When creating molecular animations, clarity of presentation can make or break a viewer’s understanding. One common issue is finding a clean way to make certain parts of a molecular structure appear or disappear across frames — for instance, to draw attention to an active site or to compare structural states without overwhelming visual information.
In many tools, achieving this effect might involve playing with transparency or setting parameters manually. In SAMSON, however, the Hide animation offers a precise and structured way to control visibility over time using a three-keyframe system.
What the Hide Animation Does
The Hide animation in SAMSON toggles the visibility of selected nodes (atoms, groups, residues, etc.) in an intuitive way: they remain visible up to a specific frame, vanish instantly at that frame, and stay hidden afterward. This is ideal for stepwise presentations where you need to gradually remove structural elements without fading effects or layering issues.
Critically, Hide differs from transparency-based solutions. It disables the visibility of objects, reducing clutter and improving performance on larger systems. It effectively merges the behaviors of consecutive Shown and Hidden tracks into one clean animation.
How to Use It
To add a Hide animation:
- Select the nodes in your molecular system that you want to hide.
- Double-click the Hide animation in the Animation panel of the Animator.
- By default, you’ll see three keyframes. Between keyframes 1 and 2, the selected nodes remain visible.
- At keyframe 2, they vanish, and remain hidden between keyframes 2 and 3.
- You can drag the keyframes to reposition the effect in your timeline.
Refining the Effect
The Hide animation also supports interpolation via easing curves, even if its core effect (visibility toggling) is binary. By fine-tuning keyframe placement and combining Hide with other timeline effects like Show or Flash, you can produce polished, insightful presentations that flow naturally.
When to Use Hide
If you’ve ever wanted to:
- Compare different conformations without showing both at once
- Emphasize ligand binding by removing parts of the pocket
- Create animations that mimic experimental steps (e.g., folding, binding, etc.) with clean transitions
- Simplify visuals to avoid overlapping models
… then Hide is a valuable tool in your animation workflow.
To learn more, visit the full documentation page on the Hide animation: https://documentation.samson-connect.net/users/latest/animations/hide/
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.