Sorcar addon

August 13, 2019July 27, 2020 New Media Supply 0 Comments Modeling, Nodes, Parametric

The Sorcar addon provides us another node-editor where we can model mesh with nodes. What we can do with those nodes, we can do it also in Blender. Well mostly, but there is more. We can now connect things with logic or some simple python. And even if you are not into logic or some Python, modelling with nodetrees could give you new inspiration.

You might ask what the difference is between Animation Nodes, Sverchok, and the Sorcar addon. In short, I would say that Animation Nodes is for animations, and the Sorcar addon is a kind of simplified Sverchok. When you look at the nodes available in the Sorcar’s node-editor, you will recognize most nodes. For example: Plane, Cube, Circle, Select More, Select Less, Select Random, modifiers, Flip Normals, Loop Cut, etc. But there are also nodes that look a bit more unfamiliar like; If-Else, Switch, Random Integer, etc.

How the Sorcar Addon works

All node-trees need an output before you can see your mesh. That is like a shader; without a material output, there is nothing to see. You also need to create somehow some mesh. Then, as with most node-trees you work from the left to the right where the base mesh is on the left and output on the right. In between you can do the fun stuff, like modifiers, some logic, etc. The example below shows the node-tree of the featured picture of the addon in this post.

You see that I start with a plane and plug that into a Solidify Modifier. Next I “Go in Edit Mode” (To component mode) and subdivide the mesh. I select random faces and extrude those. Next I go “Out of Edit mode” (To Mesh Mode) and there I apply smooth shading.

A handy thing is that you have here everything together. How convenient is that? I think that this addon will be a succes.

Where to download the addon?

At the moment you can download the addon on Github. Be sure you get the version for 2.8. I always check the __ini__.py files to see for what version it is. In this case download the Sorcar addon on Github.
In case that is not working (in the future, we never know), check the Sorcar Addon on Blenderartists.org.

Mind that there is a dot in the folder name. I noticed it after installation: the addon didn’t show up. So then I went to my AppData\Roaming\Blender Foundation\Blender\2.80\scripts\addons folder and removed the dot in the name of the folder. You can also unzip the zip file after downloading and remove the dot, zip it and then install it. Let me know if you can’t figure out.