Mastering Lumion 3D

Ciro Cardoso

• Publisher: Packt Publishing
• Year: 2014
• eBook ISBN: 9781783552030
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Informatica
• Subtopic: Media digitali

Lumion uses real-time 3D technology to provide immediate visualizations and create images in a fraction of a second without the long hours of rendering. With an outstanding collection of high-quality plants, trees, cars, buildings, people, and materials, any complex and challenging task can be handled easily by Lumion.

This is a practical guide featuring time-saving techniques along with established production tips for efficiency and swiftness in producing professional architectural visualizations in Lumion. The initial chapters provide a solid foundation by covering the solutions for typical problems when modeling for Lumion and how to create realistic and proficient terrains. You will also learn the best techniques to create believable materials and populate the 3D world with Lumion's models. Special chapters are reserved not only to improve the lighting and reflections in Lumion, but also to take the best from Lumion's effects. Finally, you will create powerful animations to bring life to any walk-through visualizations and export them as a movie or still images.

Mastering Lumion 3D

---

Table of Contents

Mastering Lumion 3D

Credits

About the Author

About the Reviewers

www.PacktPub.com

Support files, eBooks, discount offers, and more

Why subscribe?

Free access for Packt account holders

Preface

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Conventions

Reader feedback

Customer support

Errata

Piracy

Questions

1. Getting Ready for Lumion 3D

Starting to work with Lumion

A quick overview

Camera navigation in Lumion

Controlling 3D models

Handling the 3D models using Lumion

Importing an external 3D model

Using Lumion's 3D models

Hotkeys to control the 3D models

Saving in Lumion

The Settings menu – how to use it

Modeling for Lumion

Modeling for visualization

Improving the scene by adding detail

Beveling edges

Using additional models

Importance of materials

Materials affecting the geometry in Lumion

Exporting the 3D model

Using the COLLADA file format

Exporting animations

Common problems and solutions

I cannot see my 3D model

Solution

I still cannot see my 3D model

Solution

Missing faces

Solution

Summary

2. Creating a Project in Lumion

Creating a scene in Lumion

Using the nine scenes

Saving the scene

How the save system works

Autosave – the life saver

Importing a proxy or a low geometry 3D model

Sculpting the terrain

Lumion's sculpting tools

Shaping the terrain with the Height submenu

The great Undo button

Using a graphic tablet to sculpt

Sculpting techniques

Technique number 1

Technique number 2

Terrain for a swimming pool

Working with the Terrain submenu

Using terrain or height maps

Creating a height map

Creating height maps for real locations

Modeling a 3D terrain

The Landscape material

Workflow optimization (best practices)

Configuring Editor Quality

Using Lumion's layers

Why use layers?

Where is the Layers menu?

How layers work in Lumion

Summary

3. Importing 3D Models

The importance of planning

Checking Lumion's content

Importing 3D models

External 3D model

Adding Lumion's objects to the scene

Placing the 3D models

Rearranging 3D models

Using Lumion's tools

Making good use of hotkeys

Placing any 3D model accurately

Updating a 3D model with new geometry

Replacing 3D models

Common problems (troubleshooting)

Locking a 3D model

Summary

4. Applying and Creating Materials

Material or texture

A quick overview of Lumion's materials

Working with materials

Assigning materials to a 3D model

Naming materials

Removing a material

Modifying and tweaking Lumion's materials

The scale and texture positions

Reflection, glossiness, and more

Fresnel

Controlling the refection sharpness

Saturation

Emissiveness

An extra touch with the custom materials

Working with the Glass material

Hiding geometry with the Invisible material

Creating swimming pools and other water surfaces

Using the fantastic Water material

Exploring the Waterfall material

Advantages of using Lumion's materials

Using imported materials in Lumion

Transforming images into textures

Creating seamless textures

Gimp – how to create a seamless texture

Photoshop – how to create a seamless texture

Using UVs in Lumion

Controlling the reflection with an alpha channel

Clipping a surface with an alpha channel

The Glass special feature

Creating materials in Lumion

The Standard material

The mysterious Advanced Options menu

Creating a normal map

Organizing materials

Saving and loading material sets

Common problems (troubleshooting)

How to solve flickering

Summary

5. Creating Your 3D World

Lumion models – a quick overview

Different categories and what we can find

Idle, animated, and other 3D models

Project planning

Placing and controlling 3D models in Lumion

Placing a 3D model from Lumion's library

Placing multiple copies with one click

Tweaking the 3D models

Controlling the models

Copying 3D models

Selecting and deleting 3D models

The remarkable Context menu

Selection – library

Selection – all the Selection options

Selecting different categories

Controlling 3D models with the Transformation submenu

Editing the properties of a 3D model

Creating grass and using the Scatter elements

Summary

6. Lighting in Lumion

Lumion lighting – a quick overview

Adjusting the Weather menu

Exterior lighting with the Weather menu

Photo and Movie modes – a very quick introduction

How to create a golden and blue hour

Creating a golden and blue hour with the Sun effect

Adding realistic clouds using the Cloud effect

Interior lighting with Lumion's lights

Spotlight, omni light, and fill light

Placing lights

Using the fill light

Tweaking lights with the Properties menu

Working with Global illumination

Improving reflections with a reflection cube

Summary

7. Creating Realistic Visualizations

Special effects – fire, smoke, and fog

Special elements – practical applications

Fire – a practical example

Smoke – a practical example

Fog – practical examples

Photo and Movie effects

What are the effects and how can they help me?

Things needed for this chapter

The difference with using the Movie mode

Sun study – what is it and how can it be useful

Tweaking shadows using the Shadow effect

Working of shadows in Lumion

Correcting shadows

Coloring and tweaking soft shadows

Creating realistic reflections

Improving the realism with Camera effects

Camera effects – what are they and how to use them

Depth of field

Creating lens artifacts with the Lens Flare effect

Balancing the Bloom effect with the Exposure effect

Noise

Changing the saturation with the Selective Saturation effect

Color correcting in Lumion

Adding vignette

Lens' errors – chromatic aberrations

A practical application for the God Rays effect

Working with Horizon and Volume Clouds

Render still Images with the Photo mode

Summary

8. Non-photorealistic Visualizations with Lumion

Non-photorealistic rendering

Benefits of using NPR's illustrations

How can Lumion help us? ...

Table of contents

• Mastering Lumion 3D