Topic: Trying to decide between lumion and udk

[stayinwonderland]

I've been trying udk for a few days now and have spent that time trying to import a textured box and have it light correctly. Beginning to think it's just beyond reasonable.

Has anyone got experiences of both? Care to share opinions on the level of difficulty vs breadth of application?

I'm yet to try lumion but just wanted some headsup before I do.

Thanks.

[Morten]

Hi stayinwonderland, it's difficult to compare them since the Unreal engine has been actively developed for over a decade as a game engine for first person shooters whereas Lumion is a relative newcomer to the field of architectural visualisations.

The net result is that Lumion is significantly easier to use if arch viz is all you need to do, but it lacks advanced features compared to UDK, for example, skeletal animation import, advanced terrain tools, advanced materials, animated textures, interaction editor (Kismet) etc.

That being said, Lumion does offer some unique features, for example:

• IES interior lights
• Nice animated ocean
• Procedurally animated sky/clouds
• Built-in movie editor/renderer with filters/effects
• More 3D model import formats than ASE/FBX in UDK
• Close to 1,500 models in the Model Library (if you use Lumion Ultimate or Basic with all the plug-ins).

What sort of projects will you be working on?

[thecravatman]

Remember as Morten points out UDK is a games development kit Lumion is tailored to Architectural visualisation.

If you want to know more about UDK see www.3dbuzz.com
March 29 @ 3pm CDT! FREE Live Class: Unreal Development Kit Level Design
This free class will serve as a precursor to a special upcoming live webinar class over UDK that will be exclusive to 3D Buzz Member Sponsor subscribers. This class will run for 6 weeks and will cover a variety of level design topics from all throughout UDK. The syllabus for the exclusive course is still in the works and will be announced on 3D Buzz in the coming days.
If you have any questions or are interested in attending either the free session or the full 6-week UDK class, please contact Zak Parrish. email: zak@3dbuzz.com

[stayinwonderland]

Thanks guys,

Yes it will be for arch viz. Don't need any advanced interactions.

I guess I could just try out lumion and compare the process. I just find there's a ton of stuff in udk that's randomly difficult and arbitrary or non-intuitive.

Terrain tools aren't too important if you can just import a decent mesh I suppose. I wonder though, does lumion have a kind of geometry painter for grass and plants?

[Morten]

Terrain tools aren't too important if you can just import a decent mesh I suppose. I wonder though, does lumion have a kind of geometry painter for grass and plants?

Short answer: No, you place trees/plants 1 mouseclick at a time.

Long answer:

1) Lumion terrain mesh: A quicker way to place trees/plants on the native Lumion terrain is to select a bunch of trees/plants in the scene, and move them while pressing the ALT key to duplicate the selection. The selected trees/plants will then snap to the Lumion terrain.

2) Imported terrain meshes: Unfortunately, duplicated trees/plant selections currently don't snap to imported terrain meshes, so you have to move each duplicated tree/plant once, in order to get it to snap to the imported terrain mesh.

[RAD]

Would be cool if Lumion could do a terrain match.
Import a terrain - click a button - Lumion's terrain pulls up to match the imported terrain (as close as possible).  Then one could throw down all the multiple plants, cars, people, blah blah,  that would read the Lumion Terrain but they would appear to be placed on the imported terrain.  Few adjustments here and there to the entourage in elevation where things are off and bam.  That might be a simple solution.

Lumion is cool stayinwonderland. 
No magic bullets in the CG world.
Lumion does have it's own magic though.
Dedicate some time to it and it becomes magical in simplicity and speed.

[RT-Visualization]

Thanks guys,

Yes it will be for arch viz. Don't need any advanced interactions.

I guess I could just try out lumion and compare the process. I just find there's a ton of stuff in udk that's randomly difficult and arbitrary or non-intuitive.

Terrain tools aren't too important if you can just import a decent mesh I suppose. I wonder though, does lumion have a kind of geometry painter for grass and plants?

I have some experience on both of them so I can give you my opinion:

UDK has the advantage of having a huge community behind, and it is one of the most used game engine around...good features, you can do whatever you want if you know how to do that...
Basically the stongest features of UDK are customization, interactivity, strong visuals and post process effects, material creation is almost perfect...

Lumion is straight forward, intuitive UI, fast DAE/FBX import, fast materials setup, lighting looks very good, perfect to prototype and make HD movies

Now if you're looking for an Architectural Visualization Tool, just go with Lumion...a couple of reasons:

UDK:
Require mesh optimization ( low poly ) and lots of normal maps
Learning curve could take quite a bit
Lighting builds could take a lot of time ( lightmaps with GI )
If you don't know how to program or you're not into game engine, it could take ages to get an .exe working properly
It is in general more time consuming
Content available only suitable for games

Lumion:
Possibility to import meshes without any optimization ( someone posted a stage with 18+milions polys )
Material setup fast, good but not that customizable
Useful content perfect for ArchViz
The preview is almost what you get in realtime
HD Movies in a reasonable amount of time, still renders very good

If you're looking for an ArchViz just go with Lumion, UDK is something that you would use only if your project is focused on some elements, like interactivity, realtime walking into a stage, or some specific feature that needs to be coded.
Hope it helps

[stayinwonderland]

 Thanks. That's most useful info.

 It does seem to make sense to go with lumion. It's just taking too long to figure out the nuances of UDK considering I may even decide that real time doesn't suit me at all.

 I'll have a go with lumion and see how it goes. Just not keen on the pricing system. UDK is free to use if you make small projects which feels unhidnered.

 cheers again

[Morten]

You're welcome to use Lumion Free for evaluation (and non-commercial purposes).

If you're a student, there's also an Educational version (contact info [at] act-3d.com for more information).