Lumion vs Enscape Which One is Better?

There are a lot of 3D software that can give designers and architects the possibility to bring their ideas and concepts to life using different and tools that can create realistic renders. Two of the well-known software in this field are Lumion and Enscape. They both have different tools and features that can help you work on your projects. And today we are going to take a close look at Lumion vs Enscape and see which one is better for you.

Lumion

Lumion is a software that was designed to render images, videos, animation, and panoramic pictures. It has been released in 2010 and since then it gained a lot of popularity in architecture and the design industry, it also has been developed a lot lately because every new version presents better tools and features for its users.

https://inspirationtuts.com/what-is-lumion-used-for/

Enscape

On the other hand, Enscape is a great design tool; it has become a standard application for rendering in the industry of design and architecture. It is a virtual reality ( VR) and real-time rendering plug-in for Revit, Sketch-up, Rhino, Archicad, and Vectorworks. Overall It is a great rendering and visualization program that produces professional-quality renders.

https://enscape3d.com/latest-version/

Populating scenes

Lumion is a software for rendering only so 3D objects have to be imported from another 3D modeling software. And you can use also Lumion’s large and rich library that contains a lot of architectural assets, and different ranges of objects like plants, external furniture, cars, animals, interior furniture, and even some effects like water and fire. These objects can change size proportionally, colors, and materials according to the project needs. 

 it also provides ready scenes and landscape assets to include in the project like a realistic sky, sea, landscape, and even desert. These scenes can be modified where a user can add mountains, a lake, and slobs for better integration of the project on the site.

On the other hand, Enscape offers a lot of features like landscape design, animation, Rendering, annotation, and virtual tours, it also contains a large library of assets ( like plants, flowers, people…). 

Also, the Camera in Enscape is easily manipulated to turn around the object or the project and set up the scenes; it also offers a large variety of realistic textures for better rendering results. Another great benefit of using Enscape is that any changes made in the modeling software are automatically visible in Enscape since the two software are connected together. And thanks to live-link technology you can change and review changes in real-time, it is a great thing especially if the designer has a meeting with clients. 

Enscape also provides the possibility to create a web standalone file for the project to send to clients or colleagues easily. 

Rendering & Animation

Lumion has become a lot better and its developers made noticeable progress in terms of the quality of the renders. Throughout the versions that have been released over the years, the quality of the renders in this software became better, specifically for the interior render’s part.

 For users lumion provides a series of customized picture resolution predefined by the software, it also provides a large range of effects, for interior and exterior rendering, like realistic images effect, more light effect, wind effect, rain effect, night effect, and others. 

 As a user you can also control the direction of the sun, the time of the day, and the season of the year before rendering, even the quantity of clouds in the sky is manageable in Lumion. 

When it comes to rendering speed and image rendering in Lumion can take less than a minute, and animation can take a couple of hours and sometimes more depending on the configuration of the computer and also on the length of the video. Panoramic pictures mode is also available in Lumion and it is used mostly in urban projects.

As for animation, it is the same configuration as for an image rendering, the only difference is that the user gets to define the different scenes and the places he wants to highlight during the animation. 

On the other hand, Enscape provides nice and relatively realistic rendered pictures in a matter of seconds. since it is a versatile Plugin it can be integrated with multiple 3D software. This makes the work of the designers and architects easier. After setting up all the different textures and adding different scene assets, the 3D render can take a few seconds to a minute and the results can be really good. 

It also offers the possibility to create videos and panoramic pictures. Additionally, Before rendering in Escape you have access to multiple controls, where you get to choose between four rendering styles, default mode, white mode, polystyrol mode, and light mode. You can also adjust the field of view, the exposure, and the resolution of the image before rendering.

Freedom and Flexibility of Lumion & Enscape

In Enscape The setting tab gives you the chance to enable VR, stereo mode, automatic resolution, and grass rendering. You can also edit the time of the day, panorama’s picture settings, and videos. You can also specify the format of the file in case of exporting.

As for Lumion, the software also provides multiple settings and features to make the workflow simpler for users. before starting to edit the project, you have multiple settings and parameters to control, like the quality and the resolution of the workspace to make the software work smoothly and increase its speed, especially if you are going to work on a big and heavy project.

You can also improve the quality of the trees and vegetation. increase rendering to a high quality to preview images before rendering, activate the sound, and full-screen mode. Lumion also provides multiple settings for the sun, clouds, time, and adding effects to the images before rendering. As for image resolution, it offers four settings by default where a user gets to choose it directly.

The Interface of Lumion & Enscape

To do all this work Lumion provides a simple interface that anyone can use easily, it doesn’t contain a lot of tools, and every group of tools is linked together, which makes the work easy and organized.

The interface of Enscape is so familiar, and the tools are friendly and any beginner can manage to use it easily. it doesn’t require any training, and any CAD user can use it easily. This software has been released recently but with every version, it improved and provided better features every time. Navigation controls are shown by default on the interface of the software so that users for the first time get familiar with it and it can be hidden later if needed.

Industries that use Enscape and Lumion

Lumion is a software used mostly by architects, also interior designers especially after the latest version, where the quality of the renders is so high and close to reality. Also, most of the furniture provided by Lumion is for architects and interior designers.

Enscape is mostly used by architects, landscape designers, and interior designers, so it is used more for the construction and design industry, just like Lumion.

Learning Curves

Both software are relatively easy to learn; Lumion is more like a simple software and anyone can easily use it. The tools and commands are organized from choosing the environment at first, then adding the object needed ( like trees, plants, humans…), editing materials and the environment ( sky, sun, clouds), and finally the render.

Since Enscape is considerate a plug-in or an addon, it doesn’t contain a lot of commands and tools. also, it is simple and easy to use and it doesn’t demand a lot of configuration. The latest version of Enscape provides a great tool to use which is the BIM Information Panel that opens within the Enscape window itself and which allows easy selection and inspection of all BIM information within a project.

Computer Configuration & Operating System

Lumion is definitely a powerful and heavy software according to the quality of the renders and the features it offers, that’s why it demands a high-performance computer with two graphic cards and strong memory. And it is better if it is a desktop computer with a good ventilation system to protect the processor and graphics cards from overheating.

Lumion is available only on Windows, and no MAC version, although it is a very well-known software that reached version 10.

Enscape like any other rendering software demands a strong computer, it has to have a powerful processor and external graphics card as well, because of the high quality of the renders that it can perform in addition to running the 3D package like Sketchup, Revit, and others. and if a client wants better results in a short period of time it would be better to use even a more powerful computer.

Enscape is available only on Windows, and web-based, no version for MAC or for iPhone.

Pricing & Licensing

 You can get Enscape for 47 US dollars per month or 469 US dollars per year, and you can also download a free 14 days trial to test the workflow of the software before buying the license.

 On the other hand, the latest version of Lumion is on 1499 US dollars per year, which is a bit expensive comparing to Enscape, and also it won’t be very affordable for average architects, designers, small businesses, and students. Lumion also offers a free trial for 14 days to test the software.