by Mikydosh·Rendering
Images © Mikydosh. Used for product review; image policy.
Helio earns its place in the Blender extensions library by tying sun and sky lighting directly to real-world location, date, and time via the NOAA Solar Calculator, without requiring an internet connection.
Helio calculates the Sun's position in a Blender scene using the NOAA Solar Calculator algorithm, based on GPS coordinates, date, and time entered by the user. The result is applied to the Sky Texture and Sun light object, including color temperature and intensity. Color temperature is derived from solar elevation, while sun intensity uses Kasten's Air Mass formula with altitude correction. It is designed for architectural visualization, exterior rendering, and any scene where physically accurate sunlight is required.
The add-on includes atmospheric refraction correction for sunrise and sunset, a Sky Texture setup with Multiple Scattering or Single Scattering models, and five environment presets that adjust air, aerosol, and ozone density to approximate different atmospheric conditions. A north offset indicator is drawn as a green line overlay in the 3D Viewport, showing the direction of true north relative to the scene.
UTC offset is detected automatically from GPS coordinates, including daylight saving time, with a manual override available. Helio can also bake animation, writing sun position and sky parameters as keyframes across a configurable time range, step, and interpolation type, and clear those keyframes when needed. It requires Blender 5.0 or newer and works without an internet connection.
Helio is best for architectural visualization, exterior rendering, and scenes where physically accurate sunlight is required.
Helio is completely free to download and use.
Helio requires Blender 5.0 or newer. It runs entirely offline, so no internet connection is needed to calculate sun position or apply results. To use it, add a Sun light to your scene, open the N-panel in the 3D Viewport, navigate to the Helio tab, select your Sun light in the Sun Object field, set your location, date, and time, then click Apply. The current version is 1.1.1, released in June 2026.
Helio is installed by downloading the latest helio-x.x.x.zip from the Releases page on the developer's GitHub. In Blender, open Edit → Preferences → Extensions, choose Install from Disk from the dropdown menu, and select the downloaded .zip file. Then enable the add-on by checking Helio in the extensions list. Once enabled, its controls appear under the Helio tab in the 3D Viewport N-panel, where you set your Sun object, location, date, and time.
Helio accepts GPS coordinates in decimal or DMS format, along with latitude, longitude, and altitude values. The UTC offset is detected automatically from the GPS coordinates, including daylight saving time. If automatic detection fails, a manual UTC offset override is available in the Time panel. Dates are supported from 1901 to 2099, and after applying, Helio shows the calculated local sunrise and sunset for the set date and location.
Helio can bake animation, writing sun position and sky parameters as keyframes across a configurable time range. You set a start and end time, a step interval in minutes between keyframes, and a keyframe interpolation type of Linear, Constant, or Bezier. A Clear Animation option removes all keyframes that Helio has baked onto the Sun object and World, letting you rebake with different settings when needed.
Helio is listed as free in this catalog and is released under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later. For current licensing details and the latest release, refer to the developer's GitHub page. The project is written in Python and distributed through the Releases page, where you can download the packaged .zip and install it through Blender's Extensions preferences using Install from Disk. It requires Blender 5.0 or newer and operates without an internet connection.
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