Why does Lumion freeze or crash when you start rendering?

⚠️ Important Notice – July 31, 2025
We've identified a critical issue with the latest NVIDIA GeForce Game Ready Driver 580.88, which may cause Lumion to crash when using Ray Tracing. This typically happens when clicking to load the render preview.

This issue has been Resolved via updating to Lumion 2025.1.0 or newer and the latest graphics card drivers.

See Also:

Knowledge Base: Known Issue: NVIDIA Driver version 580.88 Released 31 July 2025 and newer cause issues with Lumion (until further notice)
Lumion Community: ⚠️ Important Notice: Compatibility Issue with NVIDIA Driver 580.88 (July 31, 2025)

1. Here's why

Freezes and crashes during rendering may occur if your Project is 'too complex' and your hardware isn't powerful enough and/or lacks available System Memory and Virtual Memory to handle it properly.

'Too complex' refers to the following variables:

A: The number of different models you have added to the Project.

B: The 3D Point count in the top right corner of Build Mode.

C: The number and resolution of your textures/materials.

D: The Movie/Photo Effects you're using, in particular the Skylight and Hyperlight effects.

E: How many Reflection Planes you've added to the Reflection Effect.

F: How many Spotlights are set to Shadows: Dynamic in the Scene.

G: How many Spotlights you have selected in the Global Illumination Effect.

H: How many large surfaces you have assigned 3D Grass Materials to.

1.1: To improve performance and reduce the time it takes to render a Photo or a Clip, you should try to reduce the number of all of the above. See this article for suggestions:

Knowledge Base: How can you improve performance within Lumion?

1.2: In addition, increasing the amount of Virtual Memory in Windows will also help prevent crashes:

Knowledge Base: How do you change the amount of virtual memory in Windows?

1.3: If the problem persists, please verify that your PC has an adequate power supply unit:

Knowledge Base: Which power supply do you need?

1.4: Alternatively, you could consider upgrading your hardware:

Knowledge Base: What kind of computer does Lumion need?
Knowledge Base: Which graphics card do you need?