Lumion 101 for architects: example projects and templates

First time using Lumion 11? No worries! With nine example projects and templates, you can learn the basics and render a beautiful result in only minutes.

For over a decade, architects have celebrated Lumion as a stunningly simple learning experience. Lumion is designed to remove the element of stress from the process of rendering. Its low learning curve and real-time feedback enable a satisfying, enjoyable workflow, and it guides you as you import a CAD model, create a detailed and unique setting for the design, and render a client-ready image, video or 360 panorama.

No matter if it’s your first time using Lumion, or you’re looking for a useful trick to speed up your rendering, Lumion includes nine Example Projects and nine Project Templates to help get you started.

Instantly show your design in a snowy setting with the winter environment template.

In addition to using the Example Projects and Project Templates to help you master the software, you can continually improve your rendering techniques with the wealth of information and other tips and tricks on the Knowledge Base.

Basic tutorials for new users

Before jumping into the Example Projects, new users can quickly master the software and work comfortably in the 3D environment with the help of the basic tutorials for new users, an interactive tutorial available in Lumion 11 and Lumion 11 Pro.

There are currently two in-program tutorials available: Camera Control and Object Placement. To access these tutorials, go into Lumion’s Build Mode and click on the question mark (?) on the bottom-right corner of the screen.

9 Lumion Example Projects

Lumion’s Example Projects have always served as a helpful, hands-on resource for learning the basics, applying them to your own projects, and then expanding your skills to replicate atmospheric conditions and animations.

You can browse through the Example Projects to discover how to mix Lumion’s Photo, Movie and 360 Panorama effects to produce specific moods and styles, from the photorealistic to the artistically conceptual. You can also look under the hood of different effects, such as animated phasing, orthographic views and photo matching.

Let’s take a closer look at a few of the example projects available.

Museum development

The museum development example project provides a bustling, urban environment with an eye-catching commercial building on a busy street. This project, designed by Obra Visual, demonstrates the energy and movement of a city environment set on a bright, wintery day.

In Movie Mode, you can also check out a few essential animation techniques, such as using the Mass Move effect to animate cars and people in a bustling city environment. You can also learn how to combine the orthographic view and animated phasing effects for a unique, half-artistic/half-technical result.

Valley winery

Moving from the city to the rolling hills of wine country, the valley winery project captures the essence of a picturesque setting located far from civilization. Designed by Ten Over Studio, the valley winery project is especially useful for learning how to sculpt rolling hills in the distance and plant a realistic assortment of trees, shrubs, and other nature and fine-detail nature objects from the Lumion content library.

Within Photo Mode, make sure to check out all the captivating sunsets and other attractive lighting conditions, and in Movie Mode, don’t miss the exciting demonstration of the animated phasing effect that shows the piece-by-piece assembly of the winery’s design elements.

Downtown development

The downtown development project, also designed by Ten Over Studio, is a crash course in urban residential rendering. In this project, you’ll learn the elements, objects, and materials that bring a street scene to life. You’ll also discover more about rendering in low-light conditions, such as the early morning or in the dead of night.

Additionally, the downtown development project is ideal for developing your animation skills and capturing the chaotic, exciting energy of the city with moving cars, people, trees, birds and more.

Glass House

The Glass House is an icon of architecture, immediately recognizable for its minimalist beauty and elegant design. With its large glass panels and sweeping vistas, this example project provides a fun and familiar scene ideal for learning about creating detailed, lifelike perspectives from your building design.

You can also explore how changes in the weather and atmospheric lighting impact the mood of your interior shots, and you can explore the notion of coziness by rendering a scene at night with the new volumetric fire.

Villa Cabrera

A true Lumion classic. Villa Cabrera has been a Lumion example project for years, and it still remains a relevant project for learning about high-end residential rendering. With its stylish form and poolside views, the Villa Cabrera project is excellent for exploring different camera perspectives and setting animation paths.

The building design is also useful for learning about the orthographic view effect. In this project, make sure to try the different possibilities with this effect, such as making plan and elevation views of the house.

Farnsworth House

The Farnsworth House by Mies Van Der Rohe is one of the most instantly recognizable designs in architecture, and it makes a fun, architecturally relevant project that gives you the opportunity to render one of the most famous building designs of all time.

Additionally, the Farnsworth House is perfect for testing the new rain streaks effect as well as the Precipitation effect. With the large glass windows, you have ample opportunity to render a couple of animations of raindrops running down the glass, or a brooding storm forming in the distance.

Residential home

If you design residential homes, then this example project is the one for you. Designed by Dutch architects Van Manen, the residential home project features a stylish building sitting on the corner of a typical, suburban neighborhood.

You can jump into this scene to explore simple landscaping techniques with Lumion’s nature and fine-detail nature object categories. Within this project, you can also learn about the Photo Matching effect, which helps to quickly insert your building render into the context of a real-life photograph.

Villa in Casale

The Villa in Casale is another beautiful example of a contemporary residential home design surrounded by a rich and eye-catching natural environment. In this project, designed by Lumion user Marco Caccini, you can really learn about all the smaller details that make up a lively residential rendering, such as creating a realistic arrangement of plants, shrubs, weeds, and trees.

Within Movie Mode, you can discover all there is to know about rendering your project at night, using the Real Skies to produce a stunning, star-studded display in the night sky.

Beach house

When it comes to mesmerizing views, there isn’t much like a beautiful sunset over the ocean. With the beach house example project, designed by visualization studio Pixel-Head Studio, you have an insightful opportunity to learn about rendering beautiful sunsets and sunrises. You can also explore how displacement maps can make materials feel real, from the sand out front to the texture of the building walls.

9 Lumion Project Templates

The Project Templates are a life-saver for those moments when you don’t have any time and you need to jumpstart your rendering project. Simply open up one of these templates, import your 3D model, and apply a Lumion Style, and you could produce a high-quality render in less than 5 minutes.

Below, click and look around the project templates with these 360 panoramas (aside from the Design showcase).

Plain environment

Beach environment

Mountain range

Forest environment

Desert environment

Tropical environment

Suburban environment

Winter environment

Design showcase

Rendering shouldn’t be a difficult task. With Lumion, you can enjoy a different approach to rendering, one where you can create beautiful, professional renders of your architectural designs while enjoying the process.

Even if you don’t have a 3D model, you can learn about rendering with Lumion by downloading the 14-day free trial and opening up one of the Example Projects.