When presenting complex molecular systems, especially in a collaborative or educational setting, clarity matters. Sometimes, automated animations breeze through essential steps too quickly, making it hard for viewers to follow key transitions or insights. How do you ensure your audience has time to look, process, and ask questions?
This is a common challenge faced by molecular modelers today—especially during webinars, lectures, or interactive sessions where live explanations accompany animated content. Fortunately, SAMSON, the molecular design platform, has a built-in solution for this exact situation: the Stop animation.
Why Use the Stop Animation?
The Stop animation acts like a pause point in your molecular presentation. It allows you to break an animation sequence into distinct sections, making it easier to guide your audience step by step.
When the playback reaches a Stop animation effect, the animation halts entirely. This gives the presenter full control of the pacing. To resume, simply press the Space bar or click the Play button in the Animator’s controls.
This technique is especially helpful when:
- You want to discuss a particular molecular conformation before proceeding.
- You’re subdividing a complex workflow (e.g. protein docking) into clear conceptual sections.
- You plan to record the animation in segments or use it directly as teaching material.
How to Add a Stop Animation in SAMSON
Adding a Stop animation is intuitive:
- Open the Animation panel in the Animator workspace.
- Double-click on the Stop animation in the list to insert it.
- The Stop animation will appear as a keyframe on your timeline at the current position. You can then drag and reposition it at any frame.
Note
You can always move the keyframes of the animation if you change your mind later.
Using Stop to Create “Slides” in Molecular Talks
Think of Stop animations as virtual slide breaks. By inserting them at key points, you transform a continuous molecular animation into a set of self-contained moments. You gain the flexibility to:
- Introduce annotations or emphasize specific bonds or interactions.
- Explain reaction mechanisms by holding the viewer’s attention.
- Synchronize your narration with visual content, particularly during pre-recorded lessons.
As animations in SAMSON can quickly become quite rich—featuring transitions, movements, and structural changes—strategic use of the Stop effect makes presentations more digestible, especially for audiences new to the concepts.
To learn more about how to structure your molecular presentations using Stop animations, visit the original documentation page: https://documentation.samson-connect.net/users/latest/animations/stop/.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.