Introduction to Digital Human Software Plug-in No. 11: Visualization Software LUMION

Introduction

The advancement of science and technology, the rapid development of hardware, and the substantial improvement of computer performance have made CG people more and more capable. Producing videos and pictures of large indoor scenes, especially those with lots of plants, was a real headache in the past! The process of making static renderings is as follows: 3DMAX modeling, PS texture, 3DMAX+VRAY rendering, PS re-synthesis and color grading output.

The roaming video rendering process is as follows: 3DMAX modeling\building scenes, PS textures, 3DMAX_VRAY camera animation rendering, involving a large number of plants that can be processed by VRAY agents, rendering video scene clips to AE synthesis special effects, and finally in non- In editing PR, the scenes are connected, the music is added, and the color is adjusted to produce the product. The process I mastered in the past is roughly the same as above. The process is cumbersome, requires teamwork, and the production cycle is long, but the effect is still good.

At that time, many CG people thought: Can there be a software to create this kind of thing, like a game engine editing game scenes, what you see is what you get. Put some proportioned models into the scene, simply adjust some parameters, and you're done. Crafting is like building a scene in a game. And output videos and pictures, just like playing in the game, and then record the screen to form a video, and take screenshots to form pictures. Of course, the rendering effect is better, which is more satisfying.

Is there such a software?

There really is! This is LUMION introduced today.

The software interface is simple and clear, easy to operate and powerful. Her appearance changed the process of making videos and images of architectural tours in the past. Now you can use SKETCHUP modeling, PS textures, LUMION assembly and adjustment to directly render videos and images. Especially the roaming video of indoor and outdoor scenes, the production effect is very good, what about static pictures? The rendering effect is worse than VRAY, but the images rendered by LUMION are still acceptable as a by-product of roaming video products.

Demonstration A: Replacing and adding scene models

1. Select one of the scenes that comes with LUMION.

2. Click on the object to add the character library. (LUMION comes with many model libraries)

3. Find a location and left-click to place the model.

4. The model has been placed at the required location. Building scenes is as easy and fast as a child building blocks.

How good can LUMION be?

If you want to learn to edit videos and learn non-editing PR, you may be confused by the menus, buttons, and functions, and suddenly you encounter COREL's VideoStudio. Simple and efficient, that's what it feels like.

Demo B: Randomly take photos to generate pictures

1. Press and hold the keyboard direction keys, "walk" into the room, choose an angle, and take a picture.

2. Select the output size and file name and start rendering.

3. Of course, you can also turn on HYPERLIGHT (meaning global illumination) in the lower right corner.

4. The quality of the rendered image is okay. The powerful function also lies in the generation of roaming videos, which is fast and efficient.

Overview

Lumion is a real-time 3D visualization tool for producing movies and stills in fields including architecture, planning and design. It can also deliver live demonstrations. The power of Lumion lies in its ability to deliver excellent images combined with a fast and efficient workflow, saving you time, effort and money.

People can create virtual reality directly on their computers. Lumion dramatically reduces production times by rendering high-definition movies faster than ever before. The video demonstrates how you can create stunning architectural visualizations in just seconds.

Demo C: Change the weather.

1. This is an example provided with the software.

2. Adjust the time and pay attention to the change of the sunlight angle.

3. Adjust and control the density of clouds.

4. Adjust the intensity of sunlight.

Remko Jacobs, technical director of Act-3D, said, "I believe we have created something very special. The biggest advantage of this software is that people can preview directly and save production time and effort.

1. Important features: rendering and scene creation reduced to just a few minutes

Import 3D models or textures from SketchUp, Autodesk products and many other 3D software packages

< p> Ability to edit 3D scenes in real-time using lightning-fast GPU rendering technology

Create highly engaging videos using the built-in video editor

Output HD MP4 files, Stereoscopic video and printed high-resolution images support live demonstrations.

2. Supported formats

Import SKP, DAE, FBX, MAX, 3DS, OBJ, DXF

Export TGA, DDS, PSD, JPG, BMP, HDR and PNG images

Lumion itself contains a large and rich content library, including buildings, cars, people, animals, streets, street decorations, surfaces, stones, etc.

466 94 kinds of materials

94 kinds of plants and trees

54 kinds of architectural forms

20 kinds of animated characters

84 kinds of static characters

147 people and animals

71 cars, trucks and ships

182 street decorations (such as chairs and benches)

28 Surface

6 water forms

Animated characters, animated trees, animated plants, animated grass, animated animals

5.3 new features

The Lumion 5.3 update includes many exciting new features.

1. Build a scene: automatically convert imported images into relief form

All Lumion materials have built-in relief definitions, but if you import images with their own materials, these The images usually do not contain any relief. These images typically contain only color information and not any actual structure of the material. In Lumion 5.3, the Material Editor will automatically use this new feature to create a relief definition for imported color images. This means that, for example, an imported image of a wood material will appear to have the texture of real wood. When you import a brick image, the material has enhanced detail and renders the depth of the brick and mortar. This is a great feature!

2. Flexible object selection and movement mode

Selecting targets becomes very easy with Lumion 5.3. Objects of different categories such as people and trees can be selected and moved more easily in your scene. For example, you can move a house with furniture, or any combination of trees, cars, people, and other objects. In this mode, you can more easily select the target group by simply clicking the left mouse button and dragging the selection box.

3. Limit axial movement

In Lumion 5.3, it is easier to limit movement to one axis. This prevents you from moving the target in any direction but in the direction you want, saving time adjusting position and aligning the target.

4. Search content function

The object library contains more and more content, including thousands of objects. The new search function helps you find the target object faster in the object library. For example, it is easier to filter out the tree library through keywords similar to oak trees and palm trees.

5. Static image rendering: Hyperlight? Printing resolution

Light is crucial to outstanding images. Hyperlight is a physically based method of incorporating light reflections into a scene, which greatly improves the quality of light sources. This patented technology was developed exclusively for Lumion5.

In Lumion 5.3, you can use Hyperlight to render images at print poster resolution. Thanks to this improvement, you can now create print-resolution images with excellent lighting.

6. Batch rendering of images

You can render multiple images at once instead of rendering one image at a time. This will save a lot of time when you are rendering a new image series for your client.

7. Individual effects library for a single picture

Independent photos now have individual effects libraries. This feature allows you to choose different effects for each photo. For example, you can set a different light source for each photo. This feature, combined with the new batch rendering of images feature, improves the efficiency of your photo rendering workflow.

8. Making videos: A simpler simulated line-of-sight camera

Sometimes it is necessary to set up a camera with the same line of sight as the human eye in Lumion to better simulate roaming. Line-of-sight level functionality has been added to Lumion 5.3’s camera path editor. New buttons let you place the camera at eye level and quickly position it for a perfectly horizontal viewing angle. This feature makes it extremely easy to create a video that walks through an entire building design from a human perspective.

9. Check point light shadows in real time

Light sources and shadows give the work a natural feel. Sometimes it is necessary to check the display of the light and shadow effects of point light sources in the scene in real time. If you want to temporarily observe the shadow effect of a point light source, just hold down the F8 key.

10. Import and export: Import 3D models as terrain

Typically Lumion users will import a portion of the terrain around their model. In version 5.3, it is now possible to mark part of an imported model as terrain. This function makes the imported model more naturally integrated with Lumion's own terrain. This feature makes it easier to place items on the imported model terrain, and also makes it easier to set the camera at eye level.

11. New reload button

One of Lumion’s most popular features is the ability to update any model with one click. To make using this feature easier, the button has been placed in a more logical and prominent position, just below the Objects tab.

12. Import custom colors

The Lumion material editor makes assigning material colors easy. In version 5.3, these colors will be automatically copied from the imported colors and defaulted by the material editor to the imported model's material color. In the software, you can use the color slider to fine-tune the imported paving stones of a specific color until you meet your requirements for the scene.

13. Revit LT

Lumion is compatible with Revit, SketchUp, Archicad, Rhino, 3DSMax, Allplan, Microstation and many other 3D model software packages. Now it can also import models using Revit LT, including materials. This is a great workflow improvement for Lumion users modeling with Revit LT.

14. Faster speed, less memory usage

The essence of Lumion is fast, simple and beautiful. In order to improve efficiency and speed, the import function is faster than before and requires less system resources.

The following is a static rendering rendered by LUMION.

Postscript

1. Beginners, do not use C4D to solve all problems after learning 3D software such as C4D. That will not produce efficiency and effectiveness.

In the past, a friend worked in the office and didn’t come out all morning. During lunch, I asked him what he was doing. It took me a whole morning to draw a flow chart using WORD. He told me very happily. After dinner, I went to his office to see his "work", which was very, very ugly. I said to him, I will teach you how to use VISIO, and I guarantee that you will learn it in 30 minutes and get it done in 30 minutes. As a result, after he learned it, it took him less than 30 minutes to redraw the flow chart. It was very beautiful and professional, and he couldn't be happier.

2. In fact, the reason why we are so efficient now is based on the achievements of our predecessors. For example, if you sharpen a pencil, if you use a knife, the sharpening effect will be poor and slow. But if you use a special pencil sharpening tool, put the pencil in, shake it with your hand, and it will be completed immediately and perfectly. Professional tools do professional things.

It is very fast to use 3D software + LUMION mode to make architectural tour videos. If you want to be faster and more cost-effective, you forget that there is also digital matte painting technology that uses a few pictures.

3. I always encourage everyone to study and specialize in a software, such as C4D, to learn it thoroughly and learn the principles of 3D software. But when it comes to solving problems, I don’t say that just using C4D is enough. Use various specialized software tools and cooperate with each other to use their "benefits". Therefore, I created this topic to introduce you to a new software and plug-in every once in a while, with the purpose of improving your work efficiency and effectiveness.

4. Finally: this software is simple to use, but the hardware requirements are not low. The higher the CPU, graphics card, memory, and monitor size, the better.

Please refer to the article "Configuration of Mainstream Desktop Computers". If you use a notebook, I think you can forget it. This software will take your notebook...

Disclaimer: The pictures are from the Internet, and some of the content is from Baidu and Manheng Software.