Turn a 3D Render into a Video with Land F/X, Lumion, and Davinci Resolve

April 3, 2020

Presented by: Pat Pabich of YTL

Length: 1:30:00

Videos are becoming a staple of good design communication. With all the available software tools, they’re easier to create than ever before. Join Pat Pabich from YTL, Inc. as he outlines his most important considerations for making a 3D video rendering. Pat will go over some helpful tools YTL uses to move from CAD to 3D and even further to a polished, color corrected professional video to get the job done on time.

Webinar Contents:

Note: The following catalog of content covered in this webinar is time stamped to allow you to follow along or skip to sections of the video that are relevant to your questions. You can also search for content on this page using the FIND command in your browser (CTRL + F in Windows, Command + F in Mac OS.)

Intro/TOC
Why 3D?
Workflow
Land F/X to SketchUp
Large Planting Plans in Lumion
Video Creation

0:00 – 5:56: Intro/TOC

YTL overview and history (4:06)

5:57 – 11:05: Why 3D?

Clarity of design intent (6:00)

Conceptual planning (7:00)

Streamline the designing close the deal (7:48)

Benefits of 3D (7:56):

Allows the client to visualize the end product
Allows designers to detect problems
Adds excitement and emotion to the project

2D to 3D (8:34)

A successful marketing plan for each project relies heavily on customers’ ability to visualize the overall concept.

Video of the site rendering to be examined in this presentation (10:11)

11:06 – 16:08: Workflow

Land F/X

Project creation
All design work

SketchUp

Create 3D model

Lumion

Add Lumion plantings
Apply textures and Entourage
Render video file

DaVinci Resolve

Video production
Color grade

The process (12:00)

Land F/X (12:04)

Project creation
All design work
Save as – "for sketch"
Export using Land F/X 3D Connection

The Land F/X 3D Connection (12:40)

Use this tool to export all linework, plantings, and site amenities to SketchUp.

SketchUp (12:52)

Create 3D base
Import linework
Import plant nodes
Export plant node files

Plant nodes (13:06)

A node consists of two lines intersecting in space. It's important to know a plant node's insertion point, which determines the placement of the plant itself in SketchUp and, eventually, Lumion.

SketchUp Ruby Console: Import nodes (13:30)

Using the Landfx.usenodes=true command (13:50)

Exporting nodes into Lumion (14:20)

Lumion (14:49)

Import SketchUp base
Import plant node files
Swap plant nodes for Lumion plantings
Add textures and entourage
Render video file

Swapping out plant nodes for Lumion plants (15:04)

DaVinci Resolve (15:40)

Import the render file
Add files to the timeline
Edit the timeline
Color the grade
Render the presentation

16:09 – 20:34: Land F/X to SketchUp

Temporary linework in the sketch file in CAD (16:20)

Temporary topographic files (16:55)

The Land F/X 3D Connection (15:15)

Preparing the plant nodes to be imported into the SketchUp file using the Landfx.usenodes=true command (17:35)

Importing the plants into SketchUp (18:48)

Preparing the plant nodes to export using the Landfx.exportNodes command (20:00)

20:35 – 26:37: Large Planting Plans in Lumion

Exporting to Lumion, making sure to turn the nodes off (20:35)

Importing the plant nodes into Lumion (21:35)

Placing Lumion plants on the nodes (23:38)

Deleting the plant at the origin in Lumion (24:40)

Swapping each node file for a Lumion plant (25:30)

The finished planting plan in Lumion (26:16)

26:38 – end: Video Creation

The Video button in Lumion (26:38)

Setting up a clip (27:00)

Adding effects (27:56)

Note that YTL aren't big fans of most of the Lumion effects. They generally haven't been able to achieve great results with them, and they can add to the render time.

Using fog (29:55)

Fog can hide the horizon line and add depth of field.

Using color correction (30:12)

YTL's method of using color correction is to lower the contrast and saturation considerably.

How YTL's color correction method contributes to a flat, de-saturated image, which mimics the LOG effect commonly used in cinema (30:55)

Render settings in Lumion (32:10)

YTL always renders in the 5-star setting – the highest quality.

If the render movie is going to a client, they'll use the settings for 30 frames per second and 1920 x 1080 pixels.

If they know the client will be coming into their office to view the movie, they'll use the settings for 60 frames per second and Ultra HD, but only because they have 4k monitors and TVs in the office. If you don't have a 4k TV to view the movie on, you can just stay at 30 frames per second and 1920 x 1080 pixels.

Resolving the movie in DaVinci Resolve (33:30)

Overview of DaVinci Resolve (33:40)

DaVinci Resolve tabs (35:20):

Media – for bringing all media into the project (35:35)
Cut – like Prelude: simple and quick edits, but meant for large projects with multiple timelines (35:40)
Edit – where the entire production is created: adding video, music, titles, effects, transitions, cuts, and deletes (35:55)
Fusion – where you build the effects for your presentation such as 3D text, particles that explode, text that moves, etc. (36:20)
Color – where you add color (36:37)
Fairlight – for sounds such as music, voiceovers, and audio effects (36:44)
Deliver – where it all comes together and you send it out to render (37:00)

Media tab (37:05)

Bringing in media (37:25)

Scrolling through a video and setting "in and out points" (38:10)

Bringing an entire video file into a project (38:41)

Generating optimized media to build proxy files for each file, which pre-renders each file (39:15)

Edit tab (39:49)

Adding a file to a timeline (40:45)

The timeline window (40:55)

Deleting unnecessary audio files (41:10)

Video-only and sound-only options form bringing in media (41:30)

Working in a single viewer (42:12)

Playing video files in DaVinci Resolve (42:35)

Shortcut keys (43:00):

J: Play in reverse
K: Stop
L: Play forward
Space bar: Play and stop

Editing video (43:30)

Cutting sections out (44:00)

Ripple delete (deleting a section and fusing the footage to the right with the footage to the left) (45:20)

Inserting a transition (46:00)

Adding music (46:54)

Wave forms and cutting to the music (48:09)

Fading music in and out (48:49)

Adjusting the volume (49:14)

Normalizing the audio levels (49:25)

Adding transitions to the cuts (49:53)

DaVinci Resolve comes with several default transitions you can use.

Setting a standard transition (51:10)

Color tab (51:47)

Color correcting nodes (52:47)

Color correction terms (53:53):

Color management: How software handles imported file coloring (54:00)
Color correction: A technical process to deal with color issues to make footage appear natural (54:35)
Color grading: Style/creative – a process to add emotion, atmosphere, or creative style (55:05)

Color terms (55:20):

Hue: The attribute of colors that permits them to be classes as red, yellow, green, blue, or an intermediate between any contiguous pair of these colors. Hue is essentially nothing more than color. (55:25)
Saturation: The intensity of color in an image (55:37)
Luminance: The perceived brightness of a color (55:51)
Temperature:Characterization of the spectral properties of light source. A warmer look will lean toward more yellow to red. A colder look will lean toward blue. (56:04)
Tint: A color or a variety of a color. Magenta and green balance. (56:32)
Contrast: The relationship between the darkest and brightest parts of an image. High-contrast images have very dark shadows and very bright highlights. Low-contrast images have tonal ranges closer to gray. A lack of contrast can give an image a "flat" look. (56:44)

It's all teal and orange.

Comparison to show non-color graded and color-graded Lumion renders (57:30)

Setting the white balance (58:50)

Scopes (technical information of what's going on in the image (59:19)

Adding a serial node (essentially, another layer) (1:02:10)

Correcting contrast (1:02:50)

Correcting exposure: Lift (shadows), Gamma (mid-tones), Gain (highlights), and Offset (overall) (1:04:00)

Correcting saturation (1:06:10)

Color grading (1:07:34)

Adding a qualifier (the term for a mask in DiVinci Resolve) (1:08:30)

Curves (1:11:05)

Setting the mid-tone detail (1:12:55)

Adding teal by correcting the sky (1:13:50)

Color wheels (1:15:45)

Primary wheels: For making large adjustments
Log wheels: For adjusting smaller areas of the image

Adjusting the overall teal and orange (1:17:13)

Desaturating the shadows (1:18:50)

Applying all the color grading from the first clip to the remaining clips (1:20:45)

Applying the color grading from one project to other projects (1:22:04)

Deliver tab (1:23:15)

Delivering the file to other platforms (1:23:15)

Rendering the video (1:24:15)

Pat Pabich's email: Pat@YTL.com

Question: You input your Land F/X node file at 0,5,0. How did you set the previous site to 0,5,0 as well? (1:25:45)

Answer: Just decide what looks good to you. You can set the base file anywhere you want. The elevation doesn't matter, as long as you understand that all the files need to be at that same elevation.

Question: Is DaVinci Resolve free? If not, what's the cost-benefit comparison for your company not using another software platform? (1:27:47)

Answer: You can download DaVinci Resolve 16 for free from the Black Magic website. The free version should be sufficient for Lumion rendering. DaVinci is extremely advantageous because it brings all the capability into one platform that you'd need several Adobe platforms to use. Also, they find it to be the best platform for color grading.

Resources used in this video:

Fully Rendered Example:

Contact

Land F/X
PMB 351
3940 Broad St. STE 7
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
+1 805-541-1003

Our software tailors AutoCAD^®, Revit^®, and SketchUp^® to the needs of landscape architects, irrigation designers, and other professionals. We automate your most tedious tasks and ensure accuracy, giving you more time to design.