When you’re preparing a molecular animation to explain your research, showcase a protein-ligand interaction, or present a simulation workflow, timing is everything. A smooth animation is great—but what if you want to pause and provide more context, discuss a mechanism, or take questions from your audience?
That’s where SAMSON’s Stop animation becomes a useful tool.
Why Pausing Matters in Scientific Storytelling
In real-world presentations, you often need to move slide-by-slide, controlling the pace so you can engage with your audience or explain complex molecular events step-by-step. In molecular animations, the equivalent is pausing at key points—perhaps when a ligand enters the binding site, or when a conformational change becomes visible.
The Stop animation in SAMSON does just that: it freezes the presentation at a specific frame. By doing so, it gives you a natural way to divide your presentation into clear, interactive segments, just like slides in PowerPoint.
How It Works
Here’s how you can use the Stop animation in your projects:
- In SAMSON, go to the Animation panel of the Animator.
- Double-click the Stop effect from the list of available animations. A keyframe will be added at the current frame.
- If necessary, drag the keyframe along the timeline to position it exactly where the animation should pause.
When the animation reaches the Stop keyframe during a presentation, it will freeze. To continue, you just need to press the Space key or click the Play button in the Animator controls.
This creates a more modular flow, letting the presenter control the narrative and adapt to the audience’s reactions—something prerecorded animations can’t do effectively.
Practical Tips
Try adding multiple Stop keyframes where viewers may need more time. For example:
- Right before and after a major conformational event
- When a small molecule enters or exits a binding pocket
- At the start of each stage of a multistep reaction
Also, don’t worry if the timing feels off at first—you can always adjust keyframes later. SAMSON keeps your workflow intuitive, letting you fine-tune without starting over.
See It in Action
If you’re curious about how the Stop animation fits into broader animation workflows in SAMSON, or how it’s different from the Pause animation, explore the full documentation.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. To get started with SAMSON, visit https://www.samson-connect.net.