This creative independence and usability doesn't come without a fee because in order to provide this continuous feedback (real time), some corners need to be cut. This in turn affects how light is calculated and how materials are designed and react to light. Also, you need to keep a careful balance between 3D details and the amount of geometry used, as it is obligatory.

So, what exactly is it possible for us to create with Lumion? Are we doomed to a low-quality product just because of some real-time technicalities? Let's have a look at the following render:

This image is a render taken from an example available in Lumion 5 and, hopefully, this can give you a good idea of not only Lumion's quality, but also the complexity that can be achieved in each scene. One thing that stands out in this render is the amount of 3D objects in the scene and you can take into consideration that individual trees along with the grass add loads of polygons to the scene. The truth is that Lumion can literally handle millions of polygons and this is useful not only for forest scenes such as the one we saw previously, but also for urban environments where we need a vast array of 3D models. Another key aspect that can be mentioned is the amount of 3D models available with Lumion (in particular, trees and plants), volumetric light, and mass placement that add life to a city scene with just a few clicks.

However, how do you know if Lumion is what you need for your company or for you pallet of tools?

Certainly, you are interested in trying Lumion to see whether it fits your needs, and the best solution to this is to try Lumion's free version. Great! A free version of Lumion! Nevertheless, I must warn you that although it's "free", this version is very and I repeat, very limited. You can use it to see how to import 3D models, check the 3D model's quality, and see how the material system work, but you will not have access to the most important and new features.

This demo version can help you check whether the workstation or computer can run Lumion and meet the minimum requirements. After launching Lumion for the first time, a benchmark is used to check your workstation to check whether there is a necessity to upgrade a hardware component in order to run Lumion more smoothly. To work with Lumion, you need a powerful workstation and in particular, a good graphic card which is the key hardware component in this equation. Have a look at the following requirements taken from Lumion's website.

The recommended system specifications are:

Does this mean you are doomed if you don't meet all the requirements? Not exactly! You may struggle to work with some scenes, but you can lower the viewport's quality, which in turn gives you more room to work. You can also make good use of the layers to hide some models of the scene, which in turn leaves more resources available for you. Nevertheless, it is when you render the scene that you may feel the biggest impact of not meeting all the requirements. A scene that could be rendered in 30 minutes with a good graphic card can take you a couple of hours with a lower-range graphic card. However, there are a few more things you should know about to have the full picture of what is involved when working with Lumion.

An additional aspect you need to know is that Lumion wasn't designed with modeling and texturing in mind. Therefore, it is your responsibility to have a detailed 3D model and extra models if you don't like Lumion's optimized models. This means that all the modeling and texturing work needs to be done using an external software. If you are looking for something free, SketchUp is the best solution. Although, you can use Blender, which is a more complex and complete solution.

What about other applications? Well, you need to export the 3D models into a format that Lumion can read and import. To give you an idea of what Lumion supports, have a look at the following list:

Don't panic if you don't see your favorite application listed here, because it doesn't mean that Lumion is out of question. Most 3D applications can export the 3D model using the FBX or COLLADA file format. For example, I often use Revit for some projects and Lumion's team was kind enough to provide a free export for all users not only for Revit, but also for ArchiCAD.

There are a few more things you need to know before jumping to Lumion's introduction.

Lumion is available in 4 versions. We already saw that there is a free version of Lumion with loads of limitations and that the only purpose is to test some of the Lumion's features. You also have an educational version and the paid versions: Lumion Pro and Lumion.

What is the difference between these two versions? To answer that have a look at the following list:

From all the points listed, the one that will have the biggest impact is the lack of content. Lumion only has a third of what is available in Lumion Pro and for someone who started working with Lumion, this could be a problem.

The good thing with the models that are bundled with Lumion is the fact that these 3D models are optimized to have quality and at the same time, are not too heavy in terms of geometry (which in turn makes your viewport slow). However, there is one way you can tackle this issue if you choose the standard Lumion version.