When preparing molecular animations, subtle and meaningful motion can greatly enhance the clarity of your visual presentations. However, not every scientific user has time to fine-tune camera paths or build complex motion scripts from scratch. If you’re looking for a quick way to add visually engaging movement to a molecular structure without spending hours in animation setup, the Rock animation in SAMSON might be just what you need.
Why Use the Rock Animation?
The Rock animation makes any selected group of particles oscillate around their geometric center, in a movement aligned with the Z-axis. It introduces a gentle, back-and-forth rotation that helps show the 3D structure of a molecule from multiple angles. For molecular modelers, this movement can be particularly useful when showcasing binding pockets, molecular conformations, or comparing structural rigidity across models.
The added visual perspective improves the communication of spatial relationships inside complex architectures, such as protein–ligand systems or nanostructures. And since it’s automated between two keyframes, it’s an easy enhancement anyone can use without deep animation experience.
How to Apply It
Using the Rock animation is quick. Here’s how to get started:
- Select the group of particles you want to animate. This might be a subunit, a ligand, or a highlighted region in a biomolecule.
- Open the Animation panel from the Animation tools menu.
- Double-click on the Rock animation.
This inserts two keyframes in your timeline. As you preview or render the sequence, the group of particles will gently rock back and forth between these positions.
Tuning the Animation
If you’d like to adjust the feel of the motion, you can set the easing curve to control how smoothly the animation progresses. A linear easing gives a consistent motion, while ‘ease in’ and ‘ease out’ options soften the entrance and exit of the rocking to make it more natural.
Example in Action
Here’s what it can look like in practice:
You can experience a public example by visiting this interactive document:
Keep It Flexible
You’re free to move the keyframes around and layer other animations such as Rotate or Hold atoms. Combined thoughtfully, these create clear, focused animations that make the molecular motions or characteristics easier to understand.
Next time you’re preparing a structure for teaching, collaborative sharing, or research presentation, try adding a few seconds of rocking. It’s a small touch that brings more attention to key molecular areas without requiring complex scripting or video editing tools.
To learn more, visit the full documentation page for Rock animation at https://documentation.samson-connect.net/users/latest/animations/rock/.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can get SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.