How to use Lumion View

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.