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How to work with Lumion View in SketchUp

Visualize while modeling in SketchUp with these simple steps

Let’s get started

Do you have Lumion View installed? Then you’re all set to use it in SketchUp.

We’ve put together a quick guide to show you how: watch the video below and keep reading for the steps. We’ll go over the key features and tools you should know to keep your early-stage designs moving forward.

Get ready

Lumion View is ideal for dynamic, early-stage workflows, providing real-time visual feedback on every decision you make. If you’re already familiar with SketchUp, using it is a snap.

To get started, open SketchUp and open Lumion View by clicking the lightning bolt icon ⚡ in the Lumion View toolbar. Log in with your Lumion account credentials and you’re done.

When you open it, you’ll see your viewport, which syncs with your SketchUp viewport and displays your model in a fully ray-traced environment. Let’s start by getting to know the user interface.

Navigate with ease

  • At the top right, you have your Account button with your license information.

  • The pin allows you to keep the rendered viewport on top of other viewports. You can resize and position it wherever you want on the screen.

  • You can click on the View cube and it allows you to quickly switch between angles, elevations, or a plan view.

  • In addition to that, you’ll see two buttons: the Camera Sync button, which stops or starts connecting to the SketchUp camera, and the Perspective/Orthographic toggle, which is useful for plans, scales, or technical drawings.
  • You can also navigate the Lumion View model space. You’ll find a Help button at the bottom of the screen that displays controls and explains the user interface layout.

Controls the sun settings

Okay, that’s the functional part covered; now let’s take a look at some of the rendering settings available in Lumion View.

On the left, the Environment button sets the atmosphere and has some familiar controls for changing the sun’s direction, height, cloud cover, and sky brightness.

Quick diagrams

If you want to isolate your model from its surroundings, you can also change the background to a solid color. You can choose from a color preset or find the exact shade you’re looking for using the color picker.

You’ll also find a selection of visual styles, useful during the iterative design process to evaluate lighting conditions, volumetry, or the spatial quality of a space. Choose from clay, polystyrene, mockup, or glossy styles; you can also use the color picker and enable borders.

Adjust the lights

You can place point lights, spotlights, and area lights in your SketchUp project and see them synchronized.

When copying and pasting, they act as instances of each other; this means that if you modify the brightness or any other setting in the Lumion View lights panel, it will apply to all lights. Holding down the Shift key will give you greater precision when adjusting settings.

You can also assign a different color to lights from the SketchUp Materials panel. Simply select the lights and apply a solid color using the Paint Bucket tool.

Test the materials

As for materials, SketchUp 2025 now supports PBR maps. Tweak color, opacity, metallicity, roughness, and normal settings and see them reflected in Lumion View.

You can also set the emission intensity from the Lumion View panel.

Improves glass and water

When you assign a material from the Glass category in SketchUp, the surface will automatically be set to glass in Lumion View. You can then easily adjust the reflectivity or convert it to volumetric.

Using “water” in a material name will automatically set it to water in Lumion View, allowing you to adjust the wavescale and reflectivity.

 

Render on the fly

Once you’re happy with your settings and style, you can easily generate renders from the Render to File tab.

Simply select the desired resolution and aspect ratio, click Render to File, give it a name, select the file type, and hit Save.

Your renders will be ready in no time: open the folder to view them or copy them to the clipboard for easy sharing.

And that’s it: fast, easy, and stunning renders, perfect for your iterative design process.

Now available with Early Access

Lumion View is now available for free to all Lumion Pro users! Plus, for each Lumion Pro license you own, you can invite up to 10 team members to use Lumion View at no additional cost. This special introductory offer is available until October 31, 2025.

Not subscribed yet? Get the first look at the market launch and other CAD integrations by joining the waiting list.

Lavabos modernos

Explora los nuevos fregaderos de acero inoxidable ahora disponibles en la Biblioteca Lumion.

Nuevos objetos y electrodomésticos

Combine fácilmente los nuevos objetos y electrodomésticos para crear elegantes diseños de cocina que se adapten a sus necesidades.

Estantes y menaje de cocina

Los nuevos objetos de cocina vienen en variedad de materiales (vidrio, porcelana, cerámica, madera y metal) brindándote mayores opciones para combinar y contrastar diferentes estilos y estéticas.

Iluminación Día Noche

Transfiera fácilmente de la luz natural a la artificial para transmitir diferentes estados de ánimo en diferentes momentos del día.

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Textures and decals

Easily change the texture of any surface, add road markings, or show imperfections with surface decals.

Materiales

Con miles de materiales de alta calidad, podrás encontrar fácilmente la textura adecuada para cada superficie exterior o importar las tuyas propias.

Nature items

Create beautifully accurate landscape designs with Lumion’s wide selection of fine-detail nature, small plants, flowers, weeds, shrubs, and more.

Reflections

Achieve greater realism with lifelike reflections that appear exactly where they would in real life.

Materials and textures

Add a touch of realism to your surfaces with thousands of high-quality materials. Choose the perfect stone, brick, or wood, customize its properties, or import your own textures.

Nature

Breathe life into your design with thousands of nature items, from the smallest shrubs to the tallest trees.rees.

Terrain Context

Shape the landscape surrounding your architectural design by adding fields, mountains, and oceans at the touch of a button.

You can easily import your own custom models to give your terrains a more distinctive look.

High-quality materials

Lumion comes with a wide collection of high-quality materials that make it easy to add texture and realism to your interior surfaces.

Volumetric fire

Cast a feeling of coziness and warmth over your interior renders with easy-to-apply volumetric fire objects.

Furniture and objects

Convey the unique personality and style of each space with thousands of interior furniture, objects, plants, and decorations.

Texturas e adesivos

Altere facilmente a textura de qualquer superfície, adicione placas de sinalização ou mostre imperfeições com adesivos de acabamento.

Materiais

Com milhares de materiais de alta qualidade, você pode encontrar facilmente a textura certa para cada superfície externa ou importar a sua própria.

Itens da natureza

Crie projetos de jardins lindamente precisos com a ampla seleção do Lumion de detalhes minuciosos da natureza, pequenas plantas, flores, ervas daninhas, arbustos e muito mais.

Real Skies

It takes a single click to go from a clear blue morning to a stormy afternoon or an unforgettable sunset.

Whichever mood you want to convey in your architectural renderings, you can pick from any of the 59 HDRI skies available in Lumion and instantly see the result.

Reflexos

Obtenha maior realismo com efeitos de reflexo realistas que aparecem exatamente onde apareceriam na vida real.

Materiais e texturas

Dê um toque de realismo às suas superfícies com milhares de materiais de alta qualidade.

Escolha a pedra, o tijolo ou a madeira perfeita, personalize suas propriedades ou importe suas próprias texturas.

Natureza

Dê vida ao seu projeto com milhares de itens da natureza, desde os menores arbustos até as árvores mais altas. 

Contexto do cenário

Molde a paisagem ao redor do seu projeto arquitetônico adicionando campos, montanhas e oceanos com o toque de um botão.

Você pode importar facilmente seus próprios modelos personalizados para dar aos seus cenários uma aparência distinta.

Materiais de alta qualidade

O Lumion vem com uma ampla coleção de materiais de alta qualidade que facilitam a adição de textura e realismo às superfícies de seus interiores.

Fogo vultuoso

Transmita uma sensação de aconchego e calor em suas renderizações de interiores com objetos de fogo vultuoso fáceis de aplicar.

Móveis e objetos

Transmita a personalidade e o estilo exclusivos de cada espaço com milhares de móveis, objetos, plantas e decorações de interiores.

Materials

With thousands of high-quality materials, you can easily find the right texture for every outdoor surface, or import your own.