Which computer do you need for Lumion?
Lumion requires a computer with a fast graphics card with plenty of memory. Make sure you look at the requirements below before you buy or upgrade a computer for Lumion.
In this blog post we recommend some desktop and laptop computers that will guarantee a great Lumion experience.
If you already have a laptop computer, please click here to see if it is suitable for Lumion.
NOTE: Lumion and Lumion Pro require an internet connection
Minimum System Requirements
- Graphics card: Minimum 2,000 PassMark points, 2GB memory or more and compatible with DirectX 11 or later. Click here to see how to select a graphics card for Lumion.
- OS: 64-bit Windows Vista SP2, 7 SP1, 8.1 or 10
- CPU: A CPU with at least 6,000 PassMark points (Click here to see the PassMarklist) and as high a GHz value as possible.
- System memory: 8GB (for simple scenes) with as high a MHz value as possible.
- Monitor resolution: Minimum 1600×1080 pixels.
- Hard drive: 20GB of disk space
- Power supply: Click here to see which power supply you need.
Recommended System Requirements
- Graphics card: Minimum 8,000 PassMark points, 6GB memory or more and compatible with DirectX 11 or later. Click here to see how to select a graphics card for Lumion.
- OS: 64-bit Windows 10
- CPU: Minimum 10,000 PassMark points (Click here to see the PassMark list) and as high a GHz value as possible.
- System memory: 16GB or more with as high a MHz value as possible.
- Monitor resolution: 1920×1080 pixels or higher.
- Hard drive: 20GB of disk space
- Power supply: Click here to see which power supply you need.
Will Lumion run on your laptop PC?
Lumion requires a PC with a fast NVIDIA or AMD graphics card with at least 2GB memory. If your laptop PC has a slow graphics card with less memory, or, if it only has an Intel HD graphics card, then your laptop PC is unsuitable for Lumion. The result will be graphics errors and driver crashes if you try to use Lumion. Please click here to see if you can run Lumion on your laptop PC.
Which graphics card do you need?
Your graphics card must have a minimum of 2,000 PassMark points on this benchmark list and at least 2GB memory. Click here to find out which graphics card your PC has. If you want to work on more complex scenes with more models and materials you will need a graphics card with more PassMark points and memory:
- Simple scenes: (e.g. a small building/interior without much detail) Minimum2,000 PassMark points and 2GB dedicated graphics card memory (VRAM).
Examples: GeForce GTX 745, Quadro K4000M, GeForce GTX 570M.
- Moderately complex scenes: (e.g. a moderately detailed office complex).
Minimum 6,000 PassMark points and 4GB dedicated graphics card memory (VRAM).
Examples: NVIDIA GTX 960, NVIDIA Quadro K5200, AMD Radeon R9 290 or faster.
- Very complex scenes: (e.g. a large park or part of a city).
Minimum 8,000 PassMark points and 6GB dedicated graphics card memory (VRAM).
Examples: NVIDIA GTX Titan, Quadro K6000.
- Ultra complex scenes: (e.g. a super detailed city, airport or stadium)
Minimum 10,000 PassMark points and 6GB dedicated graphics card memory (VRAM).
Examples: NVIDIA GTX Titan X, NVIDIA GTX 980 Ti
Please click here for more information about graphics cards.
How do you get technical support?
Lumion support is exclusively provided via the Lumion Support Forum.
Lumion support is not provided via email, phone or private forum messages.
Lumion support is available from Monday to Friday.
If you have purchased Lumion or Lumion Pro you must register your license key by following these steps to get support.
What other resources can you look at to learn about Lumion?
Please see the following links:
Can you install Lumion on a Mac?
Lumion is not available on OSX, and there are no plans to make Lumion available on OSX. WMWare Fusion is also not supported. However, if you install Windows on your Mac via Bootcamp, you can install Lumion on the Windows partition.
Please note that using Lumion on Macs is not officially supported. Act-3D provides no warranties on any of the functionality in Lumion and does not accept any liability claims arising from the use of Lumion on Macs. Please also note that Macs often do not have very powerful graphics cards and will struggle when running Lumion. Pleaseclick here to check if your Mac’s graphics card is suitable for Lumion.
Upcoming versions of Lumion will not be available on Mac
Does Lumion support ‘remote desktop’ access?
No, Lumion does not officially support ‘remote desktop’ access, for example viaWindows Remote Desktop, WMWare Fusion, Citrix, Teamviewer etc.
Why is the Download Manager not working?
If the Download Manager does not start downloading Lumion or you get an error message, please go through the following checklist:
- Double check if the Download Manager has write access to the directory it uses. (the Windows Desktop is an ideal place to run the Download Manager on).
- Run the Download Manager in a local directory, not a network drive.
- Make sure you have administrator privileges when you run the Download Manager (Right-click on the Download Manager -> Run as Administrator).
- Please also make sure that Lumion is allowed to access the internet and that no firewall, router, anti-virus or security software is blocking the download.
- Make sure that the Download Manager is allowed to access:
downloadstorage.lumion3d.com
downloadmanager.lumion3d.com - Windows 7: Reset the Internet Explorer settings, even if you don’t use Internet Explorer.
- Windows 8.x and 10: Open the Control Panel via the Windows Start button:
- Restart the Download Manager.
- Make sure you have at least 10GB free disk space on the drive you are downloading Lumion to.
- If the installer does not automatically start after downloading, right-click on the installation executable file (.exe) and choose Run as Administrator).
Internet Explorer Settings
This problem occurs on some windows installations, most probably after a Windows Update. You can fix this by doing the following:
- Open Internet Explorer
- Internet options (in the menu that appears)
- Reset Internet Explorer Settings -> Reset…
- Restart Lumion
Go to the Lumion forum for further assistance.
How does the license system work?
- The Lumion license is installed on your PC as an integral part of the installation files.
- You can install Lumion on as many PC’s as you want.
- You can run Lumion on as many of those PC’s as you have licenses. So if you have 1 license, you can run Lumion on 1 PC at a time.
- Lumion requires access to the internet when you start up & shut down Lumion, as well as when you need to upload or manage MyLumion projects.
Please click here for more information about the license system.
Can you use Lumion without an internet connection?
We do not recommend using Lumion without an internet connection as the license system requires internet access when starting up and shutting down Lumion. However, if you have a smartphone with internet access, you can set it up as a mobile WiFi hotspot (Click here to see a guide for Android phones). That way, you can connect your laptop PC to your smartphone, and start up and close down Lumion without problems.
How do you resolve a “No internet connection found or unable to connect to server” error?
- Please click on this link. If it does not say “LOGINFAILED”, it means that something on your PC is blocking internet access for Lumion, and you must proceed to the next step below.
- Please make sure that Windows and your anti-virus/firewall software allow Lumion to access the following website addresses via HTTP (port 80) – then proceed to the next step:
– backup.lumion3d.net/*
– license.lumion3d.net/* - If this doesn’t fix the problem, please follow the instructions on this website to fix potential DNS problems.
- Windows 7: Open Internet Explorer (even if you never use this internet browser):
a. – Click on the Gear icon in the top right corner
b. – Select Internet options (in the drop-down menu)
c. – Select Advanced tab -> Reset Internet Explorer Settings -> Reset… - Windows 8.x and 10: Open the Control Panel via the Windows Start button:
- Try to start Lumion again.
- If Lumion is still not able to access internet you can use your phone or another PC to go to https://lumion3d.com/emergency-activation.html to get an activation code.
How do you import a model from your CAD software?
Lumion supports most common CAD and BIM software. Please click here to see how to import models from all of the major CAD software packages.
The supported model file formats are as follows:
- Collada (.DAE)
- Sketchup (.SKP)
- Autodesk® (.FBX)
- Autodesk® (.DWG)
- Autodesk® (.DXF)
- 3DS Max® (.MAX)
- 3DS Max® (.3DS)
- Wavefront (.OBJ)
Can you export 3D models/scenes from Lumion to other 3D applications?
No, it’s not possible to export Lumion scenes/models to other 3D applications.
Which models are available in the Model Libraries of Lumion andLumion Pro?
Lumion contains about 1/3 of the models that are included in Lumion Pro.
You can see the exact numbers on the product page.
Click here to see the models that are included in Lumion Pro 6.
Click here to see the models that are included in Lumion 6.
Why does rendering sometimes take very long?
Rendering times will increase if your scene is ‘too complex’ and your hardware isn’t powerful enough and/or lacks free memory. ‘Too complex’ refers to the following variables:
- The number of different models you’ve added to the scene.
- The 3D Points number in the top right corner of Build mode.
- The number and resolution of textures/materials.
- The Movie/Photo effects you’re using.
- How many reflection planes you’ve added in the Reflection effect.
- How many Spotlights that are set to Shadows -> Accuracy in the scene.
- How many Spotlights you’ve selected in the Global Illumination effect.
To reduce the time it takes to render an image of a clip, you should try to reduce the number of all of the above. In particular E, F and G.
Please click here for more information.
How does background rendering work in Lumion?
Lumion always renders movies and image sequences in the background (which correspond to the MP4 and Images tabs in Movie mode), so that you can check your emails etc while it is rendering. Background rendering is not supported when rendering a still image via Photo mode or the Single tab in Movie mode.
IMPORTANT: Please follow these instructions when you render videos or image sequences to ensure that the background rendering process works as expected:
- Do not switch to another program until the first image is done rendering.
- Do not move/re-size/minimize the Lumion window.
- Do not bring up the Task Manager.
- Do not click on the Show Desktop button in the lower right corner of Windows.
- Do not let Windows return to the Windows login screen or the screensaver (see below).
Doing any of the above will cause Lumion to lose the connection to the graphics card and will reset the exposure in Lumion when rendering is resumed which means that the video has to be rendered from scratch again.
If your PC switches to the screensaver or to the Windows login screen after a few minutes, rendering will also be interrupted. You can prevent this from happening by running the Windows Media Player in the background, e.g. with playback of a few songs set to repeat.