When working in molecular modeling, complex manipulations are often made easier through specialized tools for selection, transformation, or even structure generation. In SAMSON, these tools are called Editors. If you’ve ever wondered why SAMSON allows only one Editor to be active at a time, you’re not alone.
This design choice might seem restrictive at first, but it offers clarity and precision—two critical aspects when dealing with intricate molecular models.
What Is an Active Editor?
In SAMSON, Editors handle specific types of user interaction, like mouse and keyboard events, allowing you to perform various tasks: generating nanotubes, deforming molecules while preserving rigidity, rotating structures, and much more.
An active editor is the one currently responding to your actions—mouse clicks, drags, and keyboard inputs. When switching from one Editor to another, SAMSON deactivates the former and activates the selected tool. This ensures there are no conflicts or unintended effects during modeling operations.
The editor menu in SAMSON
Why Only One Active Editor?
Molecular modeling often involves specialized, focused tasks. You might start by generating a nanotube and then need to manipulate it using rigid-body transformations. If two editors were active at the same time—for example, one interpreting clicks as selection boxes and the other as transformation commands—it could easily lead to unpredictable results that compromise your structure or workflow.
Generating a nanotube with a dedicated editor
How to Find and Activate Editors
There are several ways you can find and activate Editors in SAMSON:
- Left menu in the viewport. Navigate through the Editors visually.
- Quick access panel. Located in the top-left corner for the currently active Editor.
- Find Everything search box. Quickly type the name or keyword to locate an Editor.
This approach ensures you always know which tool is currently influencing your model. It’s a simple but powerful layer of user control.
Expanding Your Toolkit
By default, SAMSON comes with several built-in Editors, but you can easily augment your toolkit by installing more from SAMSON Connect. These range from selection tools and transformation aids to more niche utilities like molecular conformation filters or interface simplifiers.
Getting Started Developing Your Own Editors
If existing Editors don’t cover your specific needs, consider building your own. SAMSON provides documentation on how to create Extensions which include custom Editors. Start with the Extension Generator to speed things up, and refer to the Documentation Center for more resources.
Conclusion
While it might at first seem limiting that only one Editor can be active at a time, this design choice streamlines molecular editing, reduces errors, and creates a more intuitive user experience. It’s all about making sure your next simulated molecule behaves exactly the way you intended.
For more information, visit the official documentation page on Editors in SAMSON →
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.