When preparing molecular animations for presentations or publications, timing is everything. A common challenge in molecular modeling is making important molecules or structural elements appear exactly when they become relevant—without fading effects or complex scripting. If you’ve ever struggled with transparency tricks or layering workarounds to make structures “pop in” at the right frame, the Show animation in SAMSON can save you time and frustration.
Show is a simple, yet effective animation tool built into SAMSON’s Animator. It makes selected nodes (molecular structures or other scene elements) become visible at a specified keyframe and stay visible thereafter. Unlike transparency-based approaches, this is a true visibility toggle—keeping your scenes cleaner and your message clearer.
Why use the Show animation?
Imagine you’re designing an animation to explain a protein-ligand interaction. You might want the ligand to remain hidden while introducing the receptor, and then snap!—it appears just when you transition to its binding. The Show animation lets you do exactly that, without overcomplicated layering or manual frame edits.
This is especially useful for:
- Stepwise pathway visuals
- Guided educational videos
- Highlighting functional domains
- Story-driven molecular simulations
How it works
The Show animation uses three keyframes:
- Keyframe 1-2: Nodes are hidden
- Keyframe 2: Nodes appear
- Keyframe 2-3: Nodes remain visible
You can reposition these keyframes to match your animation timeline. This flexibility lets you coordinate appearances with structural transitions or narration cues.
To add it:
- Select the nodes you want to appear
- Open the Animator → Animation panel
- Double-click the Show animation effect
This will automatically create and insert the appropriate keyframes. You can further fine-tune the animation speed and pacing using the Easing curve setting.
Small detail, big impact
By using deliberate visibility control instead of fades or dissolves, your animations can better reflect actual molecular events, such as binding, folding, or assembling processes. It also makes it easier to draw your viewer’s attention at exactly the right moment.
Animations created with the Show effect are also easier to read visually, especially when used in scientific communication or outreach materials. With the animation panel, everything stays organized without the need for redundant layers or workarounds.
To learn more, visit the official documentation page: https://documentation.samson-connect.net/users/latest/animations/show/
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can get SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.