2 minute read
Lumion adds ray tracing and full physicallybased rendering material workflows
Lumion 2023, the latest release of the architectural visualisation tool, has been ‘rebuilt from the ground up’. The headline feature is a new render engine that blends both improved rasterisation and ray tracing for greater realism, with the ability to add realistic light, shadows and reflections at the touch of a button.
The new ray tracing v0.9 effect lets users define the number of samples and bounces, giving more control over the final result. The software’s developers explain that with ray tracing enabled, renderings will automatically show realistic indirect lighting, non-screen space reflections, contact shadows, and more. Lumion Ray tracing v0.9 works with both Nvidia and AMD GPUs.
Elsewhere, the material workflow has been converted to full physically-based rendering, taking advantage of 8 Maps that are said to bring design choices closer to reality. According to Lumion, the result will render more natural physical properties through the accurate calculation of light conditions and a higher degree of control over the material settings.
Lumion 2023 comes with 98 new materials to help add realism, including wood, stone, brick, plaster, metal, concrete, asphalt, soil and grass. There is also an improved glass material that lets users fine-tune details of windows and other glass surfaces. However, this is not currently compatible with ray tracing v0.9. Custom textures like relief or frostiness can also be added and ‘distorted’.
An expanded content library includes realistic objects, furniture (chairs couches, plant pots), fine-detail nature and over one hundred static characters.
The software also comes with an improved scene editor with a redesigned user interface. The new ‘gizmo’ makes it easier to arrange and rotate assets with precision, while objects can be ‘instantly aligned’ with the improved AutoSnap.
Other features include new camera paths, improved colour correction, and a refined depth of field.
■ www.lumion.com
Reveal uses AI to categorise point cloud datasets
Agtek, part of Hexagon, has introduced Reveal, a new AI-accelerated software tool designed to improve the accuracy and efficiency of point cloud editing for construction applications.
Reveal allows users to delete unnecessary objects, automatically, using the power of AI for ‘faster and more accurate’ takeoff and quantity tracking. Designed specifically for the heavy construction industry for use with point clouds collected from drones or laser scanners, Reveal eliminates the need to manually remove elements from point cloud datasets
Using AI, Reveal ‘recognises’ the objects it captures on site and clusters them into groups, such as construction vehicles, material stockpiles, ground and vegetation.
Users can quickly remove each of these groups, providing a clear picture of the site. This can help teams in the field and the office to more easily understand the project volumes and work progress.
■ www.agtek.com
Matterport integrates with Autodesk Construction Cloud
Anew integration between Matterport and Autodesk
Construction Cloud is designed to make it easier for project teams to collaborate, by enhancing the “Request for Information” (RFI) process in Autodesk Build.
The new Matterport app for Autodesk Construction Cloud enables project teams to send Matterport add-ons such as BIM Files (.rvt .ifc .dwg) to Autodesk
Construction Cloud and communicate more effectively with visual site context from Matterport ‘digital twins’.
The integration creates a visual ‘systemof-record’ for site conditions, allowing users to create and track requests directly within the digital replica.
Matterport users can place an Autodesk Build RFI pin at the exact place of concern within the photorealistic ‘digital twin’, allowing any stakeholder on the project to view the issue in the same spatial context it exists in the physical world. The aim is expedite issue resolutions to improve understanding and reduce delays.
■ www.matterport.com