If you have ever worked on structural or visual molecular models and wished for a more dynamic way to present your work, the Pulse animation in SAMSON might be exactly what you’re looking for. This feature lets you manipulate the appearance and disappearance of nodes, making it easier to highlight molecular interactions, transitions, or even track movement within your model.
The Pulse animation is particularly useful for nodes equipped with a transparency attribute—like structural models, visual models, meshes, and labels. Here, we’ll walk you through how to effectively use Pulse and understand its key properties.
How Pulse Works
Rather than making a node instantly appear or disappear, the Pulse animation adds a gradual transition. This effect utilizes 5 keyframes to create a smooth sequence:
- Between keyframes 1 and 2: Nodes are fully transparent.
- Between keyframes 2 and 3: Transparency decreases, and nodes appear progressively.
- At keyframe 3: Nodes are fully opaque (no transparency).
- Between keyframes 3 and 4: Nodes progressively disappear as transparency increases.
- Between keyframes 4 and 5: Nodes return to full transparency.
This makes the animation ideal for illustrating transitions or drawing attention to specific structural changes over time. And what’s great is that you can adjust keyframe placement to customize the timing for your specific needs.
How to Add Pulse Animation
Adding Pulse animation to your nodes is simple:
- Identify the nodes you want to animate with appearance and disappearance effects.
- Open the Animation panel in the Animator.
- Double-click on the Pulse animation effect to apply it to your selected nodes.
You can move the keyframes freely to adjust the timing of the transitions. This gives you full control over how your animation unfolds, whether you want a rapid pulse or a slow, gradual cycle.
Customizing Pulse Behavior
Do you want even finer control over the animation’s effect? SAMSON’s Pulse animation allows you to modify the interpolation of parameters between frames by adjusting the easing curve. This lets you create smoother transitions or dynamic effects, depending on your molecular presentation goals.
Why Use Pulse?
Molecular modelers often need a way to visually emphasize parts of a model while also keeping the visualization engaging for presentations and data reviews. Whether you’re presenting experiment results, running through simulation highlights, or preparing animations for publications, the Pulse feature in SAMSON offers a professional yet easy-to-implement solution.
To learn more about Pulse and see it in action, visit the official documentation page.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download it at SAMSON Connect.