When preparing molecular presentations or scientific animations, showing and hiding model components at the right moment can make all the difference. Whether you’re revealing specific binding sites, highlighting interactions, or walking through conformational changes, timing is essential. For many molecular modelers, doing this manually is time-consuming and not always accurate.
This is where the Flash animation effect in SAMSON comes in handy. Rather than tweaking transparency or managing multiple node copies, the Flash animation gives you a straightforward way to control visibility through keyframes. Let’s explore how it works, and why it can save you time while enhancing visual clarity.
What Does the Flash Animation Do?
Simply put, Flash makes selected nodes appear at a specific moment, then disappear at another. The change is binary: a node is either visible or not—no fading effects involved. This makes it ideal when you need unambiguous transitions for presentations or tutorials.
How It Works
When you apply the Flash animation effect from the Animation panel within SAMSON’s Animator, the system automatically defines four keyframes to structure your timing:
- Keyframes 1 to 2: Nodes remain hidden.
- Keyframe 2: Nodes suddenly become visible.
- Keyframes 2 to 3: Nodes stay visible.
- Keyframe 3: Nodes become hidden again.
- Keyframes 3 to 4: Nodes remain hidden.
This setup allows you to showcase molecular regions with precision. You can easily adjust the timing by dragging keyframes on the timeline—SAMSON lets you edit them flexibly. Whether you’re cycling through different ligands or showcasing mutations, Flash supports dynamic visual storytelling.
Control Animation Timing with Easing Curves
If you want to customize the way transitions feel—whether you prefer snappy or easing changes—you can modify the easing curve. This determines how time flows between frames and gives granular control over the pacing of your animation.
When to Use Flash Instead of Fade
While transparency-based effects create cinematic visuals, they can sometimes be subtle or hard to perceive—especially when dealing with dense molecular scenes. Flash is better for moments where you need instant attention or a hard cut. For instance:
- Introducing mutations at specific residues
- Comparing ligand binding in different conformations
- Revealing structures hidden deep within a model
By toggling visibility (instead of playing with transparency), your audience gets a clear on/off visual, which is easier to notice during a presentation or lecture video.
Final Thoughts
The Flash animation effect in SAMSON is a quick and effective tool for focused molecular storytelling. Use it to time the appearance and disappearance of atoms, molecules, or any node types to make your animations more engaging and informative—without the overhead of complex editing.
You can learn more here and incorporate Flash in your next project to see the difference it makes.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can get SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.