When preparing molecular animations, controlling what appears and disappears at each moment can be crucial for clarity. Suppose you’re building a presentation to explain how a ligand enters a binding pocket, or how different subunits of a protein interact over time. You may want certain parts of the system to hide or appear at the right moment, helping your audience focus.
This is where Hide animations in SAMSON come in handy. Instead of manually tweaking transparency or visibility frame-by-frame, the Hide animation offers a streamlined way to hide selected nodes across frames. It reduces friction in making polished animations that direct attention where it matters.
How the Hide Animation Works
The Hide animation effect works by setting the visibility of selected nodes to hidden starting at a chosen keyframe. It consists of three keyframes:
- Keyframe 1 → Keyframe 2: Nodes are visible
- Keyframe 2: Nodes disappear
- Keyframe 2 → Keyframe 3: Nodes remain hidden
This logic makes it simple to time when molecular components should vanish without impacting the transparency settings, preserving rendering performance and visual clarity.
How to Add a Hide Animation
- Select the nodes you want to hide (for example, a solvent shell or a flexible region).
- Open the Animation panel in the Animator.
- Double-click on the Hide animation effect.
Once inserted, the animation appears on the timeline. You can drag the keyframes to match the timing of the rest of your animation. The nodes will visually disappear at Keyframe 2, helping you stage your story step-by-step.
Control With Easing Curves
Although the hiding itself is a binary toggle, it’s helpful to align timing with your existing presentation. You can adjust the easing curves and position of the keyframes to better synchronize with camera movements or other events.
Visual Example
In this example, the central molecule component disappears exactly as the structure rotates, guiding the viewer to focus on the remaining part.
Use Cases
- Hiding ligands after showcasing binding mechanisms to highlight the protein structure.
- Disappearing side chains or regions to expose deep binding pockets.
- Removing solvent layers or ions for a clearer depiction of core dynamics.
Many molecular modelers spend unnecessary time manually switching visibility settings over frames. Automating this with the Hide animation drastically reduces the setup time for complex presentations.
To learn more, visit the official Hide animation documentation page.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can get SAMSON here.