Many molecular modelers face the same issue when trying to present complex molecular structures or processes through animations: everything moves too quickly for their audience to follow 👀. You’ve likely spent hours crafting a presentation in SAMSON, carefully selecting keyframes and transitions—only to find that your viewers can’t keep up.
This is a common challenge, especially when conveying intricate structural changes or mechanisms. Viewers need a moment to absorb what’s on screen. The solution? The Pause animation effect in SAMSON’s Animator.
The Value of Stillness
Presentations in molecular modeling aren’t just about moving from one visual to another. They’re also about creating space for interpretation, explanation, or even a moment of silence as your viewers process what they’re looking at. That’s where the Pause animation steps in—letting you control the timing of your storytelling by holding a frame for a few seconds before moving on.
How It Works
In SAMSON, you can insert a Pause directly in your animation timeline using the Animation panel of the Animator:
- Open the Animator.
- Double-click the Pause animation in the Animation panel.
- This inserts a Pause keyframe at the current frame location in your timeline.
If needed, you can click and drag to reposition the Pause keyframe later in the animation. As a reminder:
Note
You can always move the keyframes of the animation.
Fine-Tuning Your Pause
Once the Pause animation effect is in place, its duration can be edited via the Inspector. Here’s how to do it:
- In the Document view, select the Pause animation node.
- Go to the Inspector panel to set the pause duration you want — for example, 2 seconds or more, depending on how much time you want between transitions.
This gives you precise control over the pacing of your animation and ensures that audiences won’t miss important details during your molecular walkthroughs.
When to Use the Pause Effect
The Pause effect is helpful in a variety of contexts:
- To give time for textual annotations or voice explanations.
- To add rhythm in longer animations, making them easier to follow.
- To emphasize a structure or a key moment in a reaction.
Pause with Purpose
As with all presentation tools, pausing is most effective when used intentionally. A one- or two-second pause can drastically enhance clarity and engagement—without you needing to insert extra slides or manually control playback.
This small effect solves a big problem: rushing through a story your audience hasn’t had time to grasp. Use it to support better science communication, whether you’re teaching, publishing, or just sharing your findings.
To learn more about the Pause feature in SAMSON, visit the official documentation page.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. Get SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.