PhD Courses in Denmark

For many applications in science, it is important to present visually pleasant and informative illustrations. Examples could be: • An abstract figure in a journal paper to concisely convey the topic or motivation. • A result or discussion figure in a journal paper to precisely summarize important results or messages. • Illustrations of scientific instruments used to conduct research. A good figure can impress and add realism to funding applications, ease the description of an instrument when writing a paper or dissertation, and lift PowerPoint presentations. The contents of this course will give the students insight into using Blender 3D modeling software for illustrations in science related to catalysis.

A student who has met the objectives of the course will be able to:

• Set-up simple scene settings in Blender
• Interface Atomic Simulation Environment with Blender
• Use python programming to create objects in Blender
• Create extended atomic surfaces in Blender
• Simulate crystal structures from e.g. .cif files in Blender
• Model nanoparticles in Blender
• Model research equipment or setups in Blender
• Make simple animations in Blender

The students will choose catalytic systems and scientific instruments used in their own projects to use as a system to visualize while learning to use Blender. For learning, the students will • find tutorials on Blender on the internet, and • be given examples of Python scripts to incorporate the Atomic Simulation Environment (ASE) to generate surfaces, nanoparticles and crystal structures in Blender. Depending on how fast the students learn Blender, they will start with static images and work towards more advanced Blender concepts like particle trajectories, motion, and animations. The individual students will work on their own illustration projects and the course will end in a session where each participant presents his or hers illustrations.