Hello there everyone,
Reading lately some of the posts I saw that everyone needs some specific options to be able to use Lumion properly, since each one of us would like to customize the user experience based on his vision, and I agree 100%...
So I looked on the web and I saw a lot of interesting things around...for example:
- UDK fees are no longer that ridiculous ( after 50.000$ you start to pay fees, while previuosly was from 5.000$ ) and the engine is looking much better, considering that is always in development
- Cryengine 3 is out...and its absolutely amazing...at GDC2011 they presented Cryengine 3 for Cinema, that is a dedicated version for cinema production, the video is absurd, can't believe that is in realtime
- Unity3D has improved a lot, especially in graphical features, and the community is growing every day...
Those 3 engine have a very important thing in common, of course if you know how to do what you have in mind...
I'm talking about customization, this means that virtually you can do whatever you want using one of those engines, of course if you have a programmer that is able to do something like that...
So what is the main point? is that with those engines you're able to create everything you want, the "only" downside is that it requires time, and of course time means money...and, basically on every engine that I mentioned, to setup things right ( materials, animations, characters, post process effects, and so on... ) it will take lot of time, so in the end, even a simple apartment visuailzation could take a week or so...
The strongest point in Lumion is how fast you setup things, and do its job very well, but it will be possible to fill the gap between a game engine like UDK and Lumion?
I mean, it will be possible, for a customer, to request a specific feature in order to get its engine customized as he want, without paying an insane amount of money to a programmer to get things as he want?

Like:
- I would like to add animations and sounds to my own animated meshes: the customer request this and you give him what he wants, of course with a specific fee.
- I would like to have a road system that adapts itself to the terrain
- I would like a dynamic night and day cycle where I can place artificial lights on the streets, and link them together, so when it 7pm the artificial lights turns on automatically...
Do you think ( Lumion team and in general all you users ) that this can be the solution to all your problems?
Or, maybe a better solution, especially who do not use and do not want some features, create 3 different Lumion version ( Basic, Standard and Professional for example ):
Basic: Demo version with the same amount of available library object, with a lower price but licensed
Standard: Full library + Standalone exporter
Professional: Standard version + unique features ( animations for animated meshes from a 3d app, road system, and so on... )
Apart from this I would ask if a specific plugin designed for the 3d app you're using ( 3ds, Maya, Sketcup, Softimage, whatever... ) is something that can solve lots of trouble related to collada exporter version, fbx version, scale not right, and so on...
I don't know, I've tested ( and keep testing each new demo ) Lumion a lot, for me its the perfect choice because is exactly what I was looking for, instead of paying for some updates that I do not need ( or do not use ) I would rather prefer paying more to have what I want...
What do you think guys?
My two cents
