When working with complex biomolecular assemblies, one common challenge in molecular modeling is presenting structural relationships clearly—especially during talks, teaching sessions, or explanatory videos. Components often overlap visually, making it difficult for the viewer to distinguish subunits or understand spatial organization. This is where the Disassemble animation effect in SAMSON comes into play.
The Disassemble animation is a straightforward but useful effect that automatically separates selected structural nodes or meshes in 3D space, providing a clearer view of substructures and their relative placement. It creates a visual disassembly that helps highlight subcomponents without altering the underlying science—perfect for presentations where clarity is key.
Visually Untangling Complexity
Let’s say you’re analyzing a protein complex composed of multiple chains or cofactors. Overlapping surfaces and tightly packed regions can make it hard for colleagues or students to follow your explanation. By applying the Disassemble animation, you can create a short sequence where units gently move apart, retaining their relative spatial orientation but spaced out for better visibility.
This is particularly helpful when combined with the Assemble animation, which can be used to reverse the process—reassembling components after separate inspection. Together, they allow for smooth storytelling around molecular architecture.
How It Works
1. First, select the atoms, groups, or meshes that you want to disassemble.
2. Navigate to the Animation panel within the Animator.
3. Double-click Disassemble. If no selection is made, SAMSON will try to apply the effect to relevant nodes automatically.
4. The effect adds movement between two keyframes. You can adjust the keyframes to define the timing and duration of the disassembly.
Fine-Tuning the Effect
Once the animation is in place, the Inspector can be used to change the amplitude of the movement. By default, SAMSON computes this automatically, ensuring objects don’t fly too far away. However, increasing the amplitude manually can give more breathing room to very dense regions.
Additionally, the easing curve governs how the disassembly interpolates over time—linearly, accelerating, decelerating, or following more complex temporal shapes. Adjusting this helps match the visual style of your presentation.
Quick Tip
Keep in mind that even though this is an animation effect, you can freeze it at any point to use the disassembled view as a static figure for presentations or publications. It’s a convenient way to generate multiple visual states from the same starting complex.
Conclusion
Disassemble is a simple yet useful tool to give your audience a clearer understanding of molecular systems. Whether for education, collaboration, or research communication, it helps transform complexity into clarity.
Learn more about this feature in the official documentation: https://documentation.samson-connect.net/users/latest/animations/disassemble/
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.