With a completely redesigned render engine, Lumion 2023 marks the beginning of a new chapter. Back in October 2022, we revealed that ray tracing was coming to Lumion - a massive undertaking that meant having to completely rebuild our render engine from the ground up. Today, the time has finally come - Lumion 2023 is now live!
Lumion 2023 is unlike any previous version of the software. By entirely redesigning our render engine to incorporate ray tracing alongside rasterization, we’re now able to offer a platform that will be improved upon faster and more easily than ever.
What’s new
The new Lumion 2023 render engine
Since the inception of Lumion, the idea that 3D rendering should be accessible to every architect and designer - regardless of their technical background - has propelled us forward. Our aim has always been to provide an fast, easy, and intuitive way of visualizing the future. To empower architects to create without hurdles or hesitation and showcase designs that go beyond form and function to capture hearts and minds.
In many ways, the release of Lumion 2023 represents a complete foundational shift for the software. Powered by a hybrid render engine that works with rasterization and ray tracing, Lumion 2023 helps you achieve the highest quality results, no matter your hardware. So, if you don't have a ray tracing capable graphics card, you can still see a significant lift in Lumion's rendering quality with the improved rasterization technology for all your building architecture, landscape, or interior designs.
Ultimately, it’s not about the technology itself, it’s about how it’s being applied to serve a higher purpose. Whether it’s developing a design, exploring ideas, or showcasing your vision of the future, that purpose is entirely up to you.
Introducing ray tracing v0.9
Unlike rasterization, ray tracing technology doesn’t require any clever trickery to imitate reality - it calculates the way light behaves in the real world. With the effect switched on, your renderings will automatically feature more realistic indirect lighting, non-screen space reflections, contact shadows, and much more. The new ray tracing effect in Lumion lets you control the number of samples and bounces, giving you greater control over the final result.
See your design in a new light
The new lighting system in Lumion 2023 opens a world of possibilities, allowing for more natural-looking renders.
Reflections now work automatically whenever the ray tracing effect is enabled. With ray tracing, curved surfaces now show accurate reflections, removing the need for reflection planes. In the first implementation, the ray tracing effect will not support reflections of glass or water materials.
Make your surfaces feel real
It’s often the smallest details that help communicate your design most effectively. The reflections on a façade. The light passing through a curtain. A wet cobblestone street. When materials feel real, your design comes alive. With the ability to fine-tune these details in just a few clicks, you can create a visualization experience that speaks to all senses.
Improved material editor
The material editor has been significantly improved to give you a higher degree of control over the material settings. Lumion 2023’s material editor features the following options
More material properties
Lumion 2023's raster workflow enables you to control subsurface scattering. This gives objects a translucent effect, allowing light to penetrate the object and be subtly scattered. You can also affect the tint of the scattered light by assigning a color to the material map.
