One common task in molecular modeling is to analyze or present the evolution of a molecular system over time. Whether you’re watching conformational changes, simulating ligand binding, or just tracking a molecular mechanism, it’s important to be able to visualize your results clearly and smoothly.
However, researchers often struggle with efficiently animating trajectories in a way that aligns with presentation timelines or specific frame counts. That’s where the Play Path animation in SAMSON can help.
What does ‘Play Path’ do?
The Play path animation effect is designed to play either a single path or multiple paths between two keyframes. In SAMSON, a Path node stores trajectory information, meaning you can think of it as a timeline of your molecule’s journey. What makes this tool convenient is that if you add multiple paths, the animation will synchronize them.
This makes it extremely useful for comparing two related simulations or showing a molecule moving side-by-side with a computed reaction pathway. The animation will transition your system smoothly between starting and ending conformations, even when frame counts don’t align perfectly.
Smoothing and When to Use It
Sometimes the number of frames in your animation may not match the number of frames in your path. To solve this mismatch, SAMSON automatically applies smoothing to make the animation more fluid. If you’d prefer to keep your trajectory exactly as you computed it (for example, when each simulation frame is important), you can easily turn off smoothing through the Inspector.
Getting Started: How To Add a Play Path Animation
Adding the animation is straightforward:
- Select the Path node you want to animate.
- Double-click on the Play path item in the Animation panel of the Animator.
- The entire path is then played between two keyframes. You can move these keyframes as needed to match your presentation length.
This means you can instantly animate molecular transitions without manually keyframing every part of the trajectory.
Advanced Tweaks: Interpolation Control
Another useful feature is the ability to choose how your animation interpolates between frames. In the Inspector, you can customize the easing curve, giving you control over whether your animation starts slowly and speeds up, or follows a more linear timing.
Conclusion
Whether you’re preparing a presentation, analyzing conformational changes, or compiling key results from a molecular simulation, the Play Path animation offers a fast and flexible way to explore trajectories within SAMSON.
To learn more about the Play Path animation and its options, please visit the official documentation: https://documentation.samson-connect.net/users/latest/animations/play-path/.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. Get SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.