Why create molecular animations?
Molecular animations have been used extensively in undergraduate science courses to teach concepts that are difficult or impossible to represent with static diagrams. Animations can assist learning by providing multiple perspectives of complex structures, or they can be useful in depicting changes in a system over time. While some instructors create animations for their courses, many rely on animations provided by textbook publishers, supplied on physical media (CDs or DVDs) or deployed on the web. Even though there are numerous existing animations, some instructors will want to create new animations to assist their specific aspects of their teaching. Many instructors are intimidated by the complexity of the software used to create the animations found in textbooks and on the internet, many of which were created by artists with expertise in the digital realm. But with a little persistence, it is possible for any would-be animator to create simple and reasonably effective animations to
