An introduction to making scientific figures with Illustrator and Blender
Special guest speaker: Christopher Gutierrez, University of British Columbia
Scientific research can be a slow and laborious process. The absolutely final step in the process is to then communicate your exciting scientific findings to other scientists both in and outside of your field. Yet it is often at this final step where the least amount of time is spent.In this interactive 90-min workshop, I will give a basic introduction to making scientific figures using Adobe Illustrator and Blender3D. I will go over the absolute basics of these software, how they treat objects, and the useful hotkeys for speeding up workflow. In the first hour, I will introduce Illustrator and cover topics like workflow; importing external plots/figures; creating patterns (i.e. schematic atomic lattices); and creating 3D structures. In the last half-hour I will give a brief introduction to Blender, a powerful (and free) open-source software for rendering 3D objects. I will go over the basics of how Blender treats objects/structures, lighting, and rendering a scene.
**All are welcome, but it is strongly recommended that participants bring laptops with Adobe Illustrator CC (or at least CS6) and Blender3D installed so that you can follow along with the demos.**
Biography: Christopher Gutiérrez is a Prize Postdoctoral Fellow at the Quantum Matter Institute at the University of British Columbia. Prior to studying physics, he was an artist and graphic designer. His scientific artwork and figures have been featured on the covers, tables of content, and within the pages of several journals including Science, Nature Physics, and Nature Materials.
If you are coming from the Laziridis Centre, take the 11:35am shuttle to RAC 1 and return on the 1:15pm shuttle. The 90 minute workshop will start promptly at 11:45am. You are welcome to leave early if you have time constraints.