Lumion Vs Vray Which One is Better?

Architects always look for software that combines ease of use, speed, and realistic renders to finish their projects. It is the last step of a hard and long process but it can be the most important one, it has to be perfect and it has to reflect reality so that the client would have a vivid idea about his project and how it will turn out to be in the end.

Some of the most known software for rendering are the two we are about to discuss today, Lumion Vs Vray, so which one is better for rendering your projects?

Lumion

Lumion has shown a lot of progress in the past few years because, in the beginning, the quality of the renders was low and unrealistic, but still people used it a lot because it’s such an easy software and it guarantees fast results. Lumion is made only for rendering not for modeling, it offers a rich library of all kinds of objects, especially external ones, and multiple kinds of textures, effects, and realistic environments (like the desert, mountain, sea…). It also gives you the possibility to render pictures, videos, or even 360°panorama pictures.

The latest versions of Lumion are really good, the renders are so close to reality, the quality of the objects and textures is much better, and the sky is more realistic with new different options day and night with stars. Animation also benefices from the same options with extra details for the people and the movement of the objects in the animation, it is more realistic now.

Vray

Vray is a render engine that works as a plugin that can be integrated with 3D packages such as 3ds max Sketchup, Revit, and so on. it is known for its high performance in rendering work because It shows the texture and materials realistically in renders. Lighting in Vray is a very important element since it offers the users different kinds of lighting, spots, IES lighting, dome, rectangular lights, and of course sunlight.

Through Vray, you can actually control the resolution and the size of the image, and you can also make render tests with a low resolution, just to check and make sure that the textures, the lights, and the effects are all in perfect harmony. Since Vray is integrated with modeling software, its configurations are not famous for being the simplest but if you can keep things very simple you can. You can quickly add different materials to the scene, edit the resolution of the picture, parameters of lighting, you can compare the changes you made side by side by looking at different renders in side by side channels, there is also a small palette with several kinds of lighting, and finally a wide range or render settings.

One of the Great options in Vray is having a high degree of control before and after the render; it is possible to add lighting, exposure, contrast, white balance, saturation work on the color balance also without necessarily using an editing program for pictures.

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Which One is Better for Rendering

These two pieces of software are made for the most part for rendering work not modeling, but they are so different in many aspects. Lumion for instance is a stand-alone software, but Vray mostly used inside a 3D package.

Lumion offers a large variety of objects, and 3D elements like furniture, lights, trees, people, animals, and everything else you need in a scene. It was actually made and configured in the beginning for use in urban projects, and for external renders. that’s why if you want to create interior scenes, the library is not as great in terms of interior elements and objects.

Vray doesn’t have a personal library of objects to use because you are expected to model the scenes yourself or imported them from elsewhere. Vray works only with materials and lighting, but it is known for its high performance in terms of rendering interiors and exteriors scenes.
Another thing about lumion is that it can work with different modeling software, it is possible to use 3D objects and scenes from SketchUp file, Revit, Archicad and so on which is great because every architect and every office or firm uses a different kind of modeling software, but Vray can also be used with some architectural modeling packages such as Sketchup, 3ds Max, Rhino and Revit.

When it comes to configuration and settings, Lumion doesn’t have the freedom and flexibility that Vray offers because Vray nowadays is simpler than it used to be when you have to configure tons of options before rendering. but it still can be very complex and reach levels of flexibility if you need that.

Some of these configurations allow you to lower the noise, by activating the denoiser, control the camera sensibility to the light, global illumination, adding secondary lights an so on. on the other hand, lumion doesn’t offer these kinds of options, the render is automatic, it is possible to add effects and filters, for more brightness, or even cloudy weather filter if you want to show your project in winter, Autumn or summer time. Basically, The configurations that the two software offer will make the render look different depending on the needs of the project.

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Speed of Rendering

As for the timing, lumion is generally speaking faster than Vray, one render takes seconds to minutes, while in Vray the render time can be long especially if you want higher quality, and this is due to the fact that the render in lumion is by default, while the one with Vray is personalized according to the needs of the user

Timing plays a big role in this work, many architects work under pressure and they always look for a faster way to finish the work with good results and lumion got this option too unlike Vray that takes more time to render. Vray has high performances in terms of interior and exterior renders, lighting, and editing interiors is much better using it, while lumion shows amazing capabilities in exterior scenes.

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The Learning Curve

What really makes Lumion a very famous render software is that it is not complicated to use, especially for architects who don’t have time, the configuration is easy and anyone can work with it, the render is also fast it takes only a few seconds or minutes.

Another important point, Lumion is considered as stand-alone software, it can render your images, videos, and animation, and even 360° panorama pictures, very easily. While Vray offers limited functionality in this regard because you are expected to do this yourself which can take a little bit longer and can be harder as well, so if you don’t have experience with 3d software you can use lumion to do image renders and animations and it will give you relatively good results because it contains a lot of things that can make the process of rendering scenes way easier.

If you use Vray to render images and other software for modeling, animation, and so on, the project will take longer and you need actual experience to get the results you are looking for.

In addition to this Vray doesn’t offer ready elements like sky, mountains, or landscape, you have to add it yourself or make it using the modeling software. on the other hand, Lumion gives you the possibility to use already set up externals, landscape, desert, sea, and mountains, it even has buildings in case you like to add them next to your project for more
realistic pictures.

In terms of rendering settings, Vray can be Hard or easy to work with depending on your level of experience. there are easy settings for beginners but you can always have fantastic flexibility with the options Vray offers. You can edit materials, textures, lighting and shadows, reflection, refraction, and opacity. Both software are easy to work with in terms of configuration and editing for architects, but lumion is way easier for non-architects or those who don’t have experience with 3D modeling and rendering software.

And when it comes to the interface both software is simple to understand and work with as well.

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pricing/Licencing

Vray, give you the option to buy a perpetual license or subscription that you pay for monthly or yearly. the monthly subscription is between $60 to $80 monthly or $350 to $470 yearly depending on the software you use. The perpetual license is also in the range of 700-$800 depending on your 3D software.

https://www.chaosgroup.com/vray/collection

On the other hand, Lumion is far more expensive than Vray at a price of € 1499 for the normal version that includes 1/3 of the content library with Limited rendering effects and the pro version of Lumion basically costs 2999 with a full library and full effects.

After mentioning all the good and the bad things about the two software, and after pointing out the power points of each one, to conclude both software are strong in terms of rendering, with some slight differences that depend on the architect’s needs, but Lumion has nice options and it has an integrated rich library full of different kind of objects, it is also easier to work with for everyone, comparing to Vray that is more made for architects. and highly realistic projects but if you choose to use it is it going to be worth it.