Creating compelling molecular animations often requires precise control over the visibility of elements in your scene. Whether you’re showcasing a binding site, highlighting a conformational change, or simply guiding viewers through a molecular mechanism, what you choose to hide—and when—is just as important as what you show.
One common challenge molecular modelers face is how to make nodes (atoms, molecules, or groups) disappear smoothly and cleanly during an animation. Fading out is not always desirable, especially when scientific clarity is the goal. In these situations, complete visibility control is much more effective than relying solely on transparency.
This is where the Hide animation in SAMSON becomes a practical tool in your animation workflow.
What the Hide Animation Does
The Hide animation is designed to make nodes in your scene disappear at a specific keyframe and remain hidden until the end of the animation sequence. Technically, this works by toggling node visibility—not transparency—providing a binary, distraction-free visual transition.
This eliminates confusion for viewers: instead of a molecule slowly becoming more transparent (which may give the impression of a dynamic, partial presence), it simply disappears from the scene when needed.
How It Works
To apply the Hide animation in SAMSON:
- Select the nodes you want to hide in your scene.
- Double-click the Hide animation from the Animation panel in the Animator.
- You will see three keyframes appear:
- Keyframes 1–2: nodes are visible
- At keyframe 2: nodes disappear
- Keyframes 2–3: nodes remain hidden
- Move the keyframes as needed using the timeline or by dragging directly in the animator interface.
While this might seem like a small feature, it helps streamline complex sequences where showing and hiding parts of your model at just the right moments can significantly improve educational clarity or highlight experimental details.
Why This Matters
In publications, presentations, and teaching materials, clarity and conciseness in animations are often limited by how fluidly we can manipulate our molecular visuals. By avoiding rough transitions or lingering visual noise, the Hide animation enables sharper narratives and better comprehension.
For example, in a transition from a full molecule to a specific active site, you could use the Hide animation to instantly remove everything but the target residues—focusing your audience’s attention exactly where it needs to be without the ambiguity of a fade. It’s particularly useful when building step-by-step walkthroughs in molecular pathways, reaction sequences, or structural comparison videos.
To fine-tune the transitions, you can also modify how parameters are interpolated between keyframes using easing curves. This adds an extra layer of control if needed—although by design, Hide is meant to be abrupt and clear.
See It in Action
For more information on how to implement the Hide animation in SAMSON, visit the official documentation page.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can get SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.