Create Photomovement

Create Photomovement is a Create addon that adds solar-powered rotation sources to your mechanical contraptions. Two small generators make power from the sun on their own, and a larger windmill setup turns a field of solar sails into a big source of stress.

The Blocks at a Glance

Each generator comes in 17 colours (clear glass plus the 16 dye colours). Each sail comes in 16 colours. Colour does not change how much power a block makes; it's purely for looks.

Solar Generator

A reliable, vertical-facing power source.

• Output: 16 RPM and 16 SU, constant.
• Requirement: Sky light of 12 or higher at the panel, so it needs direct sky access. It stops at night or when something covers it.
• Orientation: Place it with the glass panel facing up.
• Rain: Speed is halved to 8 RPM.
• Look: A glass panel on top, a polished deepslate base and an andesite casing.
• Status: Check it with Engineer's Goggles.

Crafting

G G G
S R S
H A H

G = glass, S = polished deepslate slab, R = redstone, H = Create shaft, A = Create andesite casing.

Horizontal Solar Generator

A directional version that follows the sun across the sky. Its output is a stress capacity that changes with the time of day instead of a fixed number.

• Facing east: Peak output in the morning, falling through the day.
• Facing west: Output builds through the day, peaking in the evening.
• Facing north or south: Does not track the sun and stays at the minimum, 8 SU per RPM.
• Peak: 64 SU per RPM with the default config (the base stress capacity of 16 times 4). The peak can be changed in the server config.
• Obstruction: A solid block touching the panel stops generation entirely. Blocks 2 to 10 blocks in front pin the output to the minimum of 8 SU per RPM. Blocks 11 or more away have no effect.
  • Clear glass never obstructs.
  • Tinted glass, leaves and ice do.
• Rain: Speed is halved.

Crafting: Craft a Solar Generator into a Horizontal Solar Generator with no other ingredients, and back again.

Advanced Solar Generator

The basic generator with a brass casing for double the output.

• Output: 32 RPM and 32 SU, constant.
• Requirement: The same as the basic Solar Generator.
• Rain: Speed is halved to 16 RPM.
• Look: Brass casing, with the shaft sides showing Create's brass gearbox texture.

Crafting

G G G
S R S
H A H

G = glass, S = polished blackstone slab, R = redstone, H = Create shaft, A = Create brass casing.

Horizontal Advanced Solar Generator

The horizontal version of the Advanced Solar Generator.

• Output: 32 RPM base, with the same sun-tracking stress capacity as the basic horizontal generator.
• Obstruction and rain: Work the same as on the basic horizontal generator, with the rain speed at half.

Crafting

G G G
S R S
A H A

G = glass, S = polished blackstone slab, R = redstone, H = Create shaft, A = Create brass casing.

You can also craft an Advanced Solar Generator into a Horizontal Advanced Solar Generator, and back again.

Solar Windmill Bearing

A Create Windmill Bearing made for solar sails. It works the same way: it attaches to a windmill of sails and turns them into stress.

• Connection: Attaches to Solar Sails and to regular Create sails.
• Output: Stress Units (SU) based on the number of sails and the weather.
• Requirement: Needs sky access for the solar multipliers. See the table below.
• Mixed sails: Regular Create sails count too. The bearing fills each group of 8 with solar sails first and gives the remaining spots to regular sails, so a mixed windmill still gets solar output for its solar sails.
• Look: Each side has an inset solar panel in a brass frame. Create's rotating top is unchanged.

Crafting

   
R B R
R R R

R = redstone, B = Create windmill bearing.

Solar Sail

Specialised sails that harness sunlight for boosted power. They are the reason the Solar Windmill Bearing is worth building.

• Look: A dark blue solar panel, four cells divided by silver busbars, with a highlight across the cells. The dye colour shows as a thin stitched border, so a coloured windmill keeps its colour.
• Colours: 16 colours, with the plain sail as white.
• Power by weather:
  • Sunny: 2x the output of a white sail.
  • Raining: 1.5x the output.
  • Night, thunder or covered: 1x, the same as a white sail.

Crafting

 G 
W R W
 S 

G = glass pane, W = wool, R = redstone, S = Create white sail.

Dyeing: Craft a Solar Sail with any dye to recolour it, or right-click a placed sail with dye.

Sail Output

Sail counts are rounded down to whole groups of 8. The bearing's speed stops increasing at 16 RPM, which Create's default sail count of 128 reaches.

Colours and Conversions

• Colours: Every generator comes in clear glass and the 16 dye colours, 68 blocks in total across the four generator types. Sails come in 16 colours.
• Dyeing: Craft any generator or sail with a dye to change its colour, or right-click a placed block with a dye to recolour it without crafting. Coloured blocks can be recoloured again.
• Conversions: Crafting converts between the vertical and horizontal versions of the same colour, so you never lose the colour when you switch.

Ponder

Ponder scenes for the solar generators and solar sails are included. Hold the Ponder key on an item in your inventory to see one.

How It Works

1. Place the generator with the panel facing the sky (or the direction you want, for the horizontal version).
2. Connect shafts to carry the rotation to your machines.
3. The generator starts working when the sky light at the panel is 12 or higher.
4. It stops at night or when something blocks it.
5. Keep nothing above or in front of it that blocks the sky.

Supported Platforms

There is no separate Forge build. The NeoForge 1.20.1 jar may load under Forge, but Forge is not tested and is not supported.

Requirements

• Create 6.0 or later (the version depends on your Minecraft version)
• Flywheel (included with Create)

Translations

• English (en_us) ✅
• German (de_de) ✅
• Spanish (es_es) ✅

Want to help translate? Submit a PR with your language file!

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to:

• Report bugs or suggest features via Issues
• Submit pull requests with improvements
• Help with translations

Credits

• Create Mod Team for the amazing Create mod and its API
• Flywheel for the rendering engine
• albertosaurio65 for the Spanish translation
• Inspired by solar panels from various tech mods and the real world

Harness the power of the sun for your mechanical dreams!