Sun Position

Name: Sun Position
Availability: OnlineOnly
Author: pioverfour

Images © pioverfour. Used for product review; image policy.

Why we like it

Sun Position earns its place in the blender_extensions library for grounding sun placement in real geographic and astronomical data rather than manual adjustment. It holds a 5.0 rating across 21 reviews and requires no special permissions.

What is Sun Position?

Sun Position is a Blender add-on by pioverfour for positioning and animating the Sun to simulate real-world natural lighting. It works from physical characteristics — geographic location, time and date — and builds on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) online calculator, which relies on calculations from Jean Meeus' book Astronomical Algorithms. Lighting is set up from the World Properties editor.

The add-on offers two modes of operation. Sun Object Mode, the default, lets you animate the Sun realistically: after choosing a date, time and place on Earth, you can set up a sun light, a sky texture, and a collection to serve as visualization, all positioned or animated accordingly. Environment Mode instead locks an environment texture with a sun light object so the two are synchronized and rotate together, which is useful for increasing the contrast in an environment texture by adding a sun.

Sun Position is available in English, French, and simplified Chinese, and is currently maintained by Damien Picard. Version 4.4.0 adds a 'Now' preset that sets the date and time to the computer's current time.

Who is Sun Position best for?

Sun Position is best for blender users setting up realistic natural lighting from a real location, date and time, or synchronizing a sun light to an environment texture.

How much does Sun Position cost?

Sun Position is completely free to download and use.

Key features

Positions and animates the Sun using geographic location, time and date
Based on the NOAA online calculator and Jean Meeus' Astronomical Algorithms
Sun Object Mode animates a sun light, sky texture and visualization collection by date, time and place
Environment Mode synchronizes a sun light with an environment texture so both rotate together
Lighting configured from the World Properties editor
"Now" preset sets the date and time to the computer's current time (v4.4.0)
Available in English, French, and simplified Chinese

Frequently asked questions

Does Sun Position work with Blender 4.2?

Sun Position is compatible with Blender 4.2 LTS and newer, so recent Blender releases in that range can run the add-on. It installs as a Blender extension and can be added by dragging and dropping it into Blender or installing it from disk. Because it targets 4.2 LTS and later, older Blender versions fall outside its stated compatibility. For the exact supported range and any version-specific notes, check the developer's page.

What did version 4.4.0 of Sun Position change?

Sun Position version 4.4.0 adds a 'Now' preset that sets the date and time to the computer's current time. This release also changes earlier behaviour so the day is no longer automatically set to the current date when you create a new file, which previously would override the default set by the user. For the full version history, see the developer's page.

What languages does Sun Position support?

Sun Position is available in English, French, and simplified Chinese. The French translation is by Damien Picard and the simplified Chinese translation by deathblood. The developer notes that anyone who would like to help translate the add-on into another language can open an issue on the project's page. For the current list of supported languages and how to contribute a new translation, check the developer's page.

What license is Sun Position released under?

by Blender Studio

Brushstroke Tools is a Blender add-on from Blender Studio for a painterly 3D brushstrokes workflow. It creates, manages and edits layers of procedurally generated brushstrokes to build stylized looks for asset production.

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