The Dawn of a New Rendering Era
Every few years, technology takes a giant leap forward, moments that change how we work, create, and imagine. For architects, designers, and visualization artists, 2025 has delivered one of those moments. Lumion, already a household name in real-time rendering, has unveiled a set of features so powerful, they don’t just improve the way you render: “They redefine it.”
We’re talking about AI-powered 8K upscaling that makes your designs look cinematic, a Build Mode Search Tool that finds assets in seconds, and ‘perhaps the most exciting’ Lumion View for Revit, a direct bridge between design and visualization inside your BIM workflow.
Together, these innovations represent more than incremental updates. They’re signals of a future where rendering is not the painful last step, but a seamless part of the design journey. A future where an idea can flow directly from sketch to model to stunning visual in minutes.
Think about it:
- No more endless waits for perfect images.
- No more hunting for the right object when a deadline is looming.
- No more clunky back-and-forth between Revit and Lumion.
Just pure creativity, speed, and storytelling at a level of realism that used to belong only in blockbuster movies.
In this blog, we’ll dive into these all-new features one by one. You’ll see how AI 8K upscaling elevates your work to gallery-worthy quality, how the new search tool saves you precious time, and how Lumion View in Revit turns your design process into a live conversation with clients and collaborators.
Welcome to the future of rendering. Welcome to the new Lumion.
The Rise of AI in Rendering: 8K Upscaling
Close your eyes and picture the old workflow: you queue a final render, walk away, and come back later praying the lighting didn’t blow out and the noise didn’t eat your glass reflections. Deadlines gnaw at render times; hardware bottlenecks strangle creativity. For years, ultra-high-res outputs (the kind that read like magazine covers or IMAX stills) were a privilege—reserved for those with render farms, time, or bleeding-edge GPUs. That friction shaped decisions: compromise on resolution, postpone polish, or spend hours babysitting settings.
Enter Lumion’s AI Image Upscale, the feature that flips that script. Released as part of Lumion 2025, the upscale lets you render at a modest resolution and then use AI to upscale the final image cleanly to 4K or even 8K, preserving and enhancing detail without needing an all-powerful GPU. In practice, that means you can deliver cinematic, gallery-worthy stills far faster and with far less hardware stress than before. (Lumion Support)
Original
AI Upscale
Zoomed in for Reference:
AI Upscale on the left vs original on the right
The Images are rendered at the same time, the 8K AI Upscale is an optional extra, which is a toggle that you can decide to toggle on or keep toggled off. Once the rendering completed you will get both images.
How it works
Rather than forcing your machine to brute-force every pixel at 8K, Lumion renders a high-quality base image at a lower resolution, then applies a trained neural model to intelligently fill in the details sharpening edges, denoising, and reconstructing texture and light information to produce a visually convincing 8K result. The upscaling runs locally on your PC (so no third-party cloud upload required), and yes, you’ll see spikes in CPU usage while the AI performs its work. That trade-off usually looks a lot better than leaving your GPU to grind overnight for diminishing returns.
The Practical Upside
What this change buys you is simple but huge: speed and accessibility. Teams can iterate faster because final-quality frames no longer require overnight renders or expensive cloud credits. Freelancers and studios without farms can produce publication-level images. Lumion’s materials, ray-traced lighting, and the upscale together let you punch well above your hardware class. The company’s benchmarks and release notes even highlight big time savings and clearer images at up to 8K when using the AI upscale versus rendering naive 8K directly
A mini case: competition night
Imagine a small architecture studio entering an international competition. The deadline is tomorrow. The team wants an 8K mood board for the jury package but only has a single high-end desktop. Instead of queuing a monstrous 8K ray-traced render, they render at a lower resolution, run Lumion’s upscale, and within the same day they have razor-sharp images that read as if polished by a render farm. That visual fidelity becomes the difference between “nice” and “jaw-dropping” on the jury table.
Pro tips for wielding the upscale
- Render at the highest reasonable base resolution your scene allows (e.g., 1440p) — the better the base, the cleaner the upscale.
- Use ray tracing for critical light interactions, then let the upscale handle final denoising and detail work.
- Expect heavy CPU usage during upscaling — close unnecessary apps and give the machine breathing room.
- Test one or two frames before committing to a full batch; the upscale is fast but quality settings still matter.
(These tips follow Lumion’s recommended workflow for best results with the AI Upscale.)
The cinematic takeaway
This isn’t just a checkbox on a features list. The AI upscale turns resolution from a cost into a choice. It reframes rendering from a terminal, time-consuming ritual into a rapid extension of your design language, allowing visuals to keep pace with ideas. Next up, we’ll look at how Lumion speeds the hunt for that perfect asset inside Build Mode, because when iteration accelerates and finding assets is instant, creativity runs even faster.
Smarter Workflow: The Build Mode Search Tool
The Old Problem
For all the power Lumion has offered over the years, there was always one quiet frustration: finding things. You knew that oak tree was in the library somewhere. You were sure that pendant light existed in the assets. But in the middle of a deadline crunch, scrolling endlessly through categories felt like searching for a needle in a digital haystack.
Every wasted minute wasn’t just lost time; it was lost flow. Creativity thrives on momentum, and nothing kills momentum like digging through menus while your idea cools in your mind.
The New Solution
That’s why the Build Mode Search Tool feels like such a relief. It’s deceptively simple but game-changing: type what you need, and Lumion finds it. Whether it’s “oak tree,” “sofa,” “floor lamp,” or “concrete material,” the new search box instantly brings the right asset or material into view.
No more browsing. No more guessing. Just type and drop.
Think of it as Lumion finally speaking your language. Instead of bending your process to fit its categories, Lumion adapts to the way you think.
Two ways to use the search tool in build mode:
1) Double-click on the object / element which has been placed in the project view, to see the name of the element, if you would like to place another instance of the same object.
2) Start In the search bar, search by object / element name, category – by using the filter on the search bar, and double-click on the element’s/object’s name, Lumion will “teleport” there instantly, revealing the element.
The search tool speeds up that tedious searching for the element’s identity, to be able to replace the element or to place another instance of that element.
Speed That Matters
This isn’t about shaving off hours. It’s about saving seconds — and stacking them up. Seconds saved finding an object or imported element. Seconds saved locating that fountain you used two projects ago. Over the course of a week, those seconds add up to hours. Over the course of a project, it can mean the difference between staying in the creative flow or breaking it twenty times a day.
This is the build mode search tool with regards to already placed objects, elements, effects and more.
A Designer’s Flow in Action
Picture this: you’re in the middle of refining an exterior scene. The sun is hitting the plaza perfectly, and you want to drop in a row of benches to guide the eye. In the past, you’d scroll through furniture, then outdoor objects, maybe lose focus while double-checking categories. Today? You just type “bench,” hit enter, and Lumion lines them up in front of you. Done in seconds.
The enhanced search tool in the Lumion Content Libraries:
Why It Matters More Than You Think
The Build Mode Search Tool isn’t flashy like AI upscaling or integration with Revit, but it changes how you use Lumion day-to-day. It smooths the workflow in the place where most time is spent: the iterative build process. Because when finding is instant, refining becomes effortless. You don’t have to compromise; you don’t have to settle for “close enough.” You can chase the exact object, the exact category, the exact mood (lights/effects/utilities) you need.
And that’s where efficiency becomes creativity.
Pro Tip: Think Like Keywords
The search tool thrives on how you phrase queries. Get into the habit of typing simple, direct keywords “tree,” “brick,” “light” and then narrowing as needed. Once you’re fluent, you’ll stop browsing entirely. Lumion becomes less a library and more a living catalog at your command.
The Bottom Line
The Build Mode Search Tool doesn’t just save time. It saves focus. And in the world of design, focus is everything. It’s the difference between a project that drags and a project that flows.
Lumion View in Revit
Link to the official “Lumion View for Revit”: New: Lumion View for Revit—Real-time Visualization Plugin – Lumion 3D Rendering Software for Architects
Lumion Caption: “With instant visual feedback, ray-traced views, and 4K renders in seconds, it couldn’t be easier to walk your clients through your design process—showing them your thinking at every step of the way.”
Lumion View in Revit: When Two Worlds Collide
The Old Universe
Revit has long been the king of BIM. It’s precise, it’s structured, it’s the backbone of modern design and construction workflows. But let’s be honest: when it comes to rendering, Revit has always felt… outdated. Its built-in renderer, unchanged in any meaningful way since around 2010, produces visuals that are flat, noisy, and painfully slow. Architects learned to avoid it, relying on third-party plug-ins or painful export-import cycles to breathe life into their models.
It was like piloting a starship with a windshield smeared in static, you could see where you were going, but the view was never inspiring.
The Rift Opens
Then came Lumion View. A new button appeared on the Revit ribbon, subtle yet revolutionary. With a single click, Revit’s world of parameters, walls, and schedules opened a rift into Lumion’s universe of light, atmosphere, and emotion.
For the first time, you didn’t have to export, convert, or pray the geometry mapped correctly. You just pressed a button, and in milliseconds, Lumion translated your sterile model into a living scene. Draft render, ready. A view so clear you could make decisions instantly.
What once took hours now takes seconds.
Lumion View Rendering directly in Revit’s Ribbon. Up to 4K using your Revit Materials and Families
A New Symbiosis
This is not just a feature. It’s an integration on the scale of sci-fi storytelling. Two technologies, once awkward neighbours, have fused into something greater. Revit remains the structured architect precise, technical, analytical. Lumion remains the dreamer cinematic, emotive, atmospheric. Together, they form a seamless duality: one builds, the other reveals.
And the best part? This happens without leaving Revit. Designers no longer need to break the rhythm of creation. You can sketch, adjust, and refine in BIM and in the same breath, see it come alive.
The Client Meeting Reimagined
Imagine this: You’re presenting to a client in real time. They say, “What if the windows were taller? What if we tried a lighter material on the façade?”
In the old days, you’d nod politely, promise to update, and email something days later. Now? You stretch the windows in Revit, hit Lumion View, and instantly the scene refreshes.
It’s no longer “design first, visualize later.” It’s design and visualize together.
Why This Changes Everything
- Speed: From model to draft render in milliseconds. Iteration is no longer constrained by time.
- Integration: No exports, no plug-ins, no clunky file transfers. Lumion View lives inside Revit.
- Decision-making: Stakeholders don’t wait for polished visuals. They can react in the moment.
- Quality leap: Even a quick draft in Lumion outshines a full render in Revit’s built-in engine.
This changes how design teams collaborate. It changes how clients experience projects. And it changes the role of visualization in the BIM workflow from afterthought to co-pilot.
Pro Tips
- Use Lumion View for design reviews: It’s fast enough to check every iteration.
- Don’t abandon the full render pipeline Lumion’s full power (ray tracing, AI 8K) still matters for finals. But Lumion View keeps the conversation alive during design.
- Pair it with Lumion’s real-time materials: Even quick views can look stunning if your base Revit model has logical material assignments.
- Keep hardware balanced: Revit is still heavy on CPU/RAM, while Lumion loves GPU. Together they’ll stretch your workstation, so optimize what you can.
Takeaway
This isn’t just an integration. It’s the moment two worlds fused into one.
Revit gave Lumion precision. Lumion gave Revit vision. And together, they created something design teams have craved for over a decade: instant visualization built directly into the heart of BIM.
In cinematic terms, this is the moment when the hero discovers their true power. Not a new weapon, not a new path, but a new way of seeing.
Lumion View isn’t just a button on the ribbon. It’s the future of design storytelling, hidden in plain sight.
The Bigger Picture: The Dawn of a New Visualization Age
Every now and then, an industry reaches a tipping point. For decades, architects, designers, and visual artists have lived in a world of trade-offs — between speed and quality, between design and visualization, between BIM and beauty. We accepted those limitations because that was the cost of doing great work.
But 2025 marks the moment the cost collapses. With Lumion’s AI 8K Upscaling, the ceiling on quality has been shattered. With the Build Mode Search Tool, the friction inside your workflow has been dissolved. And with Lumion View in Revit, the wall between design and visualization has been obliterated.
This isn’t a set of features. This is an inflection point.
It means the long wait is over:
- Waiting for renders.
- Waiting to find assets.
- Waiting to show a client what’s in your head.
From this point on, rendering is no longer a slow afterthought at the end of a project. It’s a living, breathing part of the creative process. Iteration and imagination move together. Ideas can be born, tested, refined, and experienced at the speed of thought.
Architecture is not just about walls, beams, and roofs — it’s about visions of a future we want to live in. Lumion’s latest features give you the tools to tell those stories with clarity, speed, and cinematic power.
We’re not just looking at an upgrade. We’re witnessing a revolution.
This is the moment where design stops crawling toward visualization and starts soaring with it. The moment when the tools finally catch up with the imagination. The moment when the render button inside Revit stops being a joke and starts being a portal.
Welcome to the new age. Welcome to Lumion 2025.
Conclusion
The revolution has already begun — the only question is whether you’ll be part of it. Don’t let old workflows slow you down, don’t let yesterday’s limitations dictate tomorrow’s potential.
Download Lumion 2025. Open your project. See your ideas come alive like never before.
The tools are here. The stage is set.
Now it’s your turn to build, to visualize, and to inspire.
Welcome to the future of design.
