Lumion 2026 – Everything You Need to Know

The classic Lumion today is Lumion Pro or Lumion Studio, do not look for differences in features here. It's more about the size of the company and the monitoring options for software usage and licenses. Plus some bonuses for the studio version.

Then you can encounter Lumion View – which is a stylish little plugin that can create a visualization from modeling software with a single click. Such competition for overly creative A.I. This was quite a revolutionary idea, one click, finished visualization. It would also be good to add a small extension of functionalities, and for a few bucks a year, you will have an instant, yet very powerful visualization tool.

And what about the third form? Lumion Cloud. For established studios, it may seem unnecessary at first glance, but there is a perfect tool for sharing and commenting on visualizations. But also a new 360 render viewer and, most importantly, an AI generator. It creates materials for 3D rendering, in PBR standard. Simply put – if you do not have a material from the manufacturer, you do not have a proper photo. In Lumion Cloud, you can create a decent material even from a relatively poor photo, and it will look like it’s real. You will also find some free content here.

Do you not understand it? Then you are in luck, the Lumion Days in Brno and Prague are currently underway, where you can see everything live.

So, what's new?

Actually quite a bit, for example, the surface placement feature.


This sounds like a small thing, but it is not completely trivial (we have proposed it for development in a certain form since Lumion 8), because it allows you to place exactly the right amount of plants on any surface, including their combinations. You can also draw that surface. Lumion will visualize what and how, before you confirm it, allowing for nice adjustments. If you have, for example, a "planter" from a landscape architect, it's invaluable. You can quickly and easily place exactly the plants you need, where you need them. Of course, you can adjust those little nuances to your liking.

This will be used by both students who need to fill a space meaningfully with any greenery in a few minutes, as well as professionals who deal with every tree and detail.

Speaking of trees

So in Lumion 2026, there are over a hundred new plants, and nearly 3/4 of them are photogrammetric. Additionally, there are variations of trees. Generally, the level of plants has shifted – again – a good deal forward. As every year, 3D plants pose a great challenge, and Lumion pushes the boundaries of detail further and further. It holds true that well-chosen trees can't be distinguished from real ones, unless you focus on it explicitly. Lumion is also undergoing a transformation and all old libraries are being replaced with new and more current ones.

Sections

They may not be as popular as those from pastry shops, but they are significantly easier to create. Lumion can now create surface fills; if you have the correct geometry, it will simply create a section with any texture – including hatching. In combination with the older option of edge highlighting or some of the 70 different effects, you can create a whole range of impressive outputs. These 3D sections are an excellent tool for communication with colleagues or for demanding projects where views are not sufficient for explanation.

Styles, Templates, and Samples

Another thing we've wanted for a couple of years. Today, however, in the competition with all those instant non-professional A.I. tools, it's more useful than ever. Effect templates are now expanded with more pages, so if you want to render in a certain atmosphere, it's much more likely you'll find such a template. Directly in the template, with one click. Just a simple preset that fulfills the intention. Templates are important for effective and easy testing and expanding styles and ways to use software.

The same goes for scenes with samples or pre-set templates. You now have many more options to start and simultaneously define the output. The samples with minimalist interiors or pre-defined times of day and moods are perfect.

Latest Highlight – A.I. Upscaler

You can also now use more panoramas, upload them directly to the cloud. You can import materials directly in PBR standard from modeling applications, etc. There are many improvements, but one is worth mentioning. The new A.I. Upscaler in Lumion Pro can enlarge an image so that it is almost (i.e., indistinguishable) at the level of native rendering. If you have a slower computer or want to speed up rendering, check the Upscale 2x option (Note, the 4x does not work on the same principle) and Lumion will calculate the image and enlarge it to double the size. Of course, it's best when you want a render with RT technologies for printing in 8K; there, you will have a quality image in a few seconds. The trick is that Lumion creates not one but 3 inputs as a base. It uses the render, depth map and normal map. This way, the artificial intelligence has a lot more data and it is much "clearer" how to scale the output.

You can find even more details and specifics (including a free trial version) here: https://www.lumion.cz