Topic: Lumion 8.3 released

[Morten]

Dear Lumion users,                                                                  The 12th of March 2018.

We are very pleased to let you know that version 8.3 of Lumion and Lumion Pro has been released.

We would like to thank all of you for your support, feedback, error reports and patience since Lumion 8.0 was released.

We hope this new version will save you even more time, make work easier and more fun and above all, help you deliver more projects and get new customers!

Best regards from all of us at Act-3D!



WHAT'S NEW?
Lumion 8.3 includes a brand new version of LiveSync for Revit and SketchUp.

With the new LiveSync in Lumion 8.3, you can immediately set up a live, real-time visualization of your SketchUp or Revit model:

• Real-time updates in Lumion when you change models and materials in SketchUp/Revit.
• The ability to add Lumion materials to your LiveSync model.
• Perspective camera synchronization between SketchUp/Revit and Lumion.

There is more information on the What's New page. The full list of changes is available in the post below.



DOWNLOADING LUMION 8.3
Lumion 8.3 is a free update for Lumion 8 users. If you already have a Lumion 8 license, then you don’t need to upgrade your license. For upgrades from Lumion 7 or previous versions, visit the 'Upgrade' page.

Simply look for the ‘Getting Started with Lumion 8.3’ email in your inbox to download Lumion 8.3.

Please click here if you cannot find the email.

INSTALLING LUMION 8.3

• Lumion 8.3 is a complete installation. It is not a patch for older versions of Lumion.
• Uninstall version 8.0.
• Do not uninstall older (prior to 8.0) Lumion installations until you have transferred your scenes and models (see below).
• Do not install Lumion 8.3 in the same folder as an older version of Lumion.

INSTALLING LUMION LIVESYNC FOR REVIT AND SKETCHUP
The LiveSync plug-ins for SketchUp 2017-2018 and Revit 2015-2018 are free for everyone with Lumion 8.3.

Please follow the instructions in these topics to install the plug-ins:

Revit export guidelines topic
SketchUp export guidelines topic.

TRANSFERRING PROJECTS FROM LUMION 5, 6 & 7 TO LUMION 8.3
1) Please copy the Library, Miscellaneous and Materials folders from Documents\Lumion (VERSION) to Documents\Lumion 8.0 to make it possible to use your imported models in version 8.3.

2) To keep your Favourites from the Imported Model Library and Lumion Library, copy the file "settings7.ini" from Documents\Lumion 7.0, rename it to "settings8.ini", and then place it in Documents\Lumion 8.0 (choose 'overwrite').

3) To open a scene from Lumion 5, 6 and 7, you will have to save the scene as an LS file via the Save Scene and Models tab in the older version of Lumion. Then load the LS scene file in Lumion 8.3.

Note that if you are using Lumion (Standard) 5.7.2 or older and you have upgraded your license to version 8, you will be able to save an LS scene file, just like in newer versions.

[Morten]

LUMION 8.3: RELEASE NOTES

COMPATIBILITY

• Please note that Scenes and Imported Models saved in 8.3 are not backwards compatible with earlier versions.
• Please read the forum post above to see how to open projects from Lumion 5, 6 and 7.

NEW FEATURES

IMPORTING & EXPORTING

• Revit LiveSync:
  
  • Real-time updates in Lumion when you change models and materials in Revit.
  • The ability to add Lumion materials to your LiveSync model in Lumion.
  • Water and glass materials from Revit are automatically converted to the corresponding Lumion materials, provided that the material names include the words 'Water' or 'Glass' in any of the 8 supported languages in Sketchup.
  • Perspective camera synchronization between Revit and Lumion.
  • The Diffuse (Color) property is transferred to Lumion for the following Revit material types: Generic, Ceramic, Concrete, Wood, Masonry, Stone, Glazing, Solid Glass, Water, Metal, Metalic Paint, Mirror, Plastic and Wall paint.
  • The Color texture property is transferred to Lumion for the following Revit material types: Generic, Ceramic, Concrete, Wood, Masonry and Stone.

• SketchUp LiveSync:
  
  • Real-time updates in Lumion when you change models and materials in SketchUp.
  • The ability to add Lumion materials to your LiveSync model in SketchUp.
  • Water and glass materials from SketchUp are automatically converted to the corresponding Lumion materials, provided that the material names include the words 'Water' or 'Glass' in any of the 8 supported languages in Sketchup.
  • Perspective camera synchronization between SketchUp and Lumion.
  • Support for projected textures has been implemented. This will make some projects significantly faster to work with in Lumion as projected textures are no longer split up into hundreds of thousands of cropped textures.
  • Nodes can no longer be imported via .SKP format. Please import SketchUp models that you want to use for node creation via .DAE format.
  • The material of 'Image' objects has been changed from "Default material" to "image" name. If you have assigned Lumion materials to these models, you will have to re-assign them.
  • Asterisk characters in material names (*) are changed to “Material” in the local language that SketchUp is set to. If you have assigned Lumion materials to these models, you will have to re-assign them.

MOVIE/PHOTO MODE

• 'Print Poster Enhancer' effect: This effect will selectively remove certain artifacts (vertical and horizontal lines in 'OmniShadows' areas and on glass) for 'Print' and 'Poster' resolution images. Please note that the render time will increase by 30-50% when this effect is turned on.

PANORAMA MODE

• It is now possible to render individual 'Locations'.
• 'Sun Study' effect: This effect is now available in 'Panorama' mode.
  
• 'Layer Visibility' effect: This effect is now available in 'Panorama' mode.
• You can now render in same 'Star Quality' as in 'Photo' or 'Movie' mode.

MATERIAL EDITOR

• 'Standard' material: The aspect ratio of rectangular 'Video Textures' is now supported in the 'ColorMap' slot.

MISCELLANEOUS

• 'Settings' screen: A new 'Error logging' on/off button and 'Save error log file' button have been added.

CHANGES & RESOLVED ERRORS

PANORAMA MODE

• The responsiveness has been improved when clicking on panorama slots at low framerates.
• Copying an effect stack from 'Movie' or 'Photo' mode now takes into account that 'Styles' do not work for 'Panorama' mode.
• The interface has been modified to make it easier for rendering '360 Panorama' or 'MyLumion' images, and more consistent with 'Photo' and 'Movie' modes.

BUILD MODE

• 'Groups': If you create a new 'Group', it can now also be selected if Layer 1 is hidden.
• 'Variations': It is now also possible to delete 'Variations' in 'Place mode'.
• The 'Brush Size' and 'Brush Speed' sliders are now displayed as expected after selecting the 'Side Rock' material in terrain paint mode.
• 3D Grass strands are no longer floating in the air when several imported surfaces with the Landscape Material overlap vertically at different heights.
• The circular size widget for the terrain brush no longer disappears in terrain paint mode.
• Mass Placement: Placing the second node (control point) in a new Lumion session now works as expected.
• 'Spotlight': The user interface for the shadow setting has been made more intuitive.
• 'Spotlight': The emissiveness of the 'Spotlight' objects no longer changes depending on the camera angle.
• Pagination for search results in the 'Imported Model Library' now looks correct when there are lots of models.
• Pagination now looks correct for the built-in model library after visiting an 'Imported Model Library' tab with lots of pages.
• A 'Video Texture' file is now displayed correctly after removing the cached .MP4 file and re-loading the .LS8 file.
• 'OpenStreetMap': The correct 0.38km square is now downloaded in a user-submitted scene.
• 'OpenStreetMap': The OpenStreetMap data supplier Mapzen has been replaced by Mapbox.
• 'OpenStreetMap': An 'OpenStreetMap' model in a user-submitted LS7 scene file is no longer offset when loading it in 8.3.
• Selecting the 'Ice' water type for water planes no longer breaks the 'Water' material elsewhere in the scene.
• 'Measure object': If  a 'Grid object' is present in a scene, the 'Measure object' no longer uses it as a starting point for the measurement.
• A part of in imported object no longer turns invisible after being ALT-Copied in a specific scene.
• 'Measure object': This tool now works as expected in 'Move mode'.
• 'Save Scene' tab: The thumbnail preview image for scenes is now the correct aspect ratio when the aspect ratio of the Lumion window is non-standard (e.g. square).

MOVIE/PHOTO MODE

• The responsiveness has been improved when clicking on photo slots and clips at low framerates.
• 'Near Clip Plane' effect: Fire objects are no longer offset at higher 'Near Clip Plane' slider values.
• The difference in brightness when rendering curtains by windows with 'Hyperlight' in 'Print/Poster' resolution has been reduced a lot.
• 'Tilt Shift' effect: 'Amount' and 'Shift' slider values are now saved as expected in LS8 scene files.
• Updating a thumbnail image for a Photo Slot no longer results in black Projected Reflections on a reflective material that includes water.
• 'Spotlights': There is no longer any shadow banding on renderings in a user-submitted scene.
• Objects above water surfaces are no longer distorted in water reflections.
• The CPU and GPU are no longer used excessively once rendering has completed (before you click on the 'OK' button).
• The Windows time-out value (TdrDelay) for graphics card drivers has been increased to prevent driver resets while rendering.
• 'Print' & 'Poster' resolution: The effects 'Sharpness', 'Fish Eye' and 'Chromatic Aberrations' are now disabled in these resolutions to prevent artifacts from appearing.
• 'Sky and Clouds' effect: The ' HQ clouds in movie render (slow)' button has been removed. The sky, moon and clouds are now always rendered in high resolution by default.

PHOTO MODE

• The 'Hyperlight' effect now works as expected in Lumion (Standard).
• Photo thumbnail images now include the water and the ocean (if present in a scene).
• Photo thumbnail images are no longer re-created on the fly when switching to different photos in Photo mode. This should speed up the selection of photos.
• '2-Point Perspective' effect: The camera angle no longer changes slightly when turning the toggle button on and off in a specific scene.
• The 'Restore Photo' tooltip is no longer on top of the photo naming field.
• Effects are now removed correctly when you delete photos.
• 'Handheld Camera' effect: The 'Focal Length' slider in the effect and in the 3D preview are now connected.

MOVIE MODE

• The 'Hyperlight' effect now works as expected in Lumion (Standard).
• High 'Weathering' slider values no longer results in artifacts for some materials in 4k movies.
• On PCs with older graphics cards, movie clips no longer go black when a highly emissive material is visible in certain user-submitted scenes.
• 'Render keyframes' tab: The correct number of keyframe images are now rendered in a specific scene.
• 'Render keyframes' tab: The render progress slider now reaches 100% when it's done rendering.
• 'Sky Light' effect: 'Projected Reflections' are no longer incorrect in the first frame of a rendered movie when using the 'Sky Light' effect in a user-submitted scene.
• 'Mass Move' effect: Imported objects no longer move when 'Toggle Imported objects' is on.
• 'Mass Move' effect: The wheels of transport models with 'Lock Position' turned on no longer spin if placed on a 'Mass move' path.
• 'Current Shot': Renderings of 'Current Shot' now match the current frame on the timeline more closely.
• Rendering a 'Current Shot' from a clip no longer changes the sun direction in 'Build' mode in a user-submitted scene.
• 'Layer Visibility': In a user-submitted scene, objects on two layers that are hidden for a second clip, no longer briefly show after the first clip has ended and when the second clip begins.
• 'Layer Visibility': Layers are now showing correctly when you go to 'Next key' and that key is the last key of the clip in a specific scene.
• 'Advanced Move' effect: An animated character is now facing the right way in a user-submitted scene.
• MaterialID output images are now rendered in full Print & Poster resolution.

MATERIAL EDITOR

• 'Standard' material: The 'Transparency' and 'Waxiness' tick boxes now work correctly.
• 'Standard' material: The 'ColorMap' slot file dialogue is no longer opened by accident when the 'Copy' command overlaps this button.
• 'Standard' material: A 'Clip mask' texture no longer makes a surface too transparent when using a 'Standard' material versus an 'Imported material'.
• 'Standard' material: Custom 'Scale' values no longer result in incorrect placement for 'NormalMaps', provided that you recreate old 'NormalMaps' that exhibit this problem in Lumion 8.3.
• 'Water' Material: The foam amount has been adjusted.

MODEL LIBRARY

• Alumroot plants now look correct on close-ups.

IMPORTING & EXPORTING

• Textures that are wider than 16,384 pixels are now scaled down to this resolution.

MISCELLANEOUS

• Improved saving capabilities regarding catching saving errors. In the past overwriting a read-only file would falsely report as being executed successfully. Now it reports that saving has failed
• Benchmark screen: A new 'Performance help' button has been added.
• Benchmark screen: The 'Run diagnostics' button and tooltips have been replaced with more intuitive elements.
• A minor furniture issue in the 'Farnsworth House' demo scene was fixed.
• A minor furniture issue in the ''Living Room Interior' demo scene was fixed.
• In 'Lumion Pro Student', the 'Save As' function on the 'Save Scene' tab now only shows .LS8S files.
• In 'Lumion Pro Student', the 'Quicksave' scene is now displayed in the 'Recent Scenes' section.
• A warning is now displayed if you try to save a scene that contains 'Movie from file' clips.
• 'Settings' screen: Some of the toggle buttons are now more intuitive to use.
• Deleting an imported model in a sub-folder from a different LS8 scene file now works as expected.
• The language selection screen has been changed from flags to individual language names.
• The .HDR file format is no longer supported for textures.
• The scene reset errors where photos went missing and the terrain was reset should no longer occur.
• Various tooltips have been corrected or improved.
• LS scene file icons are now displayed with thumbnail previews.

[Morten]

Dear Lumion users,                                                                       27th of March 2018

This is just to let you know that the Lumion 8.3 and Lumion 8.3 Pro installation files have been updated. There are only a few small changes with this update, and so the Version 8.3 number remains the same.

This small update may (or may not) affect your experience running Lumion, and so make sure to read through the release notes below. If you need any of the error fixes mentioned, please follow these instructions:

• Uninstall Lumion 8.3.
• Please follow instructions in the 'Getting started with Lumion 8.3 Viewer' email that is being sent later today.
• If the email has not arrived by the 28th of March, please follow these instructions.
• Run the 'Download Manager' to download and install the new version of Lumion 8.3.

Best regards from all of us at Act-3D!

________________________________________________________________


LUMION 8.3 (MINOR UPDATE): RELEASE NOTES

COMPATIBILITY

• Please note that Scenes and Imported Models saved in 8.3 are not backwards compatible with earlier versions.
• Please read the paragraph Transferring projects from Lumion 5, 6 & 7 to Lumion 8.3 in the post at the top to see how to open projects from Lumion 5, 6 and 7.

CHANGES & RESOLVED ERRORS

PANORAMA MODE

• An issue affecting the 'Elapsed' and 'Time Remaining' parameters while rendering has now been fixed.
  
• Keyboard shortcuts are now disabled while typing in Location names.

BUILD MODE

• 'Variations' function: It is now possible to delete all 'Variations'.
  
• Spotlights: 'Show light source' no longer inverts the current On/Off state for each Spotlight, instead of applying the same state to all selected Spotlights.

MOVIE/PHOTO MODE

• An issue affecting the 'Elapsed' and 'Time Remaining' parameters while rendering has now been fixed.
  
• Keyboard shortcuts are now disabled while typing in Photo names.
• 2-Point Perspective effect: While this effect is turned on, the camera is no longer offset vertically when transferring a camera angle from Movie mode to Photo mode and vice versa.

MOVIE MODE

• Image sequence file numbering is now correct if starting from other frames than 0.

IMPORTING & EXPORTING

• Lumion 8.3 no longer crashes when importing certain large .SKP files.
• Lumion 8.3 no longer crashes when importing invalid (empty) SketchUp materials.
• A surface in a user-submitted model is no longer invisible when imported via .SKP format.

MISCELLANEOUS

• Language selection: The entries for China and Taiwan were changed.