Blender for Scientists - Advice for Making Journal Covers

Blender is a great tool for making journal covers. In this commentary piece I discuss some tips and advice that I have for anyone who wants to do exactly that. This video is not a walkthrough or tutorial, but it does have some useful tips for setting up Blender for journals. I've added timestamps and a variety of links below that should be helpful. I'll also be using some of these setup tips as a springboard for making full walkthroughs of some of my favourite covers in a 'lazy tutorial' format that will hopefully debut soon.

0:00 Introduction
0:28 Getting Reference
0:43 Setting the Aspect Ratio and DPI in Blender
3:10 Use Assets to Save Time and Start with Client Input
4:45 Some Useful Camera and Lighting Setup Options
7:20 Aligning Backgrounds and Text for Cover Setup
8:13 Cycles is my Render Engine of Choice
9:01 Wrapping Up and Some Future Plans

Free Resources I use in Blender:

Blender Guru's Intro to Lighting Series Intro:

Aligning a Backdrop to the Camera:

The CGFigures Asset Library:
A compilation of most of what I've released/will release in one CC0 package:

For more CGFigures content checkout the links below:

[unnilong]

Thanks for making this,
I made 4 of the covers you have shown among the references. Really happy to see them there.

[sathyharshavardhanreddy]

Thanks you so much. For the start. Really appreciate your efforts.

[Pihtrainer]

Perfect timing! Working on my 2nd cover now, first cover (Cell Metabolism, July 2021) did with procreate. This time I wanted to try modeling using isometric composition, inspired by blender artist polygonrunway. Scene is all blocked out and now just figuring out blenders materials and shading. Being new to blender and a busy scientist, the best advice I can give is Reference, reference, reference! Art and Science are built off the back of reference material, while you can reinvent the wheel you still got to know what a wheel looks like and what it is. Appreciate your channel a ton. Their is a huge need for this within the scientific/academic community where visualization/communication often falls short. Ha…I don’t want to know how long it took you to construct your cover collage/montage reference board but I got to ask.

[benjaminsimpson]

It would be fantastic if you did a video on materials shading and texturing for biology. I am yet to come across a video dedicated to finessing the organic, wet and squishy look that internal organs have or more abstract ideas like a cell (or organelles). Keep up the great posts.

[skiefr]

Hi, there is a way to undo view changing after camera to view, we can select camera as active object then press Ctrl+Z😄

[bnprustii]

Helpful. Can you please do something wid pdb file?

[cryora]

What about graduate student researchers paid a stipend? If they have the skills to make these images, and their PI is aware of it, could the PI ask the graduate student to make these images since they are being paid? Or should this be considered extra work that would warrant extra pay?