Act-3D releases Lumion 8.0
Act-3D has released Lumion 8.0, the latest version of its real-time visualisation software, adding a new Styles system, a number of new lighting and camera options, and support for 4K video output.
Users of the Pro edition also get a variations system for exploring different combinations of materials and geometry, new measurement tools, and hand-drawn outline and Tilt Shift effects.
New Styles button generates instant variant lighting and rendering styles
The headline feature of Lumion 8.0 (strictly, it’s just ‘Lumion 8’, but Act-3D usually also puts out a half-point update) is the new Styles system for generating instant variant looks for 3D renders.
As well as changing the time of day and lighting conditions in the scene, the system extends to non-photorealistic render effects, making it possible to run through a range of visual styles very quickly.
Other new lighting and camera options
New lighting options include a Sky Light, for mimicking realistic daylight; new Soft Shadows and Fine Detail Shadows options; and a falloff slider for the OmniLight type.
Hyperlight, the proprietary indirect lighting system added in Lumion 5.0 for boosting the realism of still renders, can also now be applied to video.
There are also two new camera controls: a two-point perspective slider for interactively straightening parallel edges in renders, and an option to lock the handheld camera to a fixed target point within a scene.
The built-in water material gets 20 new presets, and the workflows for colour correction and applying layer effects have been overhauled.
New scene-building, animation and rendering features
New scene-building features include new options for grouping and placing objects, including the option to place multiple objects – for example, trees or cars – along curved paths.
There is also a new Time Warp feature for offsetting the animation of CG characters, and support for rendering 4K video – although you will need a GPU with at least 6GB of graphics RAM in order to do so.
Pro edition only: materials and geometry variations system, new measurement tools
Users of the Pro edition of the software also get a new variations system for rapidly exploring different combinations of geometry and materials within a scene: a kind of 3D counterpart to the Styles button.
Pro users also get new measurement tools for checking distances in a scene directly within Lumion; and new hand-drawn edges and Tilt Shift render effects.
Pricing and availability
Lumion 8.0 is available now for 64-bit Windows Vista and above. The standard edition of the software costs €1,499 (around $1,740); the Pro edition costs €2,999 ($3,490). You can see a comparison table here.
Read a full list of new features in Lumion 8.0 on Act-3D’s website