Have you ever labeled atoms, residues, or molecules in your molecular model, only to see those labels disappear as you zoom out? Or perhaps you wanted residue-level labels at high level, but atoms clutter your screen instead? This behavior, although surprising at first, is actually a feature of SAMSON designed to help you focus on the most relevant information depending on your zoom level. And yes—it’s fully customizable. 🧪🧭
In this post, we’ll walk through how label visibility in SAMSON works and how you can control when labels appear and disappear in your Viewport. You’ll also learn how to avoid common frustrations like missing labels and cluttered visuals.
Why Labels Change Visibility
Labels in SAMSON can be attached to different node types (atoms, residues, molecules, etc.). As you zoom in and out of your molecular scene, the software dynamically shows or hides labels based on the size of the object on the screen. This avoids label clutter at high zoom-out levels, while still letting you see detail when zoomed in.
This behavior is governed by something called the display radius. Each label has a minimum and maximum size range—defined as radii—in which it is visible. Outside of this range, the label is automatically hidden by SAMSON.
How to Customize Label Visibility
To take control of when labels appear/disappear, here’s what you can do:
- Select the label(s) you want to customize. You can select them in either the Document view or directly in the Viewport (remember to set the selection filter to Labels first).
- Open the Inspector panel.
- Look for the Maximum display radius and Minimum display radius fields.
- Adjust these values to control visibility. For example, setting a low minimum and high maximum will ensure the label is always visible regardless of zoom.
This allows you to, for example:
- Keep molecule-level labels visible when zoomed out 🧬
- Show atom-level annotations only when zoomed in 🔬
- Prevent clutter by hiding labels that don’t add information at a given scale 📉
Useful Tips
- To quickly toggle the visibility of all labels, use the checkboxes in the Document view.
- Combine label visibility with font customization and color adjustments (see other sections in the documentation) to clearly differentiate between node types.
Smart Labeling = Clean Presentations
No more wondering why your residue annotations disappeared or why your Viewport is cluttered with overlapping labels. By customizing label visibility, your model can always be as detailed or clean as you need it to be at any zoom level.
This seemingly small feature can make your presentations clearer, your screenshots more effective, and your visual exploration of molecular systems much more comfortable.
To learn more about working with labels in SAMSON, including how to add, color, and move them, visit the full labeling documentation page.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. To get SAMSON, visit https://www.samson-connect.net.