In molecular modeling, it’s often challenging to visually convey how a molecular structure moves or behaves, especially when presenting to interdisciplinary teams or students. Static images or even simple rotations might not fully capture local conformational changes or subtle rearrangements. If you’ve ever struggled to highlight a specific region of interest in a molecule — perhaps an active site or a bound ligand — without overwhelming the viewer, SAMSON’s Rock animation might be exactly what you need. 🎥
The Rock animation in SAMSON allows you to create a subtle, oscillating movement of a selected group of particles about their geometric center. Instead of a continuous spin, which can make it hard to focus on detailed interactions, this animation rocks back and forth around a fixed vector that aligns with the Z-axis. This makes it perfect for presentations, videos, or teaching materials where clarity is more important than dramatic effect.
Why Use Rock Over Rotate?
The Rotate animation is appropriate when you want to continuously spin a structure, for example to show symmetry or overall shape. But when you want to:
- Draw attention to a specific substructure (like a ligand or domain),
- Create a subtle, readable motion that doesn’t obscure interactions,
- Keep the viewer’s focus centered and avoid disorientation,
…then the Rock animation becomes a better choice.
How to Add the Rock Animation
Here is how you can get started:
- Select a group of particles in your molecular system. This could be residues, ligands, domains, or any subset you’re interested in.
- Open the Animation panel in the Animator.
- Double-click on the Rock animation effect.
The selected particles will now perform the Rock motion between two keyframes. You can reposition these keyframes freely in the timeline to adjust the speed and duration of the animation.
Smoothness Control with Easing Curve
If you want the motion to start and stop smoothly, or accelerate in a certain way, SAMSON lets you adjust the Easing curve. This gives you control over the interpolation of the animation, so your Rock movement can feel natural or stylized depending on your needs.
Use Case Example
Below is a demonstration of the Rock animation applied to a molecular structure. You’ll see how the group gently rocks back and forth, visually enhancing atomic-level features without overwhelming the viewer:
Try It Yourself
An example presentation that uses the Rock animation is available here.
The next time you build visuals for a molecular presentation, consider reaching for Rock instead of Rotate to guide your audience’s attention in a focused and elegant way.
To learn more, visit the original documentation page: https://documentation.samson-connect.net/users/latest/animations/rock/
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.