Yikes....I feel really weak now........that was amazing!! There is so much!
I'm going to visit again when I have more time to get inspired. Thanks!!

If you download one of his models and turn off the shadows and fog you can see that he has left some patterns and assembly examples for the piece. Fascinating for sure.

@unknownuser said:

I think they should pay you a commission

If you do join the forum you will see that I am like you. I can only afford to hold version 3.2.1. The current pro version is 5. I need to shell out another 1500 to get to 5. I will get there but for now I am still putting aside a fund. The newest release has many things I want including new sets of trees and plants that are just lushes...but no, they don't know that I am pushing their product here at all and there will be no commission.

Oh sorry...you wanted to know about other software you will find a list somewhere on the forum but I'm not going to say cause I'm spoiled, I'm afraid I can't be objective cause I have had many hours with Lumion and basically a handful with a few others. I didn't like any of the other I tried.

@unknownuser said:

that don't cost more than a new laptop?

I think you meant cost?

I hear you but you should check the cost of your own time and then think about what it is you are trying to achieve. I think you will see Lumion as a bargain.

Basically I need a finished image that my customers will pay for and I have that with Lumion. They are satisfied...interior/exterior/product...etc...no problem for the people I deal with. If I show them a rendering from a person that is a pro with a raytracer they will go "wow!!" no doubt but they don't see it as a significant difference in quality.....many can't afford it for still shots....forget about animation. (If that makes me a bottom feeder then so be it, I'm getting paid.)

You will spend many hours trying to set-up and tweak your ray-tracer and thousands of hours reviewing and editing...literally thousands of iterations.

In Lumion you spend most of your time on material creation and application, composition, design choices/versions, shot selection, proofing editing etc. and little time rendering.
Of course there will be times you have to tie up your machine but that will be for massive models stretching for many kilometers.

@unknownuser said:

truth that this type of piracy is at the very least unnecessary, and in most cases just the result of laziness and complacency.

I get cheated and lied to every day by Corporate America/Canada and yet I still treat them fairly and pay for all my tools ( not wanting to offend those companies like Trimble that add great value).

But I have a very high tolerance for BS because I grew up with "free enterprise" so I turn a blind eye to it, lets face it, willful Corporate murder would top the list of things that bug me about free enterprise.

You can't expect all people to have respect for Corporate fee schedules in view of the behavior of many legitimate corporations.

@unknownuser said:

China is the total flip-side of the U.S. Piracy goes back to the China world view that individual rights don’t matter. The courts have never evolved to protect innovative individuals. There is still very much the ethos that economic growth has to be managed, so individual and intellectual property, where the spoils go to one entity or one person, is not a cultural value,”

Makes sense then that they will peacefully take over the world as is becoming evident.

I have some first-nation friends that might have a good definition of nature. They mostly hate money for the trouble it gets them in.

It is my opinion that no mater how you create your rendering the underlying modeling is what pushes it over the top. I see some recent Podium renders that will blow you away. I know the mesh is very advanced under the covers. The guy modeling knows his stuff. That is why you see so much cartoonish Lumion...because you don't have to be a modeller to make it work. But if you are a great (hard working) modeller you can make just about anything look good and real with Lumion or any other rendering software.

I am an average modeller but Lumion and Sketchup make it possible for me to create interesting NPR images from rag tag resourses...i.e. this image/model was created from StreetViews only. At best the images where poor quality but came to life with a good model.

There are lots of little errors in the render...backwards bumps..etc...but pretty good effects considering this has a 6 second render time. (most of the mistakes are in the modeling)

Yes...with a big No. What kind of an answer is that?

Well it is complicated and best described by someone who is familiar with and uses the various algorithms for ray tracing. So I am going to give you the version best understood by someone like me...or any other assortment of children... In it's purest form rendering is about non-biased ray-tracing. So it is about what protons do when they are unleashed in an environment. That requires a lot of number crunching...can you imagine trying to chase one of those light balls around to see what it does...and then try to record all that data while you are doing it. So this is why there is an on-going discussion about render times and why the f*ck is this taking so long. Non-biased renders are the absolute best and the closest we are coming to physically correct but they take time. Hence "render farming"

Now the "yes" part of this answer is that Lumion is like a video game. It is basically a game engine. Game engines are big pieces of software to but for a different reason. Lumion is an environment that has been inspired by ray-tracing to create a bunch of premade and pre-baked effects that simulate, to the best ability of the artist, a real world ambience. Instead of running the slow ray-tracing algorithm every time someone turns on a light, assumptions are made about what things should look like from the experience of creating them with real ray-tracing algorithms in the first place. Then suitable effects are applied to create a simulation. This increases the speed of the image creation by I'm sure close to a full order of magnitude.

The ray-tracing business will eventually get a hardware boost that will make it possible to have a more real-time like experience.....so all bets are off for the future but for now I think the real-time engine guys are heading for the lead and will be able to more readily adopt the algorithms into their products as they become viable in terms of time overhead.

OK so now if you are confused...so am I... ...maybe someone else will help with a better and more technical explanation.

This was posted this morning by a newcomer to the Lumion Forum.
It was created with the latest release, Lumion Pro 5.
This would have been an afternoon job not an epic.

 i smoke weed pretty much every day

I'm smoking while I type....ummmm, I mean I type so fast the keyboard is smoking... and I didn't have to play for it. Ok I take all that back.

Seriously, Some modeling jobs need that kind of medicine. I keep a humidor full of it near by.

I think you make a lot of very good points. You have made me think again. I am not happy when I see someone who is cheating but not sure what my responsibility is.
On the other hand this is really a private forum that is supported by advertisers. Maybe I am wrong but I think freedom of speech goes out the window in view of that.

I am a bit over kill considering the outside temp is -20
My cooling system doesn't work very hard.

Excellent! you really got Podium cooking up some great stuff.
The old fridge just blew me away. I just love that rounded shape in the first place and I have never seen it in a rendering. Thanks!

I see you are hard at it.

Very nice detail. The interior shots are beautiful. The DOF is very effective. The exterior renders are not quite the same quality though. It looks like you spend more time indoors.
Great images altogether thanks!

I hope you are able to attempt it in some form. It will be interesting.
Good luck!!

@unknownuser said:

The power of animation within Sketchup with a lot of what I do is that we make rapid changes -

Lumion is for real-time animated development. The design workflow allows for rapid iterations. Lumion renders animations in minutes not hours. It is just in another league. I am sorry they have placed such a large price tag on it. It certainly limits it's exposure.
Remember how much fun Sketchup was the first day? Lumion...the same...

You are running out of time..... ...sorry! that's not very nice.

Just consider this the PM I would have sent (We don't have that privilege in the fish bowl)

Pete is the one that popped up on this (excuse the alliteration) If he says blender is possible then I believe him. I know that his conscience will also bother him to see you struggling so he will be a source of support. I would take advantage of his wisdom and go for it.

PS: If you fall short I can do it in 24 hours and that option will remain open for you.