Visual Presets

Updated: Sep 24, 2024


Latest versions

4.0.1 for SAMSON 2024 R1

4.0.1 for SAMSON 2024 R1

4.0.1 for SAMSON 2024 R1

Included with all plans

Visual Presets

Updated: Sep 24, 2024


Latest versions

4.0.1 for SAMSON 2024 R1

4.0.1 for SAMSON 2024 R1

4.0.1 for SAMSON 2024 R1

A collection of visual presets to rapidly create publication-quality images.

Visual presets and visual presets groups are powerful ways to create advanced visualizations in just a few clicks with SAMSON.

Visual presets

A visual preset is the combination of five elements:

  • A Selector, which selects nodes either in the current selection or in the whole document if nothing was selected before applying the visual preset. Some selectors are simple (e.g. 'Receptor' and 'Ligands') while others can be very advanced (e.g. 'Residues (heavy atoms) with at least one atom within 5A of ligands').
  • A Visual model, to be applied to the nodes selected by the Selector. Visual models can be e.g. 'Ribbons', 'Licorice', 'Solvent Excluded Surface', etc.
  • An optional Color scheme (e.g. 'Color per residue sequence number').
  • An optional Color palette. Many different color palettes are included, and you can create your own using a variety of parameters (e.g. a flexible diverging HCL color palette).
  • An option to hide (or not) the nodes selected by the Selector.

Visual preset groups

A Visual preset group is a group of visual presets applied simultaneously to the current selection, or the whole document if nothing was selected.

The included visual presets group reproduce typical choices made to produce images for publications (e.g. 'Receptor as Ribbon, Ligand and Water as Licorice, Ions as VdW').

Creating visual presets

You can create new visual presets and visual presets groups by either modifying existing ones, or starting from scratch entirely.

Visual Presets is an extension for SAMSON,
the integrative platform for molecular design.

To use Visual Presets:

1. Create your free account and choose a molecular design plan
2. Download and install SAMSON on your computer


When you restart SAMSON, the extension will be automatically installed
and will be usable directly from within SAMSON.