Thanks TIG. I forgot about that one. Let me try it out and I'll let you know. Lumion sets its origin point for each imported item at 0,0,0, so if I have a table that is 20' from origin when exported, in lumion, all the move and other other transforms are then set 20' from the table as well. I suppose I could use Chris Fullmer's center on origin too and center all the layers on top of each other, export and then undo the centering operation. The only issue is that his script centers items based on the middle of the bounding box and not the bottom. Still, I could make it work. Thanks again.

EDIT - just saw your code response. I'll try that too. Thanks!

You may want to define the flat area and then try the sandbox stamp tool with a low offset value. Chuck Vali also has a script called Instant Site Grader that works well for blending new construction into existing terrain.

I typically draw out all of my hard elements first, then I define the new grade as a line drawn around the entire perimeter and blend that with my contour lines based on grade shots I take myself, using From Contours.

terrain.skp

Not sure if this is possible, but I was wondering if you could, via script, take a model and export all layers into separate .dae (.or fbx) files, and ideally have each layer exported with a 0,0,0 origin on center. The purpose is for exporting to Lumion, (but could be useful for iClone, UDK or other similar programs) where each part of a model that needs to be controlled separately, needs imported separately with it's own axis defined. Right now it's a matter of copying each component to a new file, moving it to origin and manually exporting a dae file for each item. I was wondering if a speed up would be possible through a plugin.

Great idea Matt. Thank you for sharing!

I think it is always good to know two numbers going into a negotiation. The number you need and the number you want. One is your ideal margin and the other your bottom line. The bottom line number is the most important as it will keep you in business. It is your fallback in a negotiation. This can only be determined by truly knowing your cost to operate and live. The rest is your margin beyond this and if you get what you want, you are making out. However this number should never be arbitrary as you need to stay competitive in your marketplace. It should be a percentage above what you NEED to make. At least this is how I think of it.

I think there is a notable difference between Bonzai3D vs. Sketchup and Bonzai3D vs. Sketchup with plugins.

I played a bit with Bonzai and built a few things in it, but always missed the simple logic and fluidity of Sketchup.

I think there is a difference between cost and value. I'm not sure of all TwinMotions features to make a healthy comparison. For that price, I hope it at least has lights.

Miguel, let me ask you....when a software increases it's cost and the pending upgrade cost will be hitting at the end of the year, do you try to recover that money by passing along an increase in cost to the customer? I know as a small business owner, each year I set aside projected budgets along with my overhead and allocate a certain amount of spending toward software each year, along with a small amount for training, hardware upgrades, possible replacement parts, a fund toward a new rig split over two years, along with all my office costs, marketing, etc. A huge part of my pricing structure revolves around recovering my overhead sum based on my projected billable hours and desired salary. I have a pretty regimented system with my bases covered, but something like this increase in cost throws a wrench into that, as it was totally unexpected. As I've set pricing structures with my existing clients, so the burden of cost to pay an extra $900 for features I need to stay competitive, poses quite the challenge. Ultimately this is a cost that I either end up taking out of my personal profits, or passing along to the customer through a slight increase in hourly rate. This is my real dilemma with the new pricing structure and why I was a bit irate about it. It's something I don't think the developers consider.

That being said, I understand the amount of work that went into the SP2 release and I'm okay with the decisions the developers made to restructure. I know it's nothing personal, still something that needs to be sorted out from a business owners standpoint. Personally I support a family of 6, by designing solely (I've gotten out of installation) and in that respect I guess I'm a little bit more sensitive about money than others.

All in all, I stand behind the Lumion team and appreciate the capabilities of their software in my market. I'm done ranting about the update for now and will refrain from passing further judgment. I can't assume to know what goes on behind the scenes and what cost have been incurred on their behalf. After all, they could've been more like Twin Motion from the beginning and raised the cost ceiling to accommodate enough room to add and grow without an increase, but that would've put it out of my reach and I would've never gotten to know this great program.

@ecuadorian said:

New water: Now this is something worth having, but oddly, the new water is split between the FX pack and the Environment pack.

Per the wording on the site -

"Special effects plug-in

With this package you can add special effects such as water, fire, smoke and fog to your scenes.
Environments and weather plug-in

Currently this package contains an awesome ocean feature for weather mode. This plug-in is essential if you need to create scenes featuring the ocean or shorelines."

Because of this wording I opted for the Special Effects pack, only to then find out that the waterfall shader is not included, but it's in the Environment and Weather pack. Sheeesh.

I waited 20 hours to download the 64 bit version, only there is an issue with the speedtree.dll and it's been taken down. Everyone has been advised to download 32 bit temporarily and then redownload the 64 bit when it's fixed. I see Pete and Csaba bought an ultimate license already. I wish I had the scratch. Would you guys say it is worth the $900 to get ultimate? It's a lot of money during my slow time. Has anyone found a list of the new plants and trees in the plugin?

I thought it was good....in a "been there, done that" sort of way. I now know Mike Tyson is the worst singer on planet Earth!

@plex said:

Well LumenRT is totally different beast. Very promising for what it is meant for but hardly in competition with Lumion.

No? As far as professional sketchup users go, it's all about what options there are to best present and sell your projects and keep your clients as happy as possible. Clients don't know what softwares cost and what kind of light calculations a program performs...they want to sell their products, regardless. In that respect, when it comes to animations easily produced out of sketchup, all options are indeed competition. Committing a piece software to your workflow is based on bang for the buck and what will keep the clients most happy. If I can get a comparable finished product out of LumenRT and Lumion, but there is a difference in cost, business model and customer service, I would have to weigh out both against the big picture. With the revelation that one of the softwares has doubled it's price midway through their first release, if I were on the fence, I would be very weary about entering a working relationship with that company. In that respect, they are making the less expensive options (LumenRT, Lightup, etc. ) seem more appealing in the long run.

I also remember Miguel doing a recent client animation that was half done in Lumion and half done in LightUP. I'm sure the client had no idea that there were two different programs used, as the results looked very similar.

At least for Sketchup users, Lumion just did E-on a big favor as anyone on the fence will certainly go LumenRT over Lumion at this point.

I guess I'll just consider the $1300 already shelled out as a downpayment and figure on paying for the rest of the needed content in installments. I suppose I'll just by plugins on an as needed basis and only if I can sell a project that requires it. There's no other option really.

In spite of the bitching, I'm still pretty psyched about the potential of the program and can't wait to re-render some projects with waterfalls and fire effects. Hopefully the road ahead stabilizes and we don't end up with 50 or more plugins for all aspects of future development. At this point I'm also wondering what Lumion 2 will bring in terms of upgrade fees, plugins, etc.

Are there any exterior night lighting examples made with LightUP? I'm particularly interested in doing night lighting animations and wasn't sure if LightUp is capable of processing a dusk type scene with exterior lighting. If so, I would purchase the program for that alone, as currently no other "realtime" animating solutions can do this.

Anyone else experiencing uber slow download speeds for the update? I'm on high speed and normally download around 1.4 MB/sec from a fast host.

I did voice it on the forum a few weeks ago, pointing a link to this vimeo wording, but no response. Technically I did get the update and waterfall technology for free, so I can't bitch too much. I just thought I was dating a full figured woman, but turns out she is an anorexic with a stuffed bra.

I opted for the Water/Fire/Smoke plugin. Now I have to buy an antivirus software and about 100' of ethernet cable to get my studio rig online to activate the update. I also spent my 1000 "free" credits on a plugin, but got no link to download the plugin. Not sure how they are installed.

What pisses me off tremendously is the false advertising regarding the update. All the users were under the assumption that all this new technology they have been previewing were included FREE OF CHARGE to existing Lumion 1.0 customers. So they baited people into buying the software in expectation of the new update, then switched up the whole sales strategy at the last minute. For example, here is a screen shot of thier Vimeo preview of the waterfall technology. Notice the wording in the description....

I'm trying to download it now. Getting like 4-6 KB/sec or 4-6 days download time.

Well, SP2 is out today along with the plugins. Lumion has switched to a basic and ultimate editions. You get one free plugin pack as an existing customer. All others are now $220 a piece! (around $900 to upgrade to Ultimate ) They've also moved away from the dongle all together and are using online activation and deactivation so it can be used with multiple workstations, just not at the same time.

@unknownuser said:

Lumion Ultimate

This is the normal version of Lumion with all plug-ins available:

* Trees and Plants
* People and animals
* Movie effects
* Special effects
* Environments and weather

Lumion Basic

This is the normal version of Lumion. You can extend it with plug-ins or you can upgrade it the the Ultimate edition.

Trees and Plants plug-in

This package contains many new plant and tree models for Lumion. It almost doubles the number of plants and trees available in Lumion.

People and animals plug-in

This package adds silhouette 3D models and silhouette billboards to Lumion.

Movie effects plug-in

This package add several important movie effects to Lumion: Depth of field, Lens flares, Sharpen, and “paint style”.

Special effects plug-in

With this package you can add special effects such as water, fire, smoke and fog to your scenes.

Environments and weather plug-in

Currently this package contains an awesome ocean feature for weather mode. This plug-in is essential if you need to create scenes featuring the ocean or shorelines.

Awesome models. Here's the robot rendered in Max/Iray. 5 minutes per render.

First one I'd peg for a photo if I didn't know it was a render. Nice work!