Today we are bringin to you a brief story on a very famous program that is used by thousands around the world, only so you can take an idea on What is Lumion used for?
Created by two Dutch computer programmers, who were passionate about 3D, graphics, and simulations, the idea was to create an easy program without needing a lot of experience in graphics and 3D software in general; the main goal was also to generate quick and fast results for architects. In 2007 the act-3D company led by two Dutch programmers started working on software for architects and in2010 the first version of Lumion was release.
In the past, architects relied on sketches, and 3D by hand to visualize their projects. In the end, this step was the last one in the process, to conclude and to show the project at the end, however, it wasn’t possible to try on different textures and materials to see if it really matches the design and the work, this made the work of architects little bit hard.
Nowadays 3D is not the last step, it’s used with the whole process from the beginning, it’s much easier now for architects to compare and see forms, materials, and all the work in 3D and make the changes needed to do a better job.
Creating Architectural Projects with Ease
Using Lumion can give you the possibility to see your project visualized before it is created in a real-world, it is possible to integrate the project with different kinds of scenes, landscape, islands, forests, and urban environment, you can also add several kinds of external objects, like cars, plants, people, and trees, Lumion contains over 5600 objects.
Through lumion you can find all materials such as wood, walls, glass, aluminum, metal, stone, finishing the floor, lumion contains over 1200 materials and textures, the best thing about lumion is that the library is integrated with the software no need to download and search for materials and objects.
Besides that in lumion, there is also the possibility to add different effects to photos or videos before rendering, you can play with the sun, add more clouds, add snow or rain, shadows, and even wind as a result pictures would be more realistic, more close to reality. Normally to render an image in lumion it takes around 30 seconds, which is amazing, to minimize time and get results fast, as for videos and animation it takes a bit longer to achieve.
Rendering Interior and Exterior scenes
This software is great for rendering exterior urban projects because you have many choices of different external objects that you can add, but also you have the possibility to render interior spaces, with all types of interior light, and materials provided by Lumion.
For those who like to accompany images of their projects with some handmade sketches, Lumion offers varied themes of sketches, colored or pencil only, to add more value and an artistic touch to the work.
If you have heavy files, you can divide your model into different parts, and using the option of layers, you get to activate the part you need every time to change materials or add objects, this will allow you to have an organized file and an organized work, especially if you work for a company.
Rendering Animations
Furthermore, when it comes to animation and videos, Lumion provides a rich selection of tools to control the position and the speed of the camera, for better results. Also, you have the option of moving things easily and quickly in your scene, you can actually make people, cars, and birds move during the animation, this feature gives more life to the project in the video.
The latest versions of Lumion, are way more developed than the previous ones, which really proves that the developers worked hard to make it better, for instance in the old version of lumion, the sky didn’t look real. Now, however, Lumion uses HDR sky images, more specifically, 44 model of skies (day and night skies) which gives an amazing real sky, also the quality of the renders improved a lot, the latest versions provide images that look like reality, and this is the real purpose of 3D renders.
Always in the diversity, lumion comes with preloaded maps of different environments, simple landscape, mountains, island and sea, and even desert, to give you the possibility to integrate your project in a real environment, this option exists only in lumion, which make the work easier.
Computer Requirements:
Lumion requires a high-performance computer, with a good graphic card, to ensure fast rendering and smooth results, like any graphic 3D software, a computer has to have Good graphic cards, an Intel and an external one, a strong processor for quick results and also for the safety of your computer.
Lumion provides also the possibility to save the work, to save different scenes, and most of all, in case you change something in your 3D using any type of modeling software, instead of doing the whole work again in lumion, you can just replace the previous 3D in lumion with the new changed one and lumion will keep all the textures and the objects in the file, this option is really amazing and it can help you save a lot of time.
Besides the rich library, it is even possible to add your own personal textures; this option already existed in the first previous versions of lumion, and still exists now even though the library is much variant and rich.
Working with Big Files
When using Lumion to render, it’s better to reduce the size of the 3D file as much as possible. Sometimes it is better to avoid using objects and textures from the 3D software that you used to model, since Lumion already contain a personal rich library, if the 3D file is too heavy it will affect your computer’s performance and even Lumion’s performance and it will slow down the work and the render.
To reduce the size of the file especially if you work on an urban project with a lot of external objects sometimes you need to divide the project into parts and import it part by part after making all the texture and the modifications. Also, it is suitable to use layers and to assign each family of objects into separated layers, and activate all the layers only in the end before rendering
Additionally to the previous tips, you can also reduce the size of your 3D scenes in the modeling software before exporting it to lumion, SketchUp, 3ds Max, Revit or Archicad, or any other modeling software, each one has specific options to reduce the size of the files.
Ease of Use
Lumion is a software that is made basically for architects, but it’s super easy that anyone can work with it, it doesn’t demand a lot of 3D software knowledge, the options and the interface is not complicated at all, it actually looks like a video game, and it takes a short period of time to understand how the software function, and you can start work directly.
As we said before, lumion is a software of rendering only, it would be great if they add modeling tools in the future, keeping on simple options and commands because modeling takes a lot of time and efforts to finish all the details, some offices and firms use AutoCAD for the 2D plans and all the details. The architect has to work the 2D with one software, and then do the modeling using another software and finally do the rendering with Lumion, it’s a long process from start to finish. An ideal process is to work on 2D plans with one software and do the modeling and rendering with another one as most architects do.
The Downside of Choosing Lumion
It can be hard sometimes to move inside the project using Lumion, to rotate and to go from a point to another, it can be slow and takes a little bit of time, also lumion doesn’t use shortcut commands like most of the software, cntr+Z to undo or cntr+S to save don’t exist in lumion, another thing about lumion is that it’s very expensive software and very demanding when it comes to computing power, the latest versions of Lumion are really demanding and it can’t work on average laptops, you have to use workstations. the old versions work on a laptop but the quality of the render is low compared to the newest ones.
Besides this Lumion doesn’t offer a version for Mac, only Windows even though the software is really known now and used by a lot of architects and offices and it has been developed many times since many versions of it exist now, but there aren’t any versions for Mac computers. The working area is limited to 2km², in case an office works on a big project this point can be annoying and they have to divide the project.
Currently, Lumion is the fastest rendering software in the market, it offers more advantages than disadvantages, and with every version, new tools and features are being added taking in
consideration of the needs of the architects and designers.
watch the video on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZO89xE5kRY
