In molecular modeling, clear communication is essential—especially when sharing insights with collaborators or building a presentation. One recurring challenge is how to briefly spotlight a specific group of molecules or atoms without overwhelming the audience with constant motion or information overload.
If you’ve ever wanted to subtly pull attention toward a structure at just the right moment, the Flash animation in SAMSON might be a helpful tool. Without altering transparency or building overly complex animation tracks, Flash offers an elegant way to make molecular nodes appear momentarily, focusing viewer attention without distraction.
Why use the Flash animation?
Where some animations rely on opacity or color changes, Flash offers sharper temporal control: nodes simply become visible right when you want them to be noticed, and then disappear. It’s perfect for spotlighting intermediate states, functional groups in a binding site, or showing reactive intermediates in a reaction mechanism. It can also help when toggling between conformations or simplifying complex overlays where many molecules must not be shown at the same time.
How does it work?
Select the nodes you want to emphasize for a short interval. Then, in the Animation panel in SAMSON’s Animator, double-click the Flash animation effect. This will add an animation track with four keyframes:
- Keyframe 1–2: Nodes are hidden
- Keyframe 2: Nodes become visible
- Keyframe 2–3: Nodes stay visible
- Keyframe 3: Nodes become hidden again
- Keyframe 3–4: Nodes remain hidden
This allows for a clearly defined moment of visibility. You can shift keyframes to align with the animation’s rhythm, so the appearance and disappearance match the narrative of your video.
Customization tips
The Flash animation supports easing curves—helpful if you want the change in visibility to match the pacing of other animations. For example, if you are combining a Flash with camera movements or other node transformations, adjusting these easing curves can help everything feel cohesive.
You’ll find these settings in the Inspector panel. Use them to experiment with interpolation, although by default Flash focuses entirely on toggling visibility, not changing transparency or blending effects. This keeps your visuals simple and effective.
When to use Flash instead of Show/Hide?
Compared to Show and Hide animations, Flash is more appropriate for transient visibility changes. If you want to introduce a quick idea or structure and then immediately shift focus, Flash is more controllable and doesn’t require stacking multiple tracks or transitions.
If you’re creating educational content, scientific videos, or simply showcasing findings to peers, adding a subtle focus effect like Flash can make your animations easier to follow and more memorable, without overwhelming your viewers.
To learn more about using the Flash animation in SAMSON and see examples: https://documentation.samson-connect.net/users/latest/animations/flash/
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.