Experimental Animation Effects
Molkit ships a set of optional animation effects that change how atoms move, how bonds break and form, and how annotations appear during playback. All of them are off by default, and each one is a simple on/off toggle. The whole set is experimental: behavior, defaults, and even the list of effects may change between versions.
Several toggles reveal extra sliders when turned on, such as arc height, drift distance, or glow color. Five effects apply to exported animated SVGs and videos as well as the live preview: Viewport Auto-Track, Fragment & Scatter, Glow Pulse, Drift In/Out, and Sync Appear. The remaining effects currently affect the live preview only.
Atom Motion
Arc Trajectories. Atoms travel along curved arcs instead of straight lines, which reads as more natural motion for reactions. An arc height slider sets the curve depth as a percentage of the travel distance.
Staggered Ripple. Instead of every atom starting at once, motion ripples outward from the reaction center. Each atom’s start is delayed in proportion to its bond distance from the center, with sliders for ripple speed and maximum delay.
Viewport Auto-Track. The camera pans and zooms to keep the action in frame as structures move, with padding and speed settings. This also applies to exports.
Bond Breaking
Stretch Before Break. A breaking bond visibly elongates before it disappears, like it is being pulled apart. The stretch amount is adjustable.
Fragment & Scatter. A breaking bond shatters into jagged path fragments and shards that drift and rotate away. Sliders control fragment count, drift distance, and when in the break the shatter starts. Dashed, dotted, and dative bonds skip this and fade out instead. Applies to exports.
Bond Formation
Snap Overshoot. A forming bond compresses slightly past its final length, then springs back into place, giving formation a snap. The overshoot amount is adjustable.
Glow Pulse. A newly formed bond flashes with a colored glow that fades out. You can set the glow color, blur, and opacity. Applies to exports.
LP ↔ Bond Morph. Lone pair dots travel from their position on the donor atom and elongate into the forming bond, and a breaking bond can morph back into lone pair dots. This visualizes where the electrons go.
Molecules & Groups
Drift In/Out. Leaving groups slide away from the reaction site as they detach, and arriving groups slide in, instead of fading in place. Distance and speed sliders control the drift. Applies to exports.
Loop
Cross-Dissolve. When loop playback is on, the animation’s final state fades out and its first state fades back in at the loop seam rather than cutting. This effect is on by default; turn it off for a hard cut at the seam. A duration slider sets how long each fade takes (0.2 to 2 seconds).
Annotations
Sync Appear. Arrows and lines fade in together with their text during the transition, instead of wiping in after the motion finishes. Applies to exports.
Experimental
Two entries appear in the list but are disabled and not yet implemented:
- Atom Breathing: subtle pulsing at the reaction center during holds.
- Electron Shimmer: lone pair and orbital opacity oscillation.
Their toggles are grayed out until the effects ship.