Lumion Animation Settings: Creating the Best Animation

Ufuk ŞEN

November 2, 2026Updated: November 9, 20265 min read1

Lumion animation settings are the steps that turn your scene into a moving presentation. In this lesson we bring the effects from Photo mode into the animation, set up the camera path and configure the render settings. We also show two impressive effects: a moving sun and trees falling from the sky. It is a hands-on lesson for anyone who wants to make architectural animations.

Lumion Animation Settings: Creating the Best Animation

We recorded this lesson in 2021. Lumion’s menu names and icons have changed in newer versions. Still, the logic of keyframes, effects and rendering has stayed the same. (The video is in Turkish; this guide walks through the key steps in English.)

In this video:

Saving photo effects to a file and loading them into the animation
Setting up a smooth transition with camera keyframes
Adjusting the movement speed with the clip length
Using keyframes in the sun effect
Dropping trees and lights from the sky
Exporting the video with FPS and quality settings
Exporting output as separate channels

Bringing effects into the animation

In earlier lessons we prepared the light and color effects in Photo mode. We do not want to rebuild these effects for the animation. So we use the save effects option in the file menu. The program stores the effects as a separate file. Then we switch to Movie mode and load the same file. The light from the photo comes into the animation exactly as it was.

Lumion animation settings: the camera clip

In Movie mode you get three options: adding a video from outside, adding an image, or recording a camera clip inside the scene. We choose the camera clip.

You bring the camera to the angle you want and add a photo keyframe. Then you move forward a little and add the second and third keyframes. When you press the play button, the camera moves smoothly between these keyframes.

Setting the speed with the length

The length of the clip sets the speed of the movement. For example, when you cut the length down to two seconds, the transition becomes very fast. When you raise it to ten seconds, the video flows more calmly and slowly. In architectural presentations, slow transitions usually look more professional.

Which effects should you turn off in Lumion animation settings?

After loading the effects file, we turn some of them off. For example, we turn off two-point perspective. As the camera turns left and right, this effect creates an odd tilt in the image. Not every effect that works in a photo gives the same result in a moving image.

Moving the sun with Lumion animation settings

You can use keyframes in the sun effect. First we add a keyframe for the sun height at the start of the clip. Then we drag the timeline to the end and change the height. This creates a second keyframe. When you play it, the sun slowly rises and the shadows get shorter. That way you show the passage of time during the day in a single clip.

Dropping trees from the sky with Lumion animation settings

At the fifth minute of the video we try a nice animation effect. With this effect, trees and lights fall into the scene from above one by one. First we select the models that will fall one at a time with the Ctrl key. When you confirm the selection, the scene suddenly looks empty.

Then we set two times. The first is the effect’s start time. The second is the falling interval between two objects. When you shorten the interval, the trees rain down faster. You need to make sure all the trees have landed in place by the time the clip ends. So balance the times against the length of the clip.

A different mood for different clips

When you add a new clip, you can give it a different style. For example, we set one clip to dawn and another to a night look. As a result, you show different times of day in a single video.

Lumion animation settings: rendering and FPS

On the render screen you first choose the output quality and the frames per second. The program suggests 25 frames by default. We recommend using at least 30 frames. People today watch videos on screens with high refresh rates. But as the frame count goes up, so does the number of images the program calculates. That makes the render take longer.

The quality setting is also very important. High quality reduces jagged edges at corners and shadow differences between frames. That way the animation does not flicker. But at the highest quality, render time increases significantly.

Output split into channels

The render menu also has a separate channels option. You can export channels like depth, glow, lighting, sky and reflection separately. These channels are very useful for extra effects in video editing programs. There is also an option to save as an image sequence.

Saving the project

Finally, we choose save as from the file menu. We give the project a name and, if you like, a short description. Later you can open the scene you want from the load scene section.

Summary

In this lesson we brought the photo effects into the animation. We set up the camera clip with keyframes and adjusted the speed with the length. We moved the sun and dropped trees from the sky. Finally, we exported the video with FPS, quality and channel settings. For the general logic of architectural animation, see our architectural animation post. For vertical video, there is also our Instagram story output lesson. To turn your videos into a presentation, read our animation presentation post. For the current version, take a look at Lumion’s official website.