Working with complex molecular animations in SAMSON can get tangled fast. One common frustration that molecular modelers face is when an animation node doesn’t appear in the viewport — even though it seems like it’s supposed to. You might have toggled visibility in different menus, but still, nothing shows up. Is it really hidden? Visible? Or something in between?
This blog post focuses on understanding visibility attributes for animation nodes in SAMSON’s Node Specification Language (NSL). If you’ve ever faced the pain of disappearing animations and meaningless toggles, read on — visibility involves more than just a single attribute.
Three Sides of Visibility in NSL
In SAMSON, making an animation node appear or disappear involves three separate but related attributes:
hidden(short name:h)visible(short name:v)visibilityFlag(short name:vf)
Here’s what each of them means:
an.h — Hidden Attribute
This indicates if the animation node is explicitly hidden. Set it to true to hide the node, or false to unhide it.
an.v — Visible Attribute
This is a shorthand condition you can query to find out whether the node is considered visible based on a combination of its visibility-demanding states.
an.vf — Visibility Flag
This attribute works like a suggestive state. If an.vf is false, the node will not be shown even if it is not explicitly hidden. It’s often set based on context, hierarchies, or group settings.
Troubleshooting Tip
When animations don’t appear as expected, try running these queries in your NSL filter:
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not an.h # Check it's not explicitly hidden an.vf true # Ensure visibility flag is enabled an.v # Confirm that all conditions make it visible |
If an.v still returns no results, explore parent node visibility too. Inherited visibility behavior may affect the animation.
Example Use Cases
You want to select all animations that are hidden:
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an.h |
You want to isolate animation nodes that are supposed to be visible but are not showing up due to a disabled flag:
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an.vf false |
Why It Matters
Understanding these attributes gives you more precise control over which animation nodes are visible during your molecular design tasks. Instead of toggling blindly through layers of settings, knowing these attributes lets you build filters or fix unexpected display states quickly.
This can be especially useful when preparing animations for presentations, exporting sequences, or even debugging which parts of your model are active in which frame.
Wrapping Up
Visibility in SAMSON animations isn’t just about one toggle—it’s layered and context-sensitive. Learning to use an.h, an.vf, and an.v can save you time and help you navigate large projects with clarity.
For additional examples and the full list of animation attributes, visit the official documentation page: https://documentation.samson-connect.net/users/latest/nsl/animation/
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download SAMSON here.