by Wolfram Kampffmeyer·Simulation
Images © Wolfram Kampffmeyer. Used for product review; image policy.
Earns its place for turning celestial mechanics—seasons, eclipses and moon phases—into something you can watch unfold from space or the ground and then bake to a render inside Blender.
Earth-Sun-Moon Simulator (ESM-Simulator) is a real-time, interactive Earth–Sun–Moon simulation for Blender aimed at learning and experimentation. You can follow the Moon's orbit around Earth, watch the moon phases from many points of view, and see the Moon's shadow fall on Earth to form a local solar eclipse. Visual orbits and Earth's axial tilt make the cause of the seasons clear, right down to the polar circle, where the Sun never sets in summer.
Jump to a location using presets such as USA, Germany, China and the North Pole, or enter your own longitude and latitude, then follow the Sun's or Moon's path across the sky. Move the large red arrow to track a place. At sunrise the blue sky blends in; after sunset the starry night sky appears and city lights glow across the dark side. You can also view the Blue Marble from the Moon's surface and adjust the relative distances of the celestial bodies.
Many parameters can be keyframed, for example a speed ramp, and you can bake everything, offset-animate the camera for cinematic views, and render at the highest settings.
Earth-Sun-Moon Simulator is best for teaching astronomy, creating promos, or exploring how seasons, eclipses and moon phases work inside Blender.
Earth-Sun-Moon Simulator is completely free to download and use.
Earth-Sun-Moon Simulator is built as an interactive, real-time simulation inside Blender, so you can watch the Moon's orbit and the moon phases change as you adjust parameters. You can view the system from several points of view and see the Moon's shadow fall on Earth to form a local solar eclipse. One thing to keep in mind: when the blue sky blends in at sunrise it slows the simulation down, though it looks striking in a final render. When you're ready, you can bake everything to keyframes for your render.
Earth-Sun-Moon Simulator lets you jump to a specific point on Earth using presets such as USA, Germany, China and the North Pole, or by entering your own longitude and latitude. You can also track a place by moving the large red arrow to that spot. From that point of view, you can follow the Sun's or Moon's path across the sky for a ground-level view of the next solar eclipse. As the day cycles, the blue sky blends in at sunrise and the starry night sky appears after sunset, with city lights glowing across the dark side of the planet.
Earth-Sun-Moon Simulator includes an experimental feature that simulates the flight of NASA's Artemis 2 mission around the Moon. The developer notes it is more experimental than realistic and works best when you set the season start to Autumn, or start around April with the standard settings. The rocket circles Earth, aims for the Moon, orbits it, and returns; depending on the positions of Earth and Moon the path can look bumpy, and sliders let you smooth it out. After baking, the rocket flies smoothly along the path.
Earth-Sun-Moon Simulator lets you keyframe many of its parameters, so you can, for example, create a speed ramp for the simulation. Once you're happy with the motion, you can bake everything, then offset-animate the camera for cinematic views and render at the highest settings. It also ships with camera presets that frame the system from cinematic, easy-to-understand angles. You can adjust the relative distances of the celestial bodies for a clearer overview or a slightly more realistic scale, and activate the visual orbits to make Earth's tilt and its orbits easier to follow.
Earth-Sun-Moon Simulator is listed as free in this catalog. For current licensing terms, any usage conditions and the most up-to-date details, it's worth checking the developer's page directly. The tool also comes with documentation to help you get started, and a demo video is available if you'd like to see more before downloading. Since terms can change over time, the developer's page remains the best place to confirm how you're allowed to use it.
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