When preparing animations of molecular systems, one of the common challenges modelers face is managing what’s visible—either momentarily or throughout a sequence. Sometimes, showing specific elements of a simulation at just the right moment is crucial to helping others understand your model, especially in educational or presentation contexts. That’s where SAMSON’s Shown animation effect becomes valuable.
The Shown animation is designed to make selected nodes visible at specific keyframes. Unlike transparency effects, this animation works directly with the visibility state of nodes. This subtle but important distinction gives you more precise control over what appears in your animation timeline—and when.
Why visibility control matters
Let’s say you’re animating a large macromolecular complex. At first, you may only want to show a ligand binding site, or perhaps a specific protein domain. Displaying just these elements can prevent information overload and helps viewers focus on what’s most important at each stage of your explanation.
With the Shown effect, you can sequentially reveal parts of your model exactly when you want them. This adds serious clarity to complex presentations, allowing you to tell richer, more understandable molecular stories.
How to apply the Shown animation
- First, choose the model nodes you want to show at a particular frame.
- Open the Animation panel in the Animator.
- Double-click the Shown animation. A begin keyframe will be added to the current frame on the timeline.
- Adjust the keyframes as desired, either to prolong the visible duration or align the moment of appearance with other animations.
It’s as simple as that—an effective and intuitive way to make selected nodes appear during your animation sequence without adjusting their transparency or other visual properties.
Real use: combining visibility with storytelling
The Shown effect truly shines when used alongside other SAMSON animations like Hidden, Appear, or Flash. They can work in tandem to emphasize dynamic changes in a system or evolve the visual complexity in a gradual, understandable way.
The animation below gives an example of the Shown and Hidden effects working together to control visibility and guide the viewer’s attention:
Fine-tuning with Easing curves
Need that visibility transition to feel even smoother? You can modify how the animation interpolates between frames using the Easing curve. This lets you fine-tune the pacing, which is especially helpful when synchronizing visibility with movement or narration.
To learn more about how the Shown animation effect works and how it pairs with other animation tools in SAMSON, visit the full documentation page here.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.