When preparing molecular animations, researchers often face a common challenge: how to focus attention on meaningful movement without unnecessary distractions. If everything in the scene moves, it can become harder to understand what matters. Sometimes, it’s crucial to anchor part of your system—such as a protein backbone or receptor—so the rest of the movement becomes clearer.
This is where the Hold atoms animation in SAMSON becomes particularly helpful. It allows you to fix the positions of selected atoms between two keyframes, making them visually stable while others move. This simple yet powerful feature can greatly enhance the clarity and visual storytelling of your molecular presentations.
Why hold atoms in place?
In many docking or molecular assembly animations, the central structure (e.g., the receptor) is not meant to move. The focus is on how other components—like ligands or subunits—interact with or approach it. But if you don’t deliberately fix the receptor, subtle changes in viewport or unintentional keyframe tweaks might register motion even where you don’t want it.
That’s when holding atoms makes a difference. By anchoring specific particles, you make the scene more interpretable, especially for colleagues or viewers not familiar with molecular systems.
How to apply the Hold Atoms animation
Here’s how to add the Hold atoms animation in SAMSON:
- Select the atoms or particles you want to hold still. You can refer to this guide on selecting atoms if you’re unsure.
- Open the Animator (more details here) and go to the Animation panel.
- Double-click the Hold atoms animation effect.
The selected atoms will now remain locked in place between the two keyframes where the effect is applied. You can still move the keyframes to adjust timing. By doing this selectively, you can anchor important parts of your model for visual clarity.
Combined with movement
This feature becomes even more powerful when paired with animations like Move atoms. For example, imagine docking a ligand into a stable receptor: you can hold the receptor still while animating the ligand approaching it. This gives viewers a clean, intentional movement to follow.
In the example below, hold and move are used together to create focused motion where the receptor remains fixed and the ligand docks:
💡 Tip: The Animation menu shown in some older tutorials no longer exists in SAMSON. All animation tools are now accessible from the Animation panel inside the Animator.
Explore real-world examples
If you’re looking for inspiration, there are ready-made documents on SAMSON Connect that showcase how Hold atoms is used in practice:
The Hold atoms animation is one of those subtle tools that, when used well, helps build stronger visual narratives in scientific communication. Whether you’re preparing a video for a conference or illustrating a mechanism for publication, it’s worth experimenting with fixed atoms to enhance clarity.
To learn more, visit the official documentation: Hold atoms animation in SAMSON
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download SAMSON by visiting https://www.samson-connect.net.