Creating effective scientific animations often comes down to highlighting just the right parts of a molecular system at the right moment. If you’re preparing a presentation or a video to communicate your latest discovery, you probably don’t want all atoms visible all the time. That’s where SAMSON’s Flash animation becomes useful.
The Flash animation offers a simple yet powerful way to control the visibility of nodes—everything from atoms and bonds to entire molecular complexes—within a defined sequence. Unlike animations that gradually fade objects in or out using transparency, Flash applies a more abrupt and clean effect: nodes either appear or disappear instantly. This helps in drawing attention exactly when and where it’s needed.
Why Visibility Beats Transparency
It’s common to associate appearance and disappearance with alpha blending or transparency changes. However, when you’re working with molecular structures, transparency can result in visual clutter, making it hard to see what’s going on. Flash solves this by simply toggling the visibility of nodes. In other words, objects are either present or not—no halfway state or ghost-like residues. This is particularly useful in complex environments where clarity is crucial.
Designing a Flash Sequence in SAMSON
To use the Flash effect:
- Select the nodes (e.g., molecules, residues, or substructures) you want to animate.
- In the Animation panel of the Animator, double-click on the Flash animation effect.
- The Flash animation inserts four keyframes:
- From keyframe 1 to 2: nodes are hidden.
- At keyframe 2: nodes appear.
- From keyframe 2 to 3: nodes stay visible.
- At keyframe 3: nodes disappear.
- From keyframe 3 to 4: nodes remain hidden.
You can move the keyframes to control the duration of each phase, ensuring the visual narrative matches your scientific story.
Combining Simplicity with Control
Though it’s a straightforward binary toggle, the Flash animation can be synchronized with other effects, including camera movement, bonding animations, or color changes. This opens up creative ways to streamline focus during a presentation: imagine zooming into a protein’s active site right as it appears, or deconstructing a molecule layer by layer.
Fine-Tuning Transitions
For additional control, visit the Inspector panel after selecting the Flash animation on the timeline. You can choose an easing curve to control how quickly the effect starts and ends. Even though the effect toggles visibility instantly, keyframe timing and interpolation still affect how it integrates with surrounding animations.
A Clean Slate, Every Time
Whether you’re teaching, collaborating, or revealing a new mechanism, clarity in communication is essential. The Flash animation removes the distractions and lets your molecular system take center stage, moment by moment.
To learn more about the Flash effect, visit the full documentation page.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can get SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.