A molecular structure can be difficult to explain when the whole scene appears at once. The audience has to take in the model, labels, and other visual elements simultaneously, which can make it harder to follow what matters. A gradual reveal gives you a simple way to control that moment: use SAMSON’s Appear animation to bring selected nodes into view over time.
Appear progressively changes a node’s transparency. It is useful for building a presentation in stages—for example, revealing a visual model or label after the viewer has had a moment to orient themselves. Rather than manually hiding and showing elements at separate points, you can animate a selected group from transparent to opaque.
Set up the reveal
- Choose the nodes you want to reveal. Think about the story of the scene: which parts should the audience notice first, and which can wait?
- Double-click Appear in the Animation panel of the Animator to apply the effect to the chosen nodes.
- Adjust the keyframes by moving them to control when the reveal starts and finishes in your presentation.
The animation has four keyframes. Between the first and second, the selected nodes are fully transparent. Between the second and third, they progressively appear as their transparency decreases. Between the third and fourth, they remain fully opaque. This structure gives you a transparent interval before the reveal, a transition, and a fully visible interval afterward.
That sequence is helpful when you want a model to enter the viewer’s attention at a deliberate point. For instance, you might let the scene establish context first, then reveal a structural model. Or you might reveal a label after its associated object is already visible. These are presentation choices rather than fixed rules: moving the keyframes lets you adapt the timing to the pace of your explanation.
Check what you are animating
Appear works on nodes that have a transparency attribute, including structural models, visual models, meshes, and labels. For nodes without that attribute, it behaves similarly to the Show animation. One detail is especially important for molecular scenes: individual atoms and bonds do not have their own opacity attribute. Their structural models do. So, if your goal is to change the transparency of atoms and bonds, apply Appear to the structural model that contains them—not to the individual atoms or bonds.
If the change feels too abrupt or too gradual, you can modify the easing curve to change how the animation’s parameters are interpolated between frames. You can also reposition the keyframes; the reveal does not have to use the default spacing. Preview the result and adjust until the transition fits the pace of your explanation.
One interface note: older instructional material may show an Animation menu. In the current workflow described here, animations are accessed from the Animation panel in the Animator, and presentation actions are available through the Animator’s controls.
For the exact steps and animation details, see the Appear animation documentation.
Note: SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. Get SAMSON.