When presenting a molecular scene, one common challenge is building a focused yet smooth transition between frames—especially when you’re trying to guide the viewer’s attention to a specific region of a molecule. Standard zooms often feel abrupt or force you to animate the field-of-view without precisely controlling the path of the camera. This is where the Dolly camera animation in SAMSON becomes a useful tool.
The Dolly camera creates a zoom-like effect by moving both the camera’s position and its target point between two animation frames. The result: a cinematic dolly effect that maintains depth and realism without distorting perspective. It’s especially helpful when using rendering effects like Depth of Field or Fog since you can dynamically shift the region of interest.
Why not just use Zoom?
The Zoom camera animation adjusts magnification but keeps one fixed target. This works fine when you’re centered, but what if you need to shift attention—say, from a ligand’s binding pocket to a nearby allosteric site? The Dolly camera offers the flexibility to alter both the camera’s position and its focal point, giving you cinematographic control over how the viewer moves through molecular space.
How to Add a Dolly Camera Animation
- In the Animator’s Track view, select the starting frame.
- Orient the view as you want the first frame of the camera to look.
- Double-click Dolly camera in the Animation panel. The animation is inserted at your current frame.
- Move to a later frame and reorient the view to your final composition. The camera’s position and target will interpolate across these two frames.
You can always drag the start or end of the animation effect on the timeline to revise its duration.
Controlling the Behavior
Under the hood, the animation is applied by default to the active camera. You can confirm this or change it by inspecting the animation and adjusting the “Apply to active camera” setting.
Additional control includes:
- Keep camera upwards: Ensures the camera orientation stays upright. Whether this is on or off can affect the experience depending on whether the grid is also active.
- Easing curve: Controls how camera motion accelerates and decelerates between your keyframes. Tweaking this creates smoother or snappier transitions. Find this in the animation properties.
Fine-Tuning Camera Points
If you’re looking to adjust specific coordinates of the camera or its focal target, use the animation controllers on screen. This helps when you want surgical precision—for instance, aligning the path of view with a protein tunnel.
If you frequently create molecular animations for presentations, video abstracts, or social media content, mastering Dolly camera animations in SAMSON gives you both control and clarity. It helps your audience focus where you need them to, without overwhelming them with complex transitions.
To learn more, visit the official documentation: Dolly Camera Animation
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. Get SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net