[clarle]

Sounds really cool!

We usually just use PyMOL [1] in our lab, but it looks like BioBlender takes PyMOL, Blender, and a few other structural biology and builds on top of both of them.

It looks like the biggest contribution from BioBlender is that it takes properties such as electrostatic potential and combines it with Blender's physics engine to better simulate movement when creating molecular animations. Most of our work usually involves just examining the 3D structure of a protein, so I don't usually create animations, but this is definitely a really useful tool to do so if any lab might ever need to do something like that.

We really do need more people dedicated to just purely better visualization software in the biological community. A lot of interesting hypotheses often start from just rotating around 3D structures, and making it easier to do so can only help.

[1]: http://pymol.org/

[pedrobeltrao]

I agree with the need for better visualization tools in biology. There is an interesting group/project started at UCSF and headed by Graham Johnson (www.grahamjlab.org/). Some of these tools are still closer to art than science but I think it is really worth the investment. It is clear that these will help us think about biological objects.

[thundara]

What worth would the 3d simulations produced by Blender's physics engine be? I'd imagine that they wouldn't even compare to those produced by full MD simulations, which are already of debatable correctness depending on the size of the system, force field + parameters, time step, solvent, etc...

[kayhi]

Great to see some other crystallographers in the crowd, also worth checking out is Discovery Studio Visualizer.