Molecular modelers often need more than static visualizations to communicate complex structural changes, docking processes, or dynamic behaviors. Animations and interactive presentations can significantly enhance clarity, whether you’re prepping material for a talk or sharing insights with a broader audience. But creating these animations can be a challenge—especially if you’re not a video editor.
SAMSON provides a user-friendly solution through its Animator, a versatile panel that allows users to build, preview, and export molecular animations and presentations.
Why use animations?
Animations in molecular modeling aren’t just eye candy. They play a critical role in:
- Showing how molecules dock or assemble.
- Following molecular dynamics simulations over time.
- Highlighting specific residues or interactions through visual effects.
- Guiding the camera movement for better storytelling.
Animated presentations help keep audiences engaged and improve their understanding of complex molecular systems.
Your control center: The Animator panel
The Animator panel in SAMSON allows you to:
- Create animations and presentations made of multiple animation blocks, with fine control over timing and order.
- Preview animations frame-by-frame.
- Use specialized keyframe controllers to manipulate camera paths and object positions.
- Export your presentation as a movie (MP4, GIF, WebM), or as individual frames.
What can you animate?
There’s a wide variety of effects accessible via the Animation panel:
- Motion animations: dock, move, or simulate structures; interpolate trajectories.
- Camera animations: orbit around the target, zoom, follow atoms, or create complex camera paths.
- Entrance/Exit effects: make items appear, disappear, or reveal progressively.
- Highlighting effects: pulse or flash a structure for emphasis.
- Other effects: set backgrounds, pause animations, or switch to presentation slides.
Previewing and adjusting animations
SAMSON’s Animator lets you jump to specific frames to preview individual keyframes in context. Camera animations come with visual controllers (e.g. trackballs, paths) to adjust start and end points precisely. These features reduce the trial-and-error process typically associated with animation design.
Easily add and align animations
Want your model to start fully opaque and slowly disappear? Drop in a “Disappear” effect on the model node. Need a camera to follow a ligand’s trajectory? Add a “Follow atoms” camera animation. SAMSON uses a familiar drag-and-drop timeline panel to rearrange, synchronize, and fine-tune your presentation elements. You can even pause at specific frames to break your story into slides.
Export it all to a movie
When you’re satisfied with your animation, click the Save Movie button to export. SAMSON supports MP4, GIF, or WebM formats, and lets you configure output resolution and watermark options in the Presentation settings.
Learn more about the Animator and all available animations in the official SAMSON documentation: https://documentation.samson-connect.net/users/latest/presenting/
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.