, visit the full documentation on visual presets at SAMSON visualization documentation.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.