Discover 4 ways to reduce render time in Lumion – a powerful rendering software for architecture.

When your project is too complex or your hardware is not powerful enough, your render speed will decrease. As a result, the screen might go white and your PC may become sluggish when rendering. So how can we improve the render speed? In this post, Chip Render will show you 4 ways to reduce render time in Lumion.

Stahl House at night, rendered in Lumion 12.

You can try to reduce the number of each of the following elements in your project to shorten the render time of a Photo or a Clip: 

• Different models that are added to the Project.
• 3D Points in the top right corner of Build Mode.
• Textures/materials (also their resolution).
• Movie/Photo Effects you are using, especially, the Sky Light and Hyperlight effects.
• Reflection Planes that you have added and are using in the Reflection Effect.
• Sky Light in Planar Reflections in the Sky Light Effect is turned on.
• Spotlights that are set to Shadows: Dynamic in the Project.
• Spotlights you have chosen in the Global Illumination Effect.
• Large surfaces that are assigned as 3D Grass Materials or Foliage.
• Video Textures assigned to materials.

You also are able to reduce the time it takes to render by lowering the Output quality, the Frames per second, and the Output resolution.

• Output quality: 1 – 5 star.
• Frames per second: 25, 30, 60, 200.
• Output resolution: 640 x 360, 1280 x 720, 1920 x 1080, 2560 x 1440, 3840 x 2160.

For instance, rendering a movie at 1280 x 720 pixels in 3-star quality and 25 frames per second is a lot faster than rendering a movie at 3840 x 2160 pixels in 5-star quality and 60 frames per second.

Two tips above will help to make the most of Lumion with your current hardware. But they also might reduce the quality of your work. Why do we let the hardware limit our creativity and our work quality? It is better to upgrade your computer to remove that limit. Especially if you have demanding, detailed, and very complicated projects. You may have to change the System Memory (RAM), the GPU, or perhaps the whole PC.

If you do not know where to start, we have some recommendations for you:

• Lumion PC Recommendations
• Best GPU for Lumion 12
• Lumion 12 System Requirements

Having a powerful PC ensures a smooth experience while you are working with Lumion. But for the render process, Cloud Rendering service is a better solution if you are in one of these cases:

• Your projects are too complex, and take days to complete.
• You have a tight deadline, the due date is coming near.
• You want to keep your computer free to continue the creative task.
• Your budget is not enough to build or buy a new strong PC, etc.

Chip Render is a powerful and affordable GPU rendering solution for designers, 3D artists, or architects. We offer a strong Cloud Workstation optimized for real-time rendering software such as Lumion, Unreal Engine, Enscape, Twinmotion, D5, and more. Unlike usual render farms, Chip Render provides cloud rendering under the IaaS model. You rent our powerful remote workstations and use them just like your own computer.

Chip Render Hardware

• CPU: AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 3955WX @ 3.90GHz (16 cores)
• GPU: 1/2/4/6 x GPU RTX 3090, 24 GB vRAM
• RAM: 256 GB
• Storage (NVMe SSD): 1 TB

Chip Render Price

You only pay for the time you use, from $2.9 per hour per node.