At Vessel we use ePMV, a 3D molecular viewer, to generate beautiful and accurate molecular structures for our animations. ePMV was developed by Graham Johnson, Ph.D. and Ludovic Autin, Ph.D.
Graham writes:
“ePMV (the embedded Python Molecular Viewer plugin) enables 3D animation software like Cinema 4D to build scientifically accurate models of biological and chemical structures. An intuitive graphic user interface makes it fast and easy to construct and modify many different styles (common and unique) of DNA, proteins, lipids, and other molecular structures directly in the viewport. The plugin provides direct access to public databases such as the Protein Data Bank (PDB) to replace cumbersome import protocols with one-click access. ePMV constructs biological models into hierarchies that take advantage of instancing and particles for efficient display. The hierarchies are organized into sensible groups to make rigging, simulation, animation, and model/material customization a snap.”
You can learn more about ePMV and download the plugin here:
http://epmv.scripps.edu
Graham Johnson is a Certified Medical Illustrator with 17 years of professional experience. He has specialized in molecular and cellular biology since graduating from The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1997. He illustrated both editions of the textbook Cell Biology by Pollard & Earnshaw as a coauthor, and has created thousands of scientific visuals ranging from journal covers to pedagogic animations and game designs. Graham currently lives in San Francisco, CA and works at UCSF as a qb3@UCSF Faculty Fellow. His PhD work in the Molecular Graphics Lab at Scripps focused primarily on developing algorithms to enable scientists and illustrators to generate, simulate, and visualize molecular models of cells. He continues to work with programmers to develop software that can interoperate the computational tools of science and art. www.grahamj.com
Check out this animation short of the molecular structure of a proteasome, a molecular machine that breaks down unused or unwanted proteins in your cells, created using ePMV.
