Lumion 2023 is to support real-time ray tracing, developer Act-3D has announced.
The next major version of the real-time architectural visualisation software, due for release early next year, will support both GPU-accelerated ray tracing and rasterisation rendering.
An easy-to-use near-real-time tool for architectural visualisation work
First released in 2010, and now one of the three most widely used renderers for arch viz work, Lumion creates renders of architectural scenes in near real time.
The software is intended to provide architects with little background in visualisation with a more straightforward way to create realistic stills and animations than conventional DCC apps.
Users import building models from other software, either in standard 3D file formats like FBX, OBJ, SKP and MAX, or via built-in live links to major CAD applications.
They can then edit materials inside Lumion, set up lighting and weather effects, dress the scene using readymade models from the accompanying asset library, and create simple camera animations.
Lumion 2023 to support real-time ray tracing on its release next year
The key change in Lumion 2023, the next major update to the software, will be support for ray tracing, making it possible to create physically accurate lighting, shadows and reflections in renders.
The change will bring Lumion into line with other real-time visualisation tools like Enscape and Twinmotion, which already support hardware-accelerated ray tracing.
According to Act-3D’s blog post, “while ray tracing technology has been around for a while, the decision to bring it into Lumion now is guided by [principles of] accessibility, stability, speed and experience”.
“Lumion 2023 will provide an unprecedented level of quality that will simply work out-of-the-box.”
The software will also continue to support traditional rasterisation rendering for users with older GPUs.
Now available via subscriptions as well as perpetual licences
The release also marks a change in version numbering, since under Act-3D’s current system, it would have been Lumion 13.0.
We aren’t sure if that’s due to triskaidekaphobia, or simply because annual version numbering is becoming standard for products that are available on subscription.
Act-3D has just introduced one- and three-year subscriptions for Lumion, although at the time of writing, perpetual licences are still available.
According to Act-3D, the new rendering platform “will enable more frequent feature and content updates” throughout 2023 that will be delivered through Lumion subscription plans.
Release date, pricing and system requirements
Lumion 2023 is due for release “early next year”. Act-3D hasn’t announced any pricing changes.
The current version, Lumion 12.5, is available for Windows 10+. Perpetual licences cost €1,499 (around $1,496) for the standard edition; €2,999 ($2,994) for the Pro edition. You can see a comparison table here.
The new one-year subscriptions have a MSRP of €749/year ($748/year) for the standard edition; €1,499/year ($1,497/year) for the Pro edition.
Read more about the upcoming features in Lumion 2023 on Act-3D’s blog
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