When creating molecular animations, one recurring challenge is controlling when specific parts of a structure appear or disappear. Whether you’re preparing a presentation or clarifying complex structural changes for a publication, timing the visibility of selected molecules or components can make or break the clarity of your animation.
This is exactly where the Show animation effect in SAMSON helps. It provides a precise yet intuitive way to control the appearance of node elements at a given moment during an animation. If you’ve ever struggled with combining multiple visibility states or manually tweaking transparency settings, this built-in animation effect might be what you’ve needed all along.
What the Show Animation Does
The Show animation in SAMSON enables selected nodes to remain hidden at the beginning of a scene and visually appear at a specific keyframe you define. Once they appear, they remain visible until the end of the animation. This is achieved through the visibility state rather than transparency, making it ideal for applications where clarity, not blending, is the goal.
This feature is especially relevant when you want to:
- Introduce a molecule or structural element midway through a presentation
- Focus attention on a part of the system only when relevant
- Simplify scenes by gradually adding complexity
How It Works
Setting up the Show animation is straightforward. Follow these steps:
- Select the nodes (atoms, molecules, surfaces, etc.) you want to control.
- In the Animation panel, double-click the
Showanimation effect. - This automatically creates three keyframes with the following behavior:
- Keyframes 1 → 2: nodes remain hidden
- Keyframe 2: nodes become visible
- Keyframes 2 → 3: nodes stay visible
- Move keyframes on the timeline to control when the visibility event happens.
Pairing this animation effect with features like easing curves enables you to create animations that communicate timing with more realism or emphasis, although visibility itself is a discrete event here.
Use Case: Progressive Build-Up of a Molecular Scene
Imagine you’re animating a DNA-binding protein. At first, you show only the DNA strand. At frame 50, the protein gradually appears. You can use the Show effect at keyframe 50 to display the protein node clusters exactly when needed without manual toggling or scripting. This allows for a smooth narrative in your molecular presentation.
For more dynamic scenes, you can even combine the Show effect with other animations like Flash or Pulse to highlight newly visible elements.
Beware of Versions
Some older tutorials may refer to the now-removed “Animation menu”. All animation effects, including Show, can now be found in the Animation panel of the Animator interface.
To learn more or dive deeper into other tools that help you control animation timing in SAMSON, explore the full documentation here: https://documentation.samson-connect.net/users/latest/animations/show/
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.