These steps show how to set up the Effects Stack from scratch.  Here you will find that you only need 3 or maybe 4 Effects to complete a Ray Trace render.  It's that easy and simple.

You can also use pre-made Effects Stacks from Styles or Example Projects.  But we will create the Stack from scratch to demonstrate the simplicity of producing high-quality Ray Trace renders.

Recent changes in Lumion 2023 will impact how you set up suitable Effects for Ray Tracing.

• If you are new to Lumion this tutorial will walk you through the simple steps to making great renders using Ray Tracing.
• If you used Lumion in previous versions then we suggest also setting up your Effects Stack starting with the ones shown in this guide.

Follow these easy steps to prepare your photos or video animations for Ray Trace rendering.

Let's get started.

This is the Project, an Evermotion model.  The lounge looking towards the windows is the focus of this single, camera view tutorial.  The room is open to the dining room and kitchen, the windows are basic transparent glass, and there are semi-transparent curtains(sheers/nets).

And here is the end result: 

With the lounge lights off:

These were rendered at the highest sample level of 2048 Samples, 8 Bounces.

And in Build Mode:

1.  Hide artificial lighting.
Hide any artificial lighting to focus on direct lighting first.

2.  Start with no Effects and Add the Ray Tracing Effect.
The Photo will use the Sun and Sky from Build Mode. 

3.  Add Direct Lighting.
Add in a Sun Effect.  Then add the Real Skies Effect for your direct lighting.

4.  Adjust the Direct Lighting for Ray Tracing. 
Adjust the Suns' Brightness and see how that impacts the Ray Trace render.

5.  Add the Color Correction Effect.
Especially for Exposure and Highlights if needed.

6.  Add in your other Effects.
Those others you might need or have used for other Projects (that are not to do with lighting).

7.  Include the artificial lights for the room.

8.  It's Time to Render.

Hide all lights.

Note: extra lighting that was sometimes used in prior versions needs to be in a Layer to hide or should be deleted. 

For example, these (selected) lights (Area and a Fill Light) inside the lounge and also on the outside of the windows were used to add levels of brightness artificially to interior room renders.  The other 'real' lights for the lounge ceiling will be used as part of the overall lighting of the Scene:

3.2.1: Start with Build Mode Lighting add Lounge lights later:

Here is your starting point.  The lounge with all lights hidden in Layers.  You will introduce the lounge lighting near the end of the steps because you first need to find and set the right level of direct lighting.

3.2.2: Add the Ray Tracing Effect:

With just the Sun and Sky that was in Build Mode as your starting point, add in the Ray Tracing Effect.  It will always be set as first (top) position in the Effects Stack.

And, with the Ray Trace Effect On for a quick Preview - only 16 Samples 2 Bounces, lighting is direct from Build Mode via Sun and Sky:

You could do Ray Trace rendering from this step, but it offers better control of the results to add the other main Effects for lighting here to the Photo.

You will need to set the Ray Tracing Effect to a low Sample and Bounce to give you a quick Preview render.  Certainly, a low one such as 16 Samples is still very much a draft.  Sometimes you may notice unusual patterns on walls at this level (see follow-on article later).  But it is enough to give you a Preview that the lighting you are first setting up, is in the right direction.  If needed increase Bounce to 8 and sometimes set Samples to around 64 or 96.

3.3.1:  Add in a Sun Effect

Add in a Sun Effect to control the time of day and where you want the sunlight to have some prominence.  For some, you might like to only use an overcast day, but for more vitality let's see some nice late morning sunshine casting through the windows.  

Add a Sky and Clouds Effect.  It's optional, and you can change to a Real Skies Effect a little later but keep the Sun Effect for that sunlight in the room.

Note: in some Scenes, you might only want to use the Real SKies Effect for both Sun and Sky.  Here, to get more control over the Height and Brightness you will use the Sun Effect.

3.3.2:  Step 3b - Now Add the Real Skies Effect 

Now add the Real Skies Effect.

Set the Sun Effect above the Real Skies Effect so that you keep the same light cast into the room.   And give you control over both the Heading and Height of the sunlight as well as the sun's strength.

Effectively, the Real Skies Effect is now used for the ambient light from the sky and clouds.

The Brightness slider is useful for later on when you want that control the strength of light.  

3.4.1: Adjust the Suns' Brightness

Now adjust the Suns' Brightness and see how that impacts the Ray Tracing result:

Note: that the Sun Brightness value is very small 0.04.  You could increase it for more brightness on the floor, but let's leave it there for now as it gives a good balance and strength.

And do a Ray Trace test: Samples at 64, Bounces at 8:

It's still looking fine, with no overblown lighting areas and the sunlight is in the right area in the room.

You are almost there.  These are the core Effects you need.  Yes, there is still some tweaks to get to the final balance wanted.

So far there is no need for Effects such as Shadows, Reflections, Global Illumination, or Sky Light.  And they would be disabled in any case when rendering with the Ray Tracing Effect On because Ray Tracing does the job of those (and better).

What about rendering for Rasterization?  Don't you need them now?  The simple answer - is no.  If you want to do a Rasterization render, then create and manage the Effects for those in a separate Photo.  

The Previews shown here are using Rasterization lighting so there will be some differences when you use the Ray Tracing Effect.  You can still Preview for Ray Tracing when the Effect is on.  But what we are aiming for and getting here, is control of the lighting, no matter what type of lighting levels you are wanting to achieve.

Add in the Color Correction Effect - leave at Default values.  Tweaking of the sliders should occur near the end of these setup steps.

3.5.2:  Step 5b - Adjust the Color Correction Effect:

Time to tweak the Color Correction Effect settings to get the balance of exposure and highlights you want:

All starting at Defaults	After the adjustments:

For this Scene we could leave the Auto-Exposure On.

Even the Exposure is still at the default.  

So the tweaks were for a change in Temperature - a bright sunny day mood along with a little Tinting.

And then adjusting the Highlights and Midtones for some areas, including reducing the Shadow areas, especially close to the camera where the plant on the right is.

Some more about Exposure:

You may want to adjust the Exposure value.  Certainly, it's there to do use to fine-tune things.  But only do that when the balance of lighting is still not right.  And after you have adjusted your prime light levels via the Effects - Sun Effect, Real Skies Effect, and Sky and Clouds Effect.  Get the sun brightness right beforehand, then Exposure, as managed by the Auto-Exposure in Lumion, should work.

Still, want to see some changes in the overall lighting of the view?  Sure if you want to change Exposure now, you can do so.  Except in the next step you will let the lights in the lounge play their part.

Note: there are some Scenes where you may need to turn off the Auto-Exposure and manage it completely yourself.  Those are or should be, rare situations if the lighting foundations are in place.

You might prefer, as an example, these settings where the reduction in Exposure produces less brightness for the windows and curtains.

Now you can add in your other Effects you might need or have used in other Projects (that are not to do with lighting).

Here it's just the Image Overlay to ad the Lumion logo bottom left corner.  And also the Lens Flare Effect to control the bloom for the camera.

Note: if your other Effects can affect any of the lighting, then do your Color Correction values as in step 7 first.  Then it is easier to tweak those again later on.  The thrust is to get the core direct lighting in an as ready state a possible before you finalize the other changes.

You might want to also use these as are used in Styles: Sharpen Effect and Chromatic Effect:

Now that you have the right levels of direct lighting for Ray Trace rendering you can add back your local artificial lights for the lounge.  And for any other areas where light may also affect this view:

Then adjust the artificial light settings, especially Brightness to suit.  See the notes in this article on the strength of artificial lights versus direct light for real-world units used in Lumion 2023:  section 2.8: Lights:

• Knowledge Base:  Transitions: Why does my Project look different in Lumion 2023 compared to previous versions?

A Preview render test but still at only 16 Samples with 4 Bounces:

Now is when you can adjust the levels of artificial light based on their impact on the room area, the number of lights in the area, and the type of lighting.  Remembering also that if you set a material to Emissive then it will cast light and shadow and needs to be included in the additive value of Lumens/Nits cast in the whole area.

You might also need to do some tweaks to the Color Correction settings at this point.

As an example, see this thread:

• Lumion Community:   Strange glows - problem
• Lumion Community:  Lighting in RT???
• Lumion Community:  2023 Emissive Material setting

3.8.1: Let's first do a pre-test Preview render with higher Sample and Bounce levels.

Final Preview test at 256 Samples 8 Bounces

3.8.2: And the final render using the Effects in the Master Effect List.

And if you have time and for the best possible render quality: Samples 2048 Bounces 8: 

Note on the number of Samples: the maximum of 2048 is only needed in rare cases to help resolve the Ray Trace.  We suggest using 256 to perhaps 512 as a good standard.

Whenever possible make use of the new (Lumion 2023) Master Effects List for common Effects that can apply across Photos. This is the same concept as the Entire Movie Effects Stack.  It lets you make changes to an Effect in one place and applies easily and consistently to all Photos. 

If you need control for a specific Photo then include the Effect in that Photo and it is used instead of the one in the Master effects List.

In this guide, the Ray Tracing Effect is also in the Master Effects List and set to the requirements for the final render wanted of 512 Samples with 8 Bounces.

Once you have an Effects Stack that you can make use of again then save it to a file for reuse in other Projects.  Either as the full Effects Stack or as a starter to add some other Effects to.

The Effects Stack created here should be useable in other Projects, as it has the main Effects for setting up Ray Tracing.

This Stack is very much the same as the one you have built in this guide.  The only difference is that you included a Sun Effect to control the height of the Sun.