Creating compelling molecular animations can be challenging, especially when you’re trying to draw attention to specific regions of a complex system. A common frustration for molecular modelers is achieving smooth and expressive zooming effects that go beyond a simple magnification. If you’ve ever felt that your animations lack depth or miss the emotional cue of a camera “moving into the scene,” it’s time to take a look at the Dolly camera animation in SAMSON.
The Dolly camera animation allows you to define both the position and the target point of the camera at the beginning and the end of the animation, creating a dynamic dolly effect. Unlike a basic zoom — which changes magnification on a fixed point — dollying lets the viewpoint move within the 3D scene. This technique is widely used in cinematography to create a sense of movement and immersion. Using it in a molecular setting can make your presentations more engaging and clearer for your audience.
Why Use the Dolly Camera?
Let’s say you want to present the active site of an enzyme within a large molecular assembly. The Zoom camera effect might not be sufficient because you can’t change the target position; you’re essentially moving closer without changing focus. The Dolly camera lets you shift both perspective and focal point, giving you precise storytelling control.
You can also pair the Dolly effect with special rendering effects such as Fog and Depth-of-field to enhance visual clarity or stylistic emphasis during the transition. This flexibility makes it especially useful for educational videos, research presentations, or exploratory animations you’re building for your lab.
How to Add a Dolly Camera Animation
- Choose your start frame in the Animator’s Track view.
- Orient the camera manually to the desired starting position.
- In the Animation panel, double-click on Dolly camera to create the animation segment.
- Set the end frame and move the camera to its final position and focal point.
At any point, you can adjust the start and end frames using the Track view. This means you don’t have to redo your animation if timing changes — everything is non-destructive and adjustable.
Fine-Tuning the Dolly
If you’d like to control how the camera’s path interpolates between frames, explore the Easing curve options. These curves let you vary the “feel” of the camera movement — whether it accelerates gently, starts quick then slows, or follows more advanced motion patterns.
There’s also an option to apply easing based on whether the “Keep camera upwards” setting is enabled. This option makes the animation respect grid orientation, which can be helpful when working with symmetric systems (like crystals or nanotubes) where orientation context matters.
Want even more precision? You can directly edit the camera’s positions and target points using interactive animation controllers. This lets you guide the camera precisely where you want it — like focusing on a ligand binding pocket or zooming through a solvent channel.
Visual Example
Conclusion
The Dolly camera animation is a valuable tool in the molecular animator’s toolkit. It helps clarify structure-function relationships by merging cinematic techniques with scientific precision. Whether you’re building a tutorial, creating an explainer video, or just making your own molecular discoveries more engaging, dollying into the scene instead of just zooming can make all the difference.
Learn more at the official documentation: Dolly Camera Documentation
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can get SAMSON here.