When presenting large molecular assemblies, it’s easy for your audience to get lost in the complexity. Whether you’re showcasing a protein-ligand complex, a multi-domain macromolecule, or a supramolecular structure, your viewers may struggle to understand how each part fits into the whole. This is a common pain for molecular modelers: how to clearly communicate structure through animation without overwhelming the audience?
The Disassemble animation effect in SAMSON offers a useful solution. With just a few clicks, you can create a presentation where molecular components gently move away from each other, making the internal architecture visible and intuitive to grasp. This is especially helpful for teaching, scientific talks, and publishing explanatory videos.
What Does Disassemble Do?
The Disassemble animation separates selected atoms, molecular nodes, or meshes from their original positions. Instead of simply hiding or deleting parts, this animation pulls them apart smoothly between two keyframes. The directions and amplitudes are calculated automatically, so you get an informative animation with minimal setup—good news if you’re working with multiple components.
The animation is non-destructive and can be reversed or edited at any time. If you need components to return to their original locations, you can combine Disassemble with its counterpart, Assemble.
How to Use It
Here’s a simple workflow:
- Select the structural nodes or meshes you want to disassemble. You can do this manually or rely on SAMSON’s auto-selection if nothing is selected.
- Open the Animation panel in the Animator interface and double-click
Disassemble. - SAMSON will create two keyframes—beginning and end—where the animation is applied. You can reposition these keyframes to adjust the timing.
The standard amplitude is automatically chosen when you first create the animation, but you can fine-tune it in the Inspector. If you want a more dramatic separation or a subtler shift, just explore the “Amplitude” property.
Controlling the Feel of the Movement
Animations in SAMSON use easing curves to interpolate parameter values. This means you can decide whether the movement starts fast and ends slowly, or follows any other timing behavior that enhances clarity.
Why Use Disassemble?
Animations like Disassemble are not just decorations. By separating complex parts visually, you improve comprehension, reduce cognitive overload, and clarify molecular relationships. This can be especially useful when you’re:
- Showing how a ligand binds within a pocket
- Explaining the modular architecture of multi-domain proteins
- Visually separating an antibody from its antigen for educational purposes
If you’ve ever had someone squint at your slide and ask, “Wait, which part is which?” — this animation could help avoid that moment. 🎯
See It in Action
Here’s a short GIF directly from the documentation that shows the animation at work:
You can access this feature from the Animator (Ctrl+7 or Cmd+7 on Mac). If you have used the old Animation menu in previous versions of SAMSON, note that all animations are now accessible from the Animator panel.
To dig deeper and explore advanced options, visit the official documentation:
https://documentation.samson-connect.net/users/latest/animations/disassemble/
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.