Lumion fundamentals
How to create renders in Lumion from Revit & Rhino
Last updated
How to create renders in Lumion from Revit & Rhino
Last updated
In Revit you need to open and activate the 3D View that you would like to render. (bold name in the project browser)
In Rhino you can have different views with different objects that are show/hidden.
Once that's done you press the Lumion tab and hit the Play-button.
When you've pressed the play-button Lumion automatically creates a Live-link between the geometry in the active view (bold name in the project browser) and the Lumion render view.
If your scene is very heavy and detailed, it's a good idea to press the pause button in your drawing program while you're in Lumion that will stop the automatic syncronizing. When you would like to make changes again you just hit the play button again and the Live-link is restored.
When you've pressed the play button Lumion automatically creates a Live-link. Which means that everything you do in Revit or Rhino will automatically update in Lumion. For example, if you move or delete a object Lumion will directly update this.
The navigation in Lumion works in the same way as Enscape, under is the most basic navigation buttons.
In Lumion a ground is automatically created. If your model is placed under that terrain the first thing you need to do is to raise the imported model above. To do this, select your model by leftclicking on it. Then choose the logo for adjusting the height.
If you hoover your mouse over the pivot in the scene you will be able to move the model up and down by pressing the leftmouse button.
Once you're familiar with controls of Lumion and the model is moved over the groundplane it's time to create different renderviews. This will make it easier to understand what you will see in your render so you don't have to spend time on details that's not in your image.
To enter Camera-mode you click the on the Camera logo in the bottomright corner.
Navigate around with your mouse and keyboard to a angle you'd like to proceed with.
Once you're satisfied, press the camera button in the bottomleft corner, you're able to save out 10 images per scene.
Once you've added one or several cameras you can exit the Camera-mode and go back to the Normal/Build-mode. To do this you press the Build-logo in the bottomright corner.
To start replacing materials you need to enter the material mode.
To apply a material you first need to leftclick on a object in the scene you would like to apply a material too. When you select a object, a menu to the left will automatically appear.
On the top of that window there are some categories, here you'll find premade material provided by Lumion. The different categories are :
Various - grass, rocks, water, fur and more.
Indoor - materials that are made for indoor use such as fabric, wood, metal and more.
Outdoor - materials that are made for outdoor use such as brick, wood, concrete and more.
Custom - here you can save and name materials, this materials will appear in other projects as well.
New - here you can create a new material for example a solid color or a custom material with a texture map.
Get to know these different categories so you know what types of materials that's included in Lumion.
To apply a material you need to doubleclick on the material you want and it will automatically be added to that object.
If you would like to make some further adjustments on the selected material, for example change the size, rotation or reflectivity you can doubleclick on the material. A new window appears and here you'll find more parameters.
When you're done with materials, make sure to click the check-logo in the bottomright corner to save your changes and go back to Normal/Build-mode.
And then you'll simply click on the Home-logo in the bottomleft corner to get back the toolbars.
In the bottom left corner, you have a toolbar with different type of categories. Everything from vegetation, people, outdoor equipment and so on. To follow along the easiest way, press the Vegetation-logo
You have now entered Vegetation-mode. This means that you can now only change things in this specific category. Once a category is selected you need to select what you would like to do with the vegetation. To the right of the toolbar in the bottomleft corner you'll find different logos that will decide what you can do.
Let's break them down, starting from the top left.
Place - this is the mode if you would like to bring in new vegetation to the scene.
Select - here you can select different vegetation you've already placed in the scene.
Rotate - rotate a object you've placed in the scene.
Scale - scale a object you've placed in the scene.
Delete - delete a object you've placed in the scene.
Since we just opened the file we're gonna select "Place" and start populate our scene with some trees. When you press Place a window on the left will appear, this is structured the same way as materials. You will find different type of trees, plants and rocks. Get familiar with what is included in the Lumion library.
Once you've found a tree you would like to add, leftclick on it and move your mouse in the scene where you would like to place it, leftclick to place it. Change tree by moving the mouse to the left to select a different one. To place other type of objects you simply just click on another logo in the bottomleft corner and the workflow works the same way.
Once you're satisfied with materials and props it's time to go back to the Camera-mode and start to tune your render before exporting.
Make sure to click on your image in the bottomleft.
In Lumion you work with layers in the same way as Photoshop. Here you add layers like sun, shadow, reflections and much more to create realism to your render. What's so efficient with Lumion is that they've created templates. To find this you need to press in the topleft corner where you see "Custom Style".
In here you will find prebuilt templates ready to use. The most useful ones are Realistic, Interior and Color Sketch. Try some of them out to see different effects on your render!
For the most of the times you're gonna use Realistic & Interior. Once you have selected either of those you will get back to Camera-mode and you will see that layers have been added to the left side.
For this course, the only one that is relevant to open and change is the one called "Real Skies". If you click on that a new window appears.
In here you have the option to change the heading of the sun and as well the type of sky that Lumion will use. To change the heading you simply just drag the parameter left and right. To change the type of sky, you press on the skypicture in the image above and you will get a list with categories of multiple different options.
Once you're happy you press the green render button in the bottom right corner.
This will bring up a new window where you can select output quality for your render.
Select which quality you would like to render in and you will be asked for a location to where Lumion should save your render. In just some seconds time you've then finished your render in Lumion!
