If you’ve ever created a molecular animation and noticed that the camera seems to mysteriously drift between frames—even when you haven’t explicitly animated it—you’re not alone. This is a common issue molecular modelers face in visualization workflows, particularly when using software like SAMSON. The culprit? Unintentional camera changes during editing sessions. The solution? The Hold camera animation effect.
What’s going on?
When you’re building and animating complex molecular systems, it’s natural to modify your camera view to focus on specific areas or elements. However, unless the camera’s position and orientation are explicitly locked, changes to the view you make while editing the document can unintentionally affect the playback of your animation. This can be frustrating, especially when you’ve carefully crafted scenes that should remain static.
Enter the Hold camera animation
SAMSON offers a simple yet powerful tool to avoid this: the Hold camera animation. This effect ensures that the camera view stays constant throughout a specific interval in your animation, even if you change the view elsewhere while editing. It acts as a fixed point, maintaining a consistent visual perspective at critical steps in your story.
When should you use it?
You should use the Hold camera animation anytime:
- You want to preserve a consistent point of view during a specific scene
- You’re not using any other camera movement in a given section of the animation
- You’re switching between dynamic and static camera sections and need some frames to appear steady
Setting it up
Here’s how to apply a Hold camera effect in SAMSON:
- Navigate to the Animator’s Track view and select your desired start frame.
- Manually position the camera view as you’d like it to appear during this period. This is done by simply orienting the model from the viewer.
- In the Animation panel, double-click the Hold camera item to insert it into the animation timeline.
- Set the end frame to define how long the view should be held.
Good to know: You’re not locked in once you add the Hold camera animation. You can freely adjust the start and end frames to fine-tune the duration as your animation evolves.
Tip: If you’ve used SAMSON before, you might recall accessing animations from the menu. That menu is no longer present. Now, all animations—including Hold camera—are available through the Animator panel (accessible via Ctrl+7 on Windows or Cmd+7 on Mac).
Why this matters
Animations are more than just visuals—they’re narratives that help you communicate molecular behavior, interaction mechanisms, or structural changes. A shifting camera can unintentionally distort that message. By anchoring the viewpoint precisely where it needs to stay, Hold camera helps you build more coherent visual stories that reflect your scientific intent.
Whether you’re preparing a presentation, exporting a movie, or simply reviewing molecular movements, this simple step can save you hours of rework and drastically improve viewer clarity.
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.