Medical group lecture RE:Palliative Care

[palliative MD]

Hello,
I am giving a lecture in Nov. '09 at New York Medical College in NY
about how my community hospital began a program on Palliative Care nearly 10 years ago and has succeeded in spite of size, financing etc. This is to instruct other medical professionals on how we accomplished this. I got the idea of titling the talk "Even Mustard Seeds Can Grow Tall and Succeed" as a play on the biblical parable of the mustard seed which we know today even as a tiny seed can break through concrete.
My request is the possibility of creating a 15 minute mustard seed animation with key words or statements as you go to wake up and interest the audience.
Sincerely,
Thomas C. Fiorentino MD

[x2495iiii]

Sounds like a noble effort. Short movies can be easily made with Alice, though sound and music sometimes require extra effort outside of Alice (it's not complicated).

You'd need to find an object which could pass for a mustard seed first, as, to my knowledge, there isn't one in the object libraries. You could try a sphere, a football with the texture removed, or two parabolas put together. Experiment with the color, emissive color, and specular higlight to get the look you want (also very easy, simply click the color box of the corresponding property then click a color you'd like to try, and Alice will apply it).

Then, you'd need to insert other objects you think would be necessary, like a tree, a small plant portraying the first sprout of the seed, some doctors, if you can find them, and maybe some 3D text for subtitles and/or narration.

Finally, you'd have to make your animation according to your needs and wants. A 15 minute long movie may take some time to write, however, so decide soon what the scope of the project will be and schedule your time accordingly.

If you'd like futher help on things such as adding sound or specific animation techniques, feel free to ask. We're here to help.