When preparing molecular animations, one common challenge for researchers and educators is how to clearly communicate structural or mechanistic changes without overwhelming the viewer. Animations that show atoms or molecules vanishing abruptly or becoming transparent can cause confusion or visual clutter. SAMSON provides an elegant solution to this problem through the Hide animation effect.
The Hide animation is designed to make selected nodes (such as atoms, molecules, or entire biomolecular complexes) disappear from view at a specific point in time during your animation sequence. Unlike changes in transparency, which can leave ghosted visuals on screen, the Hide effect adjusts node visibility, ensuring a clean and unambiguous disappearance.
Why Use the Hide Animation?
Imagine you’re creating a molecular animation to explain ligand binding. At one moment, it’s useful to show the protein and ligand in context. At another, you want to focus on the interaction surface inside the protein, which may be obstructed by other molecular structures. Instead of setting several transparency levels or juggling visibility manually, the Hide animation allows you to choreograph this visual transition smoothly.
How Hide Animation Works
The Hide animation consists of three keyframes:
- Keyframe 1 to Keyframe 2: The nodes remain visible.
- At Keyframe 2: The nodes are hidden.
- Keyframe 2 to Keyframe 3: The nodes stay hidden.
This structure makes it easy to precisely time when your selected nodes should become hidden during the animation timeline. Keyframes can be freely moved along the timeline to synchronize with other visual or narrative elements.
Adding the Hide Animation
Adding the Hide animation only takes a few steps:
- Select the nodes you want to hide.
- Open the Animator panel.
- In the Animation panel, double-click on the Hide animation.
That’s it! The feature will automatically place three keyframes on your timeline, which you can drag and adjust according to your preferences.
Fine-Tune with Easing Curves
To polish your animation further, use easing curves to control the interpolation of visual parameters between frames. This gives you more control over how transitions feel—for instance, you can choose whether they occur linearly or with acceleration/deceleration.
Tip: Understand the Difference from Hidden/Shown Effects
The Hide animation is functionally equivalent to placing sequential Shown and Hidden animations. However, Hide combines both into a single animation block for simpler editing. This not only reduces clutter in your Animator panel but minimizes the potential for timeline sync issues.
Improves Clarity, Reduces Cognitive Load
By hiding elements at precise moments, you simplify the visual field and enable viewers to focus on what matters most—whether it’s a binding interaction, reaction path, or dynamic conformational change. This is particularly useful for creating molecular movies for presentations, teaching videos, or documentation of simulation results.
To learn more, see the full documentation for the Hide animation at https://documentation.samson-connect.net/users/latest/animations/hide/
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. To get SAMSON, visit https://www.samson-connect.net