ProteinBlender

Create molecular animations in Blender

ProteinBlender is a powerful Blender addon designed for researchers, educators, and scientific communicators who want to create scientifically accurate molecular animations. Built on MolecularNodes, it provides an intuitive interface for working with protein structures directly in Blender's 3D environment.

Key Features

• Easy Protein Import - Load structures from PDB, mmCIF, or fetch directly from RCSB PDB and AlphaFold databases
• Rich Visualization Styles - Cartoon, surface, ribbon, ball-and-stick, and more molecular representations
• Protein Puppets - Group chains and domains together for coordinated animation
• Pose Library - Save and restore different protein conformations
• Keyframe Animation - Animate protein movements, conformational changes, and colors
• Domain Selection - Split proteins into domains for independent styling and animation
• Hierarchical Outliner - Manage complex multi-protein scenes with ease
• Auto-Updates - Receive update notifications and install with one click (Blender 4.2+)

Requirements

• Blender 4.2 or newer
• Windows, macOS, or Linux
• All dependencies included (MolecularNodes, biotite, MDAnalysis, etc.)

Quick Start

Installation

Option 1: Extension Repository (Recommended)

1. Open Blender 4.2+
2. Go to Edit → Preferences → Get Extensions → Repositories
3. Click + → Add Remote Repository
4. Enter the repository URL (see releases for current URL)
5. Install ProteinBlender from the extensions list
6. Restart Blender

Option 2: Manual Installation

1. Download the latest .zip from Releases
2. In Blender: Edit → Preferences → Get Extensions → Install from Disk
3. Select the downloaded zip file
4. Restart Blender

Basic Usage

1. Import a Protein: Use the Importer panel to load a PDB file or fetch from online databases
2. Adjust Visuals: Change colors and representation styles in the Visual Setup panel
3. Create Puppets: Group chains/domains together in the Protein Puppet Maker
4. Save Poses: Capture different conformations in the Pose Library
5. Animate: Add keyframes in the Animation panel to bring your proteins to life

Documentation

Full documentation available at: https://Animation-Lab.github.io/ProteinBlender

• Installation Guide
• Import Proteins
• Update Visuals
• Create Puppets
• Manage Poses
• Keyframe Animation

Examples

Coming soon - example visualizations and animations

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit issues or pull requests.

Credits

• Author: Animation Lab
• Built on: MolecularNodes by Brady Johnston
• Dependencies: biotite, MDAnalysis, and other scientific Python libraries

License

GPL-3.0-or-later

Support

• Issues: GitHub Issues
• Discussions: GitHub Discussions

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