Topic: Lumion 8.5 released

[Morten]

Dear Lumion Users,                                                                The 5th of June 2018.

We are very pleased to let you know that version 8.5 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 8.3 was released in March 2018.

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?

You asked, we listened. Lumion 8.5 includes a brand new version of Lumion LiveSync for ArchiCAD 21, adding to Lumion LiveSync for Revit and Lumion LiveSync for SketchUp.

With the new Lumion LiveSync for ArchiCAD 21, you can immediately set up a real-time visualization of your ArchiCAD model in Lumion:

• Real-time updates in Lumion when you change models and materials in ArchiCAD 21.
• Add Lumion materials to your LiveSync model in Lumion.
• Perspective camera synchronization between ArchiCAD 21 and Lumion.

Improved versions of Lumion LiveSync for SketchUp and Lumion LiveSync for Revit have also been released.

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

DOWNLOADING LUMION 8.5

Lumion 8.5 is a free update for Lumion 8 users or 8.3 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 8.5’ email in your inbox to download Lumion 8.5.

Please click on the link below if you cannot find the email:

Knowledge Base: How do you get the email with the Lumion download link?


INSTALLING LUMION 8.5

• If you are migrating from a version prior to version 8.x, do not uninstall that version until you have transferred your scenes and models (see below).
• Lumion 8.5 is a complete installation. It is not a patch for older versions of Lumion.
• Do not install Lumion 8.5 in the same folder as an older version of Lumion.

INSTALLING LUMION LIVESYNC FOR ARCHICAD, REVIT AND SKETCHUP

Lumion LiveSync for ArchiCAD 21, SketchUp 2017-2018 and Revit 2015-2019 are free for everyone with Lumion 8.5.

Please follow the instructions in this topic to install the plug-ins:

Knowledge Base: How do you install the Lumion plug-in for ArchiCAD?
Knowledge Base: How do you install the Lumion plug-in for Revit?
Knowledge Base: How do you install the Lumion plug-in for SketchUp?


TRANSFERRING PROJECTS FROM LUMION 5, 6 & 7 TO LUMION 8.5

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 8.5.

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.


LUMION VIEWER

Lumion 8.5 Viewer is not available. However, you can open .LS8 scenes files from Lumion 8.5 Pro in Lumion 8.3 Viewer. Please see our Knowledge Base article for further details and how to get the Lumion Viewer: Download Lumion Viewer

[Floyd]

LUMION 8.5: RELEASE NOTES

COMPATIBILITY

• Please note that Scenes and Imported Models saved in 8.5 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

• ArchiCAD LiveSync:
  
  • Real-time updates in Lumion when you change models and materials in ArchiCAD.
  • The ability to add Lumion materials to your LiveSync model in Lumion.
  • Water and glass materials from ArchiCAD are automatically converted to the corresponding Lumion materials, provided that the material names include the words 'Water' or 'Glass' in any of the supported languages in ArchiCAD.
  • Perspective camera synchronization between ArchiCAD and Lumion.
  • Surface optimization to remove duplicated vertices, resulting in better performance while reducing the size of Collada .DAE files.
  • Option to enable/disable the smoothing of curved surfaces.
  • Option to enable/disable nodes export for object placement (trees/lights) in the .DAE file. No need to use .3DS workaround any more.

• New Collada Exporter for Revit 2015-2019 and ArchiCAD 21
• Geometries are now merged based on the materials while exporting. This makes the .DAE files smaller, so they can be imported faster in Lumion.
• Geometries are now triangulated.
• Exported nodes are saved in the .DAE file.
• DAE files are now more compliant with the Collada 1.4 standard. This means that you can import DAE files that are exported with the Lumion LiveSync plug-ins for Revit and ArchiCAD in 3D applications that support this standard, for example in Blender.

• Importing:
  
  • Importing .DAE and .SKP files is about 40% faster than in Lumion 8.3 (and older versions).

MOVIE/PHOTO MODE

• Additional outputs for Photos: It is now possible to render additional outputs directly from Photo mode, for example Depth, MaterialID and Lighting maps. If you needed additional outputs for a still image in Lumion 8.3 and earlier, you had to render them via the Current Shot tab or the Image Sequence tab in Movie mode.

MISCELLANEOUS

• GDPR Compliance & ‘Customer Experience Improvement Program’ (CEIP): Lumion 8.5 is now compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). CEIP is an initiative to fast-track Lumion improvements and match customer experiences with development.

CHANGES & RESOLVED ERRORS

MYLUMION

• It is no longer possible to upload images to MyLumion and videos to YouTube.

MOVIE/PHOTO MODE

• In the Color Correction effect the Gamma slider has been renamed to "Gamma correction".
• The 2-Point Perspective effect is now set to 1 by default.

MOVIE MODE

• The average render time per frame (hold down the CTRL key while rendering) is now more accurate.
• Side-by-side Stereoscopic effect: both the left and right eye images should now have the same brightness.

PANORAMA MODE

• GearVR & Oculus Rift panoramas: The bottom side of the 360 cube is no longer rotated 180 degrees compared to the other 5 sides of the cube.
• Projected reflections are now rendered at the camera position as expected.

BUILD MODE

• Lumion now gets the link to OpenStreetMap from our server.
• Shadows from alpha clipped surfaces are no longer flipped when a user-submitted imported model uses texture placement coordinates outside the standard 0-1 range.

MISCELLANEOUS

• Input from 3D Connexion devices is now ignored. This will prevent the camera from spinning or moving uncontrollably when a 3D Connexion device is connected.

IMPORTING & EXPORTING

• Imported KMZ files are now double-sided by default.
• Imported OBJ files are now double-sided by default.
• 3D files with the suffix “_safemode” now makes all file types double-sided.
• .DAE from SketchUp: Inverted/mirrored groups should be now imported correctly.
• .DAE from AllPlan: Improved surface/material import.
• .DAE from Vectorworks: All models are now double-sided by default.
• Nodes support has been added to the Revit Collada Exporter.

MODEL LIBRARY

• The thumbnail image for 'Woman_Caucasian_017_Typing' has been fixed.
• The thumbnail image for 'Woman_Caucasian_017_Notepad' has been fixed.

MISCELLANEOUS

• .TIF/.TIFF files can now be selected in image import dialog windows.
• Lumion now always returns to the previous screen when you exit the Settings, Benchmark and Language screens.
• The Benchmark test no longer creates a benchmark.txt file.
• On the Load Scene tab, it should now show the correct path and file name when a recent scene is missing.
• The High quality trees setting is now saved between sessions.
• If the Lumion window is not maximised, it no longer returns to full screen when entering the Settings menu.

[Morten]

LUMION 8.5 VIEWER

Lumion 8.5 Viewer is not available. However, you can open .LS8 scenes files from Lumion 8.5 Pro in Lumion 8.3 Viewer. To get an email with a link to the Download Manager for Lumion 8.3 Viewer, please forward your license number to uploads[at]lumion.com (replace [at] with @), so we can send an email with the link to you.