Bring your 3D models to life

You start with an idea, perhaps little more than the contours of a shape or a sketch on a piece of paper; from there, your own unique creative process takes hold and your design begins to transform. It becomes a series of plans, a 3D model, a detail-rich visualization and, finally, a physical structure.

It could be an environmentally sustainable landscape plan. A trendy café in a revitalized neighborhood. A new home for a new family. The road from idea to the final result is a continuous process of feedback and revision. It’s a back-and-forth of critical examination and freeform exploration. But this process can also be time-consuming, and for architects, time is a luxury.

Lumion’s real-time rendering feature, LiveSync, saves time during design development by creating a synchronized connection between your Allplan project and Lumion’s breathtaking worlds.

Currently, LiveSync is available for Revit, SketchUp, ArchiCAD, AutoCAD, Rhino, Vectorworks, BricsCAD and FormIt. Now, there’s a new addition to the LiveSync family. You can also set up a real-time compatibility connection with LiveSync for Allplan, available now!

By using this real-time compatibility feature with Allplan, or with any other of the seamless LiveSync integrations, you’ll instantly add a boost to your workflows, allowing you to model and render simultaneously. You’ll save a significant amount of time as you fluidly and seamlessly examine your design and material choices and uncover the best solutions for your project.

Learn more about setting up LiveSync with your Allplan software here.

Below, you’ll uncover a few reasons why LiveSync can help you energize your design workflows, making it even easier and faster to bring your ideas to life.

*Most of the images and videos in this blog post feature the new LiveSync for Allplan integration. However, you can achieve the following results with any LiveSync plugin.

Visualize design choices in real-time

Every CAD or 3D modeling software, from Revit to Chief Architect, is packed full of different features and capabilities. For instance, Allplan’s Parasolid modeling kernel integration and other layout tools give you several options when making adjustments to the 3D model and improving the design.

Rhino has Grasshopper, ideal for exploring new shapes from generative algorithms. SketchUp has a push-and-pull 3D modeling functionality that lets you build detailed forms and volumes with unparalleled speed and ease. The list could go on and on, but what’s important is this — with Lumion LiveSync, any action you take in your CAD software will be visualized in Lumion’s fully detailed, lifelike project editor.

Change the height of the walls in your Allplan model and Lumion will update automatically, allowing you to see the impact of your choices surrounded by lifelike trees and flora, strikingly realistic natural and artificial lighting, real-life environments and other urban or rural context.

This level of real-time interaction is also helpful when exploring material options. While assigning materials in your CAD software, you’ll see how your choices will look, immediately, with an incredible level of detail.

Lumion’s fully immersive world lets you see your projects under a variety of photorealistic atmospheric conditions, whether that’s a bright and sunny day, a spectacular sunset or a cozy rainstorm.

Dimension. Scale. Light. Geometry. No matter if you design in 2D or 3D in your CAD software. Lumion LiveSync makes sure that you can review every detail and explore all the nuances of your project in its real-life location.

Faster speeds. Better collaboration.

Lumion was first introduced to architects more than 10 years ago, and since then, it has taken considerable steps to ease the process and reduce the amount of time to produce professional-quality, remarkably beautiful visualizations. Lumion LiveSync takes that idea and gives it another level of speed and convenience, turning 3D modeling and rendering into a simultaneous, side-by-side experience.

You can also find several features and tools in Lumion to support your LiveSync design reviews.

For instance, with a combination of Real Skies, customizable 3D grass and fine-detail nature, it takes just a few minutes to view your CAD model under a stunning sunset and surrounded by a biodiverse forest. You can make your materials feel incredibly real with the movement of a slider. Instantly import all the real-life elevation and building data using OpenStreetMaps. Place your CAD model in the context of a real-life photograph in a few clicks with the photo match effect.

Most importantly, because of Lumion’s lightning-fast rendering speeds, LiveSync allows you to make changes on-the-fly and create dozens of image renders and videos in a short amount of time.