When giving a molecular modeling presentation, controlling the flow of complex animations can often make or break the audience’s understanding. If animations play too quickly or without clear structure, it becomes easy to lose track of what’s important—especially when highlighting interactions or steps in a process. This is particularly true for educators or researchers demonstrating simulated reactions, molecular assemblies, or docking mechanisms.
Enter the Stop animation in SAMSON. This simple yet practical tool lets users pause an animation exactly where they want, enabling a more narrative presentation style. For example, by adding multiple ‘Stop’ effects at strategic keyframes, you can divide your presentation into clear “slides,” giving you space to explain specific conformations or interactions before advancing.
Why this matters for molecular modeling
In molecular design, context is everything. One frame can show a hydrogen bond forming, while the next shows it breaking. Without control over the animation flow, these details can slip through. With SAMSON’s Stop animation feature, you gain that control, allowing step-by-step walkthroughs that enhance clarity and focus.
How the Stop animation works
At its core, the Stop effect halts the animation at a given frame until the user chooses to resume it—either by pressing the Space key or clicking the Play button in the Animator’s controls. It’s a way of inserting intentional pauses into your presentation, similar to advancing a slide in classic presentation software.
Adding a Stop animation
Here’s how to integrate it into your animation sequence:
- Open the Animation panel in SAMSON’s Animator.
- Double-click on the Stop effect. This places a keyframe at the current frame.
- Need to pause elsewhere? Simply move the keyframe to the frame where you want the animation to pause.
Note
You can always move the keyframes of the animation.
This kind of precise temporal control opens new possibilities in molecular storytelling. For example, you might:
- Break down the ligand docking process into distinct phases with commentary.
- Highlight structural transitions during molecular dynamics simulations.
- Create pauses to ask questions or prompt discussion in a classroom setting.
Rather than only explaining models after the animation plays, you can now control exactly when to do so—during the animation, with focus and structure.
To learn more about the Stop animation and how to incorporate it into your workflow, visit the official documentation page.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download SAMSON from https://www.samson-connect.net.