Topic: Credits, Plugin Packs, Upgrades, Lumion Basic vs Lumion Ultimate

[Morten]

What's new in Lumion Basic 1 Service Pack 2

Apart from numerous bug fixes and the new plug-ins, here's a brief list of changes/improvements:
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BUILD SECTION

• The selection and transform system have received a major overhaul so that it's a lot easier to select and move/rotate/scale objects, even if they're close together.
• The water material (which you can apply to your imported objects) now also lets you adjust the foam amount near the edges/shores.
• You can also use a colour picker to make the cars any colour you want (Modify object -> Options), and you can turn the 2D billboard people into silhouettes (Modify object -> Options).
• The flare from the sun has been improved and there are also new tone mapping options in the Weather section which should help you achieve a more realistic/less-game-like look.

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MOVIE SECTION

• You can now animate some of the movie effects with keyframes which should make it straightforward to make more complex video sequences.
• Ferry has also made sure you can load saved camera viewpoints in both the Photo and the Movie sections (CTRL + 1, 2, 3... to save them, and 1, 2, 3... to load them).
• After animating objects with the "Move Item" effect, the objects will now move while you edit the camera animation for the clip, so that it's easier to synchronise the movement of the camera with the animated objects.
• The ColorGrading effect in the Movie section has also been overhauled, so that it takes the new tonemapping into account.

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I'm pretty sure there's stuff I've forgotten to add to this list - we'll see


What's in the plugin packs so far?

Here's some info on what's in the Packs so far (this will change in the future as we upgrade the Packs with more content):
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TREES & PLANTS
The Trees & Plants Pack is great value for um... credits as it contains a whopping:

• 166 x Tree/plant species
• 1 x Fly swarm
• 1 x Butterfly swarm
• 1 x Dandelion "cloud"

I think it's fair to say that there's something for everyone in this pack, for example 12 new willow species/variants, 12 types of bamboo, many flowering trees/plants for Spring scenes, autumnal leaves on trees for Autumn scenes and loads of new evergreens and broadleaf trees in general.
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PEOPLE AND ANIMAL PACK

• 56 x 3D people silhouettes (with colour and transparency option)
• 32 x 3D animal silhouettes (with colour and transparency option)
• 86 x 2D people silhouettes (with colour option)

You've probably already seen the new 3D silhouettes in the video on the frontpage
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MOVIE EFFECTS PACK

• 1 x Smart sharpen effect
• 1 x Paint effect
• 1 x Depth-of-field
• 1 x Lens flare

I could waste a thousand words on explaining how cool these effects are, but we'll have some renderings/videos ready soon, so you can see for yourself.
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SPECIAL EFFECTS PACK

• 29 x Examples of fountains and "water walls"
• 16 x Examples of fire effects
• 20 x Examples of smoke effects
• 5 x Examples of dust effects
• 6 x Examples of fog effects
• 6 x Examples of steam effects

The effects can be customized with various parameters to fit a multitude of situations.
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ENVIRONMENT AND WEATHER PACK

• 1 x Ocean with waves slider, turbidity, colour etc
• 1 x Waterfall material

I'm sure you've already seen those in the videos on the frontpage.
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Stay tuned for some examples of what's in the new plugin Packs.


About the credit system, the plugin packs, upgrades, Lumion Basic 1 SP1 vs Lumion Ultimate 1 SP2 and Lumion 2 (Due in late 2011)

Here are some answers to all your questions about the credit system, upgrades, Lumion Basic versus Lumion Ultimate etc.

Owners of a Lumion Basic license bought before the release of SP2 get 1000 credits as a bonus for being an early adapter. If you go to the Customer Area there should be 1000 credits on your account.

We obviously want to keep adding new content and functionality to the existing plugin Packs to make them worth the investment.

Since you get the first plugin Pack for free (1000 credits) as a Lumion Basic customer, it will only cost 4000 credits to upgrade (minus the cost of any plugins you already own).

Example
If you get 1 plugin for free, then purchase 3 plugin Packs at 1000 credits each, and finally decide to upgrade to Lumion Ultimate, you will only have to spend 1000 more credits. And once you have Lumion Ultimate, you will no longer be required to purchase plugin Packs.

We hope to have more plugin Packs ready later. Some of the proposed Packs are as follow (this is subject to change):

• Model Pack (both models for interior and exterior scenes)
• Sound Pack (3D sounds | Add soundtrack to movies | Includes the 50 euro per client ACC license for sound in mp4)
• Animation Pack (Movie effects to trigger animations | Import options for animations | Possibly
  support for advanced character animation)

I should also mention that there will be a whole range of ways to earn credits in the future, for example by helping us sell Lumion, or by providing us with models for the object library. So upgrading should be a lot more affordable if you help us out.

In addition, you will also see an expansion of the base object library in Lumion Basic/Ultimate once version 2 is released in late 2011.

EDIT: I am clearly making people more confused by speculating about the upgrade fee, so there's no point posting anything until we know for sure what Act-3D have decided.

Please stay tuned for an official statement from Act-3D regarding the cost of the upgrade from Lumion Basic/Ultimate 1 to 2.

[Ecuadorian]

"Sound Pack (3D sounds"
Does it mean 5.1? 

[Ecuadorian]

"So if you pay for the upgrade from Lumion 1 to 2 in late 2011, regardless of whether you own Lumion Basic or Lumion Ultimate, you will continue to receive free upgrades of the existing plugin Packs that you own until the next major upgrade of Lumion from v2 to v3, presumably in late 2012."

Does this mean that the upgrade price will be fixed for all customers, regardless of if they have Lumion Basic, Lumion Basic + a couple of plugins, or Lumion Ultimate?

[Morten]

NOTE: Please check back for an official statement from Act-3D regarding upgrade fees for Lumion 1 to 2.
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EDIT: I am clearly making people more confused by speculating about the upgrade fee, so there's no point posting anything until we know for sure what Act-3D have decided.

3D sounds in Dolby 5.1 surround sound would indeed be very cool - Remko can probably shed some light on whether this is planned for the Sound Pack

[Ecuadorian]

So... If I only have plugin packs, when Lumion 2 is out I must only pay 1/3 the price of a new Lumion Basic license. That's $366.

But... If I'm a Lumion Ultimate Customer, when Lumion 2 I must pay 1/3 the price of a new Lumion Ultimate license. That's $733, almost like buying Lumion... again. This means I will have paid almost three times the original license price in less than a year.

To recap:

If you have 4 plugin packs, your upgrade price to V2 is $366
If you upgrade from 4 plugin packs to Ultimate for 1000 credits, your upgrade price to V2 becomes $733

This means it's a bad idea to upgrade to Ultimate.

[Morten]

NOTE: Please check back for an official statement from Act-3D regarding upgrade fees for Lumion 1 to 2.

Here's what Ferry said in his post in February this year:
"We will try to have a new major version each year. [...] We often used to ask around 30% for the upgrade. But we don't know if we'll change our pricing with version 2.0. [...] Remember that all this information is under subject of change!! We want to remain flexible and adjust to different situations. But at least this is for now our general idea."

EDIT: I am clearly making people more confused by speculating about the upgrade fee, so there's no point posting anything until we know for sure what Act-3D have decided

[Aaron]

Can't you guys put all of this incredibly detailed info into some kind of a nobrainer-flowgraph upgrade-path-selector widget? You get to push a button, asked a couple of simple questions and moments later a fine looking sheet of info pops-up, stating the price and what else might be of importance (like a rough roadmap, features included, features projected etc.)

These questions will come back over and over again until it's a bit more clear for everyone just where things are going and what it's going to costs
Not saying you have to disclose your ultimate goals etc. but a touch of clarity wouldn't hurt here  

[Morten]

Yes, that would be nice

I'm guessing Act-3D will comment on the exact upgrade price soon though - until that happens the rest of us can only speculate.

Without this information, it is indeed tricky to decide whether to choose a bunch of plugin Packs or Lumion Ultimate.

[mischa]

I thought that ultimate means only Lumion basic + all plugins. That will mean, after my understanding, that I only have to pay for the lumion basic upgrade and the upgrades of the plugins will be free and not that I have to pay a higher price for the update of lumion itself...

[Morten]

Please wait for an official statement from Act-3D regarding upgrade fees for Lumion Basic/Ultimate 1 to 2.

[Remko]

Because the plugins make it a bit difficult to figure out what an upgrade from v1 to v2 will be we will simply have a formula calculate the upgrade price for you. In general our upgrade policy has always been to offer upgrades for a major version for 2/3 discount.

[ben1arch]

I bought Lumion 2 weeks ago and it was my understanding that we get the upgrade included.  If you look at the upgrade preview, lots of cool stuff.  Here's the kicker though, all the cool stuff isn't included in the upgrade.  That costs extra.  Almost double the price.  I thought this was a reasonably priced program.  It no longer is.

[Remko]

We have updates which are free for all. The upgrade from v1 to v2 will cost extra but it will be a big update. We also introduced new features in SP2 that are available as plug-ins or as part of the Ultimate Lumion. All basic users get a free plug-in so you can choose which of the cool new plugins you want.

The basic version also has many new things in SP2:
- New color pickers
- New Tone mapping and flares
- Value type-in for sliders
- Effects can be animated in movie mode
- Improved weather mode gui
- Improved moving of objects
- And probably I forgot some more features....


 

[Gray Bear]

Yes, I couldn't have agree with you more ben1arch. I too was delighted that Lumion Sp2 has so much improvements, but they all comes with a price tag. It's totally fair that most of the plugins like the awesome collection of new trees/species, fly swarms and people requires existing users to pay extra to get them since Lumion must have paid a considerable amount of license fee for the copy rights.

What I felt really disappointed is that i thought some of the plugins should be a built in features for Lumion Basic users, but now is locked and become purchasable like the Movie effect and Environment weather plugin. To be fair again, each of us did get a free choice of plugin to start with, but you know the feeling of being seduce to buy a car from a dealer who has promised the world to you before you pay for your bill, and ended up taking away the wind screen of the car and say you can still drive the car without it or else you can pay extra to get it back.

Also, there are not enough details of the plugins or not even a drive test for us before we choose for a plugin that suits our needs.

I understand that Lumion sp2 Ultimate edition will include more plugins for free in the future, but we need to wait and wait again and pay for that in advance. I don't think many of us existing Lumion basic users  would want the same scenario repeat with Lumion 2 when it comes out where we pay for the upgrade and  all we get is a Lumion 2 basic edition with all the important build-in widgets lock for us to shop again.

Sorry about all the nagging, but I am sure I am not the only who feel cheated and losing faith with Lumion.

I bought Lumion 2 weeks ago and it was my understanding that we get the upgrade included.  If you look at the upgrade preview, lots of cool stuff.  Here's the kicker though, all the cool stuff isn't included in the upgrade.  That costs extra.  Almost double the price.  I thought this was a reasonably priced program.  It no longer is.

[SEVERINO]

I also agree with this opinion, each time Lumion presents a new update (SP1, SP2, etc.) offers new promise with new products, plugins, etc., which are fine for commercial item Lumion but in the end, reality is not exactly as planned, or at least what we expected users.

Lumion Lords, I explain and correct me if I get confused:
In our company, we have a 64-bit SP2 update, which is not working properly, waiting for solutions and debating whether to buy the 4 pack of plugins that clearly need to have the Ultimate Lumion, considering where we get the new spending 600 € which involves the purchase of 4 packets Lumion plugins. Moreover, with new access to the program, we must necessarily an internet connection because the USB key Lumion SP1 is no longer valid and, furthermore, can only work on the computer we install SP2 Lumion. Now I have a big question to resolve since I have a set schedule for work in the office and a laptop for working away.

Therefore sacrifice power or fixed equipment of the office or in the evenings, weekends and holidays Lumion I can not work with the laptop. I hope I know how to appreciate my big problem, or sacrifice the most out of fixed equipment or I can not work outside the office.

As for the promises of updates, corrections, improvements, etc., frankly, our opinion, is that reality is what it is and what you can come and we'll see. We are delighted with the program, but disappointed with the sales system. In Spain there is a proverb that says: "Better a bird in hand than 100 flying" and the economic crisis we are experiencing .....