Introduction to Ray Trace rendering in Lumion

1. Rendering in Lumion Pro.

2. What Ray Tracing Improves Most.

3. A few example renders using the Lumion Example Projects.

4. What Ray Tracing means in Lumion.

5. What Ray Tracing Actually Does in Lumion.

6. How do you enable Ray Tracing in Lumion Pro.

7. About Ray Tracing.

 

1. Rendering in Lumion Pro:

Lumion Pro provides you with two main rendering methods:

• Rasterization: the traditional, super fast approach, capable of photo like-realistic quality renders, but requires special effects and time to master.

• Ray Tracing: for highest photo-realistic renders based on physically accurate Ray Tracing of light paths and interaction with materials.

You can use Ray Tracing for renders of interior Scenes, or exterior Scenes. For Photos (still image). Movie animations and currently (March 2026) to a limited extent - 360 Panoramas.

The level of quality you can achieve depends on:

• The Scene itself, its content.

• The lighting you manage for direct (sun), ambient (sky and clouds) and artificial light sources (Spotlights, Omni Lights, Line and Area Lights).

• Ray Trace render settings for level of quality:  Ray Traced Samples and global illumination (Bounces).  All done via the single, simple Ray Tracing Effect.

 

2. What Ray Tracing Improves Most:

✔ Shadows

Softness, penumbra, and falloff are physically correct.

✔ Reflections

No more screen‑space limitations—off‑camera objects reflect correctly.

✔ Lighting

Via the unified Lighting System.  Emissive surfaces cast real light, even when not facing the camera.

✔ Glass

Glass casts shadows, interacts with DOF, and reflects accurately.

✔ Materials

PBR materials behave more realistically, especially metals and rough surfaces.

 

Ray Tracing requires a modern graphics card supporting Ray Tracing so that the extremely large number of computations needed can be done. 

 

3. A few example renders using the Lumion Example Projects:

(click on any of the thumbnails for a full screen view (new tab))

 

4. What Ray Tracing means in Lumion:

Ray Tracing is a rendering method that simulates how light actually behaves in the real world by tracing the paths of light rays as they hit the surface of objects, bounce, reflect, refract, and are absorbed. This produces much more realistic:

• Global illumination (light bouncing between surfaces)

• Reflections (including off-screen objects)

• Shadows (soft, accurate, from all light sources)

• Glass, water, and translucent materials like curtains or marble

Ray Tracing is a commonly known term for a rendering method.  Lumion Pro  implements Ray Tracing using modern performance based Path Tracing.

In Lumion Pro, Ray Tracing is not always on; you turn it on via a Ray Tracing Effect and Lumion switches from its traditional Rasterized rendering to the Ray Tracing system.

 

5. What Ray Tracing Actually Does in Lumion:

• Calculates real light paths instead of approximations.
• Produces accurate reflections without Reflection Planes.
• Generates soft, natural shadows based on light size, distance and intensity/brightness (energy).
• Handles glass, subsurface scattering, emissive materials more realistically.
• Removes screen‑space limitations (lights work even when off‑camera).

 

6. How do you enable Ray Tracing in Lumion Pro:

A single Effect, easy to add and adjust:

1. Go to Photo or Movie mode.
2. Open the Effects panel.
3. Add the Ray Tracing Effect (found under Featured or Lighting).  Or use one of the pre-made Styles.
4. If your GPU supports hardware Ray Tracing and your system meets the requirements.  The Effect will enable and your preview or final render will use Ray Tracing.

To jump into using the Effect 

• Knowledge Base:  How do you use the Ray Tracing Effect?

And having a good understanding of how lighting will help with the quality and visualization:

• Knowledge Base:  Lighting

7. About Ray Tracing:

For more in-depth understanding of Ray Tracing (Path Tracing) as a rendering approach in Lumion:

• Knowledge Base:  Ray Tracing in Lumion - Part 1 What is Ray Tracing all about
• Knowledge Base:  Ray Tracing in Lumion - Part 2: Using Lumion for Ray Trace Rendering