by Julian Melendez·Modeling
Images © Julian Melendez. Used for product review; image policy.
Bio-Art Blender earns its place in the superhive library for pairing Protein Data Bank imports with procedural, geometry-nodes membranes in a single Blender add-on. A demo video is available.
Bio-Art Blender is a Blender add-on for creating accurate molecular and cellular visualizations. Its importer pulls proteins, DNA, RNA and ligands from the Protein Data Bank: type one or more PDB IDs separated by commas and import them in a single click. Imported meshes are cleaned automatically and can be prepared for 3D printing. Five visualization presets cover surface, cartoon and balls and sticks, and molecules and polymers in the same file can each use a different type.
Membranes are generated with geometry nodes as one or two-component structures with scientifically accurate phases, starting from planar or spherical shapes with procedural size and cross-section, and can be animated with one click. Selected proteins can be scattered across membranes or any object, with per-object settings and non-destructive control over distribution, density and scale. DNA and RNA can be added as surface or cartoon models, and a boids system simulates diffusion for selected ligands.
PBR materials can be applied to all selected objects at once, and in Eevee, line art can be added or removed across selected objects with procedurally adjustable thickness. The operators also work on any mesh, not only biological structures. Full importer functionality requires open-source PyMOL and MeshLab.
Bio-Art Blender is best for building accurate molecular and cellular visualizations and animations in Blender, or generating art from biological shapes.
Bio-Art Blender is completely free to download and use.
Bio-Art Blender requires open-source PyMOL and MeshLab to have the full functionality of its importer, and the documentation provides installation instructions. The developer notes that the commercial PyMOL version requires a special license, so if you use the add-on for production work you should use the open-source version instead. Once these dependencies are in place, the importer can pull proteins, DNA, RNA and ligands directly from the Protein Data Bank and clean up the resulting meshes automatically for easier use.
Bio-Art Blender imports structures from the Protein Data Bank by letting you type as many PDB IDs as you need, separated by commas, and bringing them all in with a single click. You can choose from five visualization presets, including surface, cartoon, and balls and sticks, and import both molecules and polymers found within the same file using different visualization types. Imported meshes are cleaned automatically, which makes them much more usable and can also prepare them for 3D printing.
Bio-Art Blender includes a line art feature that works with Eevee only, letting you add or remove line art across all selected objects at the same time, with a thickness that can be adjusted procedurally. Alongside line art, the add-on's set of PBR materials can be applied to all selected objects at once, and two new shaders can be used with any object. Membranes are generated with Blender's geometry nodes, and the DNA and RNA cartoon models were built to work with subdivision and the array modifier.
Bio-Art Blender was designed with cells as the main idea, but its operators can in principle be used on any meshes. As the developer describes, you could take a monkey head and scatter spheres around it, apply any of the materials and line art to it simultaneously, or generate a boids system with a specific target in one click. So while the tools are aimed at molecular and cellular visualization, the scattering, materials, line art and diffusion operators are not limited to biological structures.
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