When preparing visual presentations of molecular systems, especially for education, publications, or collaboration, one recurring challenge is controlling the visibility of elements over time. As systems grow in complexity, parts of the model may need to be temporarily removed from view in order to direct focus, reduce visual clutter, or sequentially reveal key insights.
In the SAMSON molecular design platform, this need is addressed through the Hide animation, a compact and useful effect that simplifies the management of visibility in animated timelines. Instead of requiring users to script visibility changes manually or rely on a complex sequence of separate effects, the Hide animation performs a smart combination of hiding and showing selected nodes across three keyframes.
Understanding the Hide Animation
The Hide animation is not just about making things disappear. It’s about doing so in a way that is intuitive, reversible, and easy to fine-tune. Here’s how it works:
- First, select the node(s) that you want to hide during part of your animation.
- Then, add the Hide animation from the Animation panel inside SAMSON’s Animator.
- The animation is created with three keyframes:
- Between keyframes 1 and 2, your selected nodes are visible.
- At keyframe 2, those nodes become hidden.
- Between keyframes 2 and 3, the nodes remain hidden.
This allows for directional storytelling: you can have a protein domain present at the beginning of your video, then remove it to highlight an inner ligand, and bring it back later using corresponding Show, Appear, or Flash animations.
Why This Matters
A frequent frustration for molecular modelers is telling a clear story with a complex model. Suppose a membrane protein is embedded in a bilayer, surrounded by ions and water molecules. Illustrating ligand binding becomes difficult if everything is shown at once. With Hide, you can reduce visual noise in specific intervals, focus the viewer’s attention frame-by-frame, and keep your animation organized across a timeline.
Unlike transparency-based methods, Hide affects the actual visibility state of nodes. This ensures they’re not rendered at all during hidden phases, which can improve clarity and—depending on rendering parameters—performance.
Tips for Using Hide Effectively
- Use Hide in conjunction with Easing curves to control how transitions take place between your keyframes. Smooth blends between visibility states can make animations more understandable and visually comfortable.
- If you want to quickly adjust animation timing, you can always move the keyframes in the Animation panel. This allows you to align Hide with other animation effects such as Zoom or Pulse.
- Remember that while the Animation menu used to offer this feature, all animations are now added via the Animator’s Animation panel in the interface.
The Hide effect works elegantly for demonstration videos, virtual seminars, or export-ready molecular movies. It’s a quiet but powerful tool in the animator’s toolkit for molecular modeling.
To learn more about the Hide animation and how it fits within the broader animation system in SAMSON, visit the official documentation: https://documentation.samson-connect.net/users/latest/animations/hide/.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. Download your copy at https://www.samson-connect.net.