Why Your Molecule Vanishes Too Late: Timing the ‘Hide’ Animation in SAMSON

If you’ve ever created molecular animations in SAMSON and noticed that your selected atoms or components disappear too late — or not when you expected — you’ve likely encountered the common issue of timing and control in visibility-based transitions.

The good news: There’s a simple, structured solution. The Hide animation effect is designed precisely for this purpose. Here’s how you can use it to take control of the timing of visibility in your scene, and craft clearer, more effective molecular narratives.

Why Not Just Use Transparency?

It’s natural to think about fading elements out using transparency. But in practice, if you want a node to become completely invisible — and stop interacting with lighting, shadows, or depth effects — true invisibility is better.

The Hide animation in SAMSON doesn’t rely on transparency. It switches the visibility state of nodes so that they completely disappear between selected keyframes. The result? Cleaner transitions and clearer focus on what matters.

Setting It Up in the Animator

Here’s a step-by-step guide:

  1. Select the nodes you want to hide later on.
  2. Open the Animation panel (via the Animator interface: Ctrl+7 or Cmd+7).
  3. Double-click on the Hide animation effect.

This creates a timeline segment composed of three keyframes:

  • Keyframe 1 → Keyframe 2: selected nodes are visible.
  • At Keyframe 2: nodes switch to hidden.
  • Keyframe 2 → Keyframe 3: nodes remain hidden.

The visual jump from visible to hidden is instant and occurs exactly at Keyframe 2. This means you should align this keyframe with the moment in your narrative when the disappearance should happen. You can move keyframes anytime — SAMSON lets you drag and adjust them easily.

Typical Use Cases

Molecular modelers often use Hide to:

  • Gradually reveal a complex structure by removing outer components.
  • Create comparison scenes where parts of the molecule vanish to highlight mutations or binding pockets.
  • Simplify visuals for presentations by temporarily eliminating distractions.

Note: This animation is a combination of two consecutive effects — Shown followed by Hidden — but managed more efficiently in one go.

Adding Polish: The Easing Curve

Looking to control how animations feel? You can refine transitions using the Easing curve. While Hide itself produces an instant change, other animations between keyframes (like movement or color change) often benefit from non-linear acceleration to create smoother effects.

What About the Old Animation Menu?

Earlier versions of SAMSON had a different interface. Today, all animation effects — including Hide — are found directly in the Animation panel accessible through the Animator. That’s now your central hub for scene choreography.

Example: the Hide animation

To learn more about how to use the Hide animation, visit the full documentation here: https://documentation.samson-connect.net/users/latest/animations/hide/

SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. Download SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.

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