13 replies to this topic

[Sam Allen]

I know we've discussed this before....but I wanted to know if we can get really good quality fly around or fly thru just using Softplan.  I can get great still shots but my animation is really weak.  If someone knows the trick...could you please share any tips that you may have learned. I may be expecting too much from Softplan.  If there is another software that you've found that Softplan can export into and get really hi-res animation I would love to hear about that as well.....

[Martin Livingston]

I tried doing a movie clip in rendered mode once. It ran for about 10 hours and was many gigabytes in size. I never tried it again.

[Sam Morgan]

The ones I've done in softplan have just been rotating the camera around the focal point.  Rendered mode with high anti alias is terribly slow as martin mentioned.  I used to do multiple clips and use windows movie maker to put them together in a single movie file.  I mostly use renderings in softplan now for quick meetings with clients or to send them simple views to help make decisions.  For higher end presentations to use on our website and to sell stock plans, we're exporting as a sketchup file and using Lumion for the rendering.  I've got my daughter in law doing that for me....she's better at picking pretty colors and good furniture than I am!!! 

[Yvon Gonthier]

I haven't done one in a while but usually was able to get reasonable rendering. The most important thing I learned (suggested by someone on the forum) is to built it in part and then assemble with programs such as movie maker because as mentionned by Martin, the output time can be ridiciluously long. If you do it in one continuous take and make a small change, it's a lot quicker sometime to regenerate the part take is affected then doing the whole thing over again.

[Allen McDonnell]

So what Im understanding is we draw in Softplan. 

 

Then for high quality rendering work it goes something like this.

 

Option 1

Softplan ($2600)>>>>Export to Sketchup ($700)>>>>>Add Vray plugin ($700)   $4000.00   

 

Option 2

Softplan ($2600)>>>>Export to Sketchup ($700)>>>>>And then on to Lumion--$3689      $6989.00  

 

What am i missing?  Any other options?

[Sam Allen]

Has anyone have an animation done in Lumion that I could see? (or any other program that will produce hi-res animation)

[Allen McDonnell]

Sam, https://www.youtube....DJB3euto&t=515s

[Yvon Gonthier]

I'm dizzy

Interesting and quite nice but seems like a lot of work. Need clients ready to pay.

[Allen McDonnell]

Have to balance possible and practical.

[Keith Almond]

I'm dizzy

Interesting and quite nice but seems like a lot of work. Need clients ready to pay.

 

That's the real issue here ...

 

We are producing designs and construction drawings to build a real house. I may be almost alone here, but I think that we're overthinking the requirement for photo realistic walkrounds (flyrounds) of the designs. The clients have briefed me on what they want, and the only criteria that I have is "Have I drawn the home that THEY have designed". If the answer is YES then job done. I think that they can see enough with the final Softplan product (which even in itself is probably overkill) without having to spend many hours and many dollars working up these albeit stunning presentations.

 

I acknowledge that for the sale of spec/stock designs, walkthroughs may be helpful, but at that point these are sales tools, and NOT subject to clients willing to pay extra.

 

Just my 2¢ ...

[Sam Morgan]

You don't have to pay anything to export to sketchup.  That's built in to softplan now.  Its just exporting to a sketchup format.  Lumion uses sketchup as its format so you are only paying for one additional software.  As I mentioned earlier, I only use lumion for high end presentations to sell stock plans.  Softplan's rendering capabilities are more than enough for showing clients how things will look.  And there are plenty of SP users that can do much better renderings than I am capable of just using softplan.  

[Gary McKeon]

Has anyone have an animation done in Lumion that I could see? (or any other program that will produce hi-res animation)

 

You can see Chris Turner's work at www.houseplansonline.com He uses Softplan plus Lumion and does fabulous work. John Honea as well. 

 

In my opinion if you want to do realistic renderings, fly throughs or any such thing at a high level then you have to have the proper tools to do them. They cost money. I don't do them myself because it just isn't my thing but I sure can appreciate the work of those that do! Check these guys out Sam. Worth the time.

[Sam Morgan]

I know John and Chris very well.  John and I bought lumion at almost the exact same time.  Chris has been using it for several years I think.  If I had more time, I would do it myself but its nice to have my daughter doing it since her husband is our website guy!!!!

[Sam Morgan]

I just got a copy of my daughters first go at a video for one of our smaller plans.  I'll have to ask her how much time this took her.  She's still learning how Lumion works and then has to take things into a video editing program to add the music, text, etc.  Hopefully she gets really proficient at it before she bankrupts me!

 

https://www.youtube....eature=youtu.be