Efficient molecular modeling goes hand-in-hand with clear and customizable visualization. In SAMSON, the presentation attributes help you control how molecular models are visually represented, offering a powerful toolset to molecular modelers. If you’ve ever been tasked with organizing or simplifying the appearance of complex molecular data, these attributes can make your work smoother and more intuitive.
The presentation attribute space (short name: pr) is specifically designed for presentation nodes, allowing users to define and tailor how objects are displayed. Let’s explore some key presentation attributes available in SAMSON:
1. Hidden (pr.h)
The hidden attribute lets you toggle whether an object is displayed. For example, if you want to focus only on a subset of your structure, you can hide irrelevant parts:
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pr.h</code> (to hide)<br><code>not pr.h</code> (to make visible again) |
Use this to declutter visualizations or show only relevant components.
2. Naming Nodes (pr.n)
Providing clear names to presentation nodes can enhance clarity, especially in complex projects. Use string-based names within quotes. Examples include:
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pr.n "MyNodeA"</code> or <code>pr.n "L*" |
The latter uses wildcards for broader matches, giving flexibility when naming multiple nodes systematically.
3. Selection and Visibility Customization
Other attributes such as selected, selectionFlag (sf), visibilityFlag (vf), and visible (v) allow you to fine-tune your model display. For instance:
pr.selected: Marks whether a node is currently selected.pr.vf: Simplifies toggling visibility flags.pr.v: A straightforward way to show or hide objects by setting it totrueorfalse.
These features come in handy for interactive exploration, ensuring you streamline the viewing experience and focus only on the most critical parts of your molecular system.
When to Use Presentation Attributes
The need for visualization control arises in numerous situations:
- Analyzing specific parts of a complex molecular system without distraction.
- Preparing visual reports or presentations where only key data is emphasized.
- Iteratively experimenting with different configurations of your molecular system.
With SAMSON’s presentation attribute space, you save time by avoiding manual rearrangements, enabling a quicker workflow for designing clear molecular views.
For a deeper dive into all the available pr attributes and their usage, visit the official documentation page.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. Get access to SAMSON at samson-connect.net.