When preparing molecular presentations or educational materials, you’ll likely encounter moments when you want specific components of your model to gradually disappear—either to focus attention elsewhere or to visually communicate molecular dynamics. The Disappear animation in SAMSON solves this by allowing smooth, progressive fades of selected molecular nodes such as structural models, labels, or meshes.
Why Progressive Disappearance Matters
In molecular modeling, focusing user attention is crucial. Often, we want to remove a set of elements without a harsh visual cut. Using a gradual fade, rather than an abrupt switch, makes visual transitions smoother and easier to follow—particularly when showing complex assemblies or dynamic processes.
For example, imagine guiding a viewer’s attention away from a membrane to focus on a channel protein embedded within it. Abruptly hiding the membrane can jar the viewer and obscure the intended message. With SAMSON’s Disappear animation, the membrane can become more and more transparent until it vanishes entirely, creating a seamless shift in visual focus.
How the Disappear Animation Works
The Disappear animation is tailored for nodes with a transparency attribute. These include:
- Structural Models
- Visual Models
- Meshes
- Labels
Note that individual atoms and bonds do not have an opacity attribute. Instead, apply the animation to their containing structural model if you want them to fade away.
Setting It Up: A Step-by-Step Guide
- Select the node or group of nodes you want to have gradually disappear.
- In the Animation panel of the Animator, double-click the Disappear animation.
- The animation comes with 4 keyframes by default:
- Between keyframes 1 and 2: the nodes remain fully visible (opaque)
- Between keyframes 2 and 3: nodes gradually disappear through increased transparency
- Between keyframes 3 and 4: nodes are fully transparent
- Adjust the timing and spacing of these keyframes to control fade speed and start/stop points.
For more control, tweak the easing curves to make the disappearance more linear or accelerated, depending on your visualization needs.
Best Practices
- Group fade-outs: Apply the Disappear animation to groups of nodes to simplify your workflow.
- Avoid animation conflicts: Ensure other animations do not override or conflict with transparency settings.
- Preview playback: Regularly preview the animation sequence—what looks gradual in theory might seem rushed in a real-time presentation.
A Note for Longtime Users
Earlier versions of SAMSON used an Animation menu that is no longer present. All animations including Disappear are now accessed via the Animation panel, within the Animator interface.
For more details, visit the official documentation page: https://documentation.samson-connect.net/users/latest/animations/disappear/
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.