Anyone Using or Considering Lumion 3d?

[David Arbogast]

I've been following Lumion with interest since it came out. It seems like compelling visualization software, especially for exteriors, but I can't find much discussion of it on the cgarchitect forums. I am interested in it as a way of generating quick ok-but-not-great animations. So, I'd like to learn what your thoughts and evaluations are about the Lumion 3d software.

[ihabkal]

I tried exporting from max to it, smoothing was way off, materials got jumbled, and the lighting was funny on th ebuilding, not to mention the Z direction, scale and position was awkward. haven't touche dit since. I love my vray and archmodels trees.

[Scott Schroeder]

The key with real time, is that your scene must be real time ready for it to work. It's not a simple export process, as some softwares may advertise. Your models must be correct, you must pay attention to poly counts, your textures must be correct, and if it's required you must have a 2nd UV lightmap channel correctly laid out. All of that takes time inside a production pipeline.

 

I toyed with it, but prefer to use game engines as they've already done the work in getting the bugs out. Unity, UDK, or CryENGINE 3 all work well if you build the scene to real time standards. You simply cannot just export and expect it to work flawlessly in any real time engine.

[chuck]

I've had a lot of success with exporting directly from sketchup to Lumion. For me it's been VERY close to flawless.

I have paid no attention to poly counts (it's semi simple architecture) and materials show up automatically in Lumion.

 

I run an i5 @ 4.5ghz and a gtx570 2.5gb.

 

Check out their recent competition, I placed 3rd:

http://lumion3d.com/lumion-competition-2011-results/

 

Chuck

[David Arbogast]

I've tried the free version and really liked it. It is supposed to open .max files, but I have much better success with FBX from 3ds Max. So, I have had enough success with the free evaluation verion that I've now committed to a full license. The atmospheres in v2 look quite beautiful; I'm very impressed with how hard the Lumion design team is working to improve their product.

 

Chuck, congrats on your 3rd place win!!! Your animation was inspiring and I've used it to show people in my company what can be done with the program. I agree with Ronen Bekerman www.ronenbekerman.com; your third-place entry was the best (though the 1st place entry was also very very nice as well).