by GhostVertex·VFX
Images © GhostVertex. Used for product review; image policy.
Stands out in the superhive library for combining lightning, rain and clouds in a single add-on. It holds a 5-star rating from three reviews and supports Blender 4.2 through 5.2 under the GPL license.
The Thunderstorm Add-On creates lightning, rain and clouds in Blender. For lightning, you can choose between presets and make single flashes where you need them, then press Update lightning to replace one. Markers are added automatically to the timeline so you can find each flash, and you can adjust the animation by moving keyframes as usual while the add-on organizes the order itself. Flashes fade out automatically and can be edited to look the way you want.
Up to ten point lights can illuminate the scene with the lightnings, optionally connected through drivers that take each flash's brightness into account. This matters in Eevee, where light from glowing objects can only be baked rather than animated. The Thunderstorm Compositing Node group handles the glow and is compatible with Realtime Compositing.
On the rain side, rain rings can be added to any material with one click, switching to top-to-bottom noise depending on the angle. Splashes render quickly and can be edited, falling rain supports Motion Blur, and simulation-nodes rain collides with objects added via Add Collision. The 2D Clouds render quickly with crisp results, and documentation sits inside the Geometry Nodes groups.
Thunderstorm Add-On - Create Lightnings, Clouds And Rain is best for blender artists building storm scenes that need lightning, rain and clouds.
Thunderstorm Add-On - Create Lightnings, Clouds And Rain is completely free to download and use.
Thunderstorm Add-On lists compatibility with Blender versions 4.2 through 5.2 and is marked as a Blender Extension, distributed as an add-on under the GPL license. If you're running a version inside that range, the tools for lightning, rain, clouds, point lights and the compositing node group are all designed to work. For versions outside that window, or to confirm the current supported range before installing, check the developer's page, since compatibility can change as new Blender releases arrive.
Thunderstorm Add-On handles lighting differently in Eevee, where light from glowing objects can only be baked, which isn't useful for animation. To work around this, the add-on lets you use up to ten point lights to illuminate the scene with the lightnings. These point lights are optionally connected to the lightnings through drivers that take the brightness of each flash into account, so the illumination follows the animation instead of relying on baked glow.
Thunderstorm Add-On includes several rain options that behave differently with Motion Blur. The falling rain can be rendered with Motion Blur, while the newer rain built with simulation nodes has one stated limitation: it does not work with Motion Blur. The simulation rain falls on every object added to the collision collection using Add Collision, and you can choose to render only rings, only splashes, or both when the rain collides. Pick the rain type that matches whether Motion Blur is part of your shot.
Thunderstorm Add-On is listed as free in this catalog, and it's distributed under the GPL license as a Blender add-on from GhostVertex. Licensing terms and any pricing can change over time, so for the current details it's best to check the developer's page directly. The add-on also includes documentation you can access inside the Geometry Nodes groups by hovering over individual settings, which helps once you have it installed and set up.
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