blenderblog

As mentioned here on blender.org and here on /. The Science Museum of Minnesota has release a Open 3D Scientific Visualization Toolkit.

The Science Museum of Minnesota's Learning Technologies Center offers this online community to support scientific researchers, formal/informal educators, and concerned individuals learning how to use open-source 3D visualization tools.

The toolkit is a group of Open Source applications and it's great to see that Blender is the part of the pack.

Apart from the list of applications the toolkit also offers valuable advice, a model library and a knowledge base for the applications they promote the use of. This text from the absolute beginner page is sound advice:

This is what you'll need to get started with visualization ():

- Pencil and paper for creating your storyboard (simple drawings that show what will happen and when in your visualization) or a word processor for writing your script.

- A lot of time and patience ;) Don't expect amazing results in a few weeks. It would be reasonable in a few weeks to make your first 3D model, but a full fledged animation may take even a professional several months to complete.

- A clear idea of WHAT you want to communicate, and clarity about WHICH technology is the best way to communicate it. Finally, how will you distribute it? A game? A linear animation? A still graphic? Choose the one that's realistic for your experience and budget.

- A willingness to make mistakes and learn from them.

- A computer with a decent graphics card (64 MB or greater) that supports openGL (a open standard for 3D graphics)

- If you want to do High-Definition animations, you'll need a hard drive with lots of space (60 or more GB) and fast access speed (7200 RMP).

- A good backup plan for all of your hard work, and a broadband Internet connection for uploading your finished work!

- Courage to put your first work out there and get some feedback.

And the Blender section of the knowledge base is great. It's so good when you see Blender get some of the respect it deserves. And it's only going to happen more and more.