LumenRT - Disappointment

I have to say Im disappointed with LumenRT.  I've been using it for a few weeks now and have picked up many gripes with it but my biggests relates to the content that comes shippped with the software.

I have the latest update 12 on my machine and the content is very American, which doesn't suit me in the UK.  Further to that it seems there is no option to extend the content libraries or make your own?  Looking to start a discussion abou tthis just incase Im missing something 

Thanks

Parents
  • Hi Atticus,

    I show how to create your own content in my June 2018 Visualization SIG there are a few SIGs posted where I show this workflow. It is very easy if you are on MicroStation CONNECT Edition if not you can just use OBJ files

    Cheers,

    Jerry

  • To add to this discussion; I’ve followed Jerry’s directions to create my own content and am slowly building a library to suite my own geographic needs.  It’s time consuming, but fills the gaps in the current delivered LumenRT content library.

    I agree that the current library is strongly built around a North American context (or is generally not usable in my own African context). For example;

    • Almost none of the animals occur south of the equator.
    • A very small number of trees are useful to me (I’ve had to create my own in Plant Factory)
    • A “flock of birds” are seagulls only (which don’t occur inland).
    • All delivered Trucks and Vans would look really out of place on any road outside of North America.
    • None of the Special Purpose Vehicles would be seen outside the US.
    • Road Objects and signs are all North American, but easy enough to create local versions.
    • While the People library has expanded, very few are demographically useful to me.

    To create more usable People, this thread might be useful – although I’ve not had time to try out the links; https://communities.bentley.com/products/microstation/microstation_visualization/f/visualization-forum-1977638070/146813/lumenrt-content-people/446580#446580

    The current library only includes one “silhouette” Character (Jose, running) – it would be really useful to have more silhouette characters. Perhaps Bentley could share how their Character library is being created, so that users could follow the same steps to create custom content.

    On the positive side – I’m delighted to see that there’s now an animated wind turbine, but I’m keenly watching this thread in the hope that we can animate objects in future; https://communities.bentley.com/products/microstation/microstation_visualization/f/visualization-forum-1977638070/175463/lumenrt-custom-moving-objects

    I do think there should be a quality review of the current Content library. For instance, many of the delivered buildings are simply badly mapped boxes (with no active retail frontages at ground level). For architects/ urban designers, they all belong to the “do not use” category – but I guess may be useful to some users. Buildings, Bridges and Small Structures are generally items I’d never use, as I’m creating these objects from scratch in Microstation. That’s the whole point of LumenRT – to visualise models created in a cad/ modelling environment, not to build urban environments within LumenRT. I’d prefer these items to be removed, and for the developers to rather concentrate on creating content that we don’t normally create ourselves (such as trees, people, cars, objects).

    To get back to the original post - yes; LumenRT seems to be built around a core North American context, making it less of a value proposition to rest-of-the-world users. However, it is possible to supplement the content library with your own custom content.

    Max

Reply
  • To add to this discussion; I’ve followed Jerry’s directions to create my own content and am slowly building a library to suite my own geographic needs.  It’s time consuming, but fills the gaps in the current delivered LumenRT content library.

    I agree that the current library is strongly built around a North American context (or is generally not usable in my own African context). For example;

    • Almost none of the animals occur south of the equator.
    • A very small number of trees are useful to me (I’ve had to create my own in Plant Factory)
    • A “flock of birds” are seagulls only (which don’t occur inland).
    • All delivered Trucks and Vans would look really out of place on any road outside of North America.
    • None of the Special Purpose Vehicles would be seen outside the US.
    • Road Objects and signs are all North American, but easy enough to create local versions.
    • While the People library has expanded, very few are demographically useful to me.

    To create more usable People, this thread might be useful – although I’ve not had time to try out the links; https://communities.bentley.com/products/microstation/microstation_visualization/f/visualization-forum-1977638070/146813/lumenrt-content-people/446580#446580

    The current library only includes one “silhouette” Character (Jose, running) – it would be really useful to have more silhouette characters. Perhaps Bentley could share how their Character library is being created, so that users could follow the same steps to create custom content.

    On the positive side – I’m delighted to see that there’s now an animated wind turbine, but I’m keenly watching this thread in the hope that we can animate objects in future; https://communities.bentley.com/products/microstation/microstation_visualization/f/visualization-forum-1977638070/175463/lumenrt-custom-moving-objects

    I do think there should be a quality review of the current Content library. For instance, many of the delivered buildings are simply badly mapped boxes (with no active retail frontages at ground level). For architects/ urban designers, they all belong to the “do not use” category – but I guess may be useful to some users. Buildings, Bridges and Small Structures are generally items I’d never use, as I’m creating these objects from scratch in Microstation. That’s the whole point of LumenRT – to visualise models created in a cad/ modelling environment, not to build urban environments within LumenRT. I’d prefer these items to be removed, and for the developers to rather concentrate on creating content that we don’t normally create ourselves (such as trees, people, cars, objects).

    To get back to the original post - yes; LumenRT seems to be built around a core North American context, making it less of a value proposition to rest-of-the-world users. However, it is possible to supplement the content library with your own custom content.

    Max

Children
  • I have recently started to explore LumenRT and it looks promising. I have to agree that the supplied content, although a good starting point,  needs some improvement. There are numerous vehicles to choose from that can be animated, but none of them has a driver behind the wheel. I can be fooled with a distant car; one can mistake the headrest for a driver and the glass reflection obscures most of the interior. But motorcycles, mopeds bicycles, and even baby carriages cruising the motorway without a driver or passenger, well that's just Twilight Zone kinda strange.

    Inanimate things can be custom build with ease in Microstation. I'll look into that for building my own local library.

    So it would be great to see in a next edition too:

    • Person pushing baby carriage/stroller with a child in it.
    • Motorcylist on a motorcycle. He/she extends a foot to the ground for balance when waiting at crossing/trafficlight.
    • Car with actual driver.

    Good day

    Ivo Blaauw
    = = = = = = = = = = = = =
    Look what the CAD dragged in...

  • In my version of LumenRT (Update 13), there is a limited number of vehicles with drivers, and Omarie and Ben are on a Segway and bicycle. But I agree, it would be good to have these libraries expanded. Perhaps Bentley could let us know how their libraries are created so that we could create our own custom characters.

  • there is a limited number of vehicles with drivers,

    Perhaps Bentley/E-on can incorporate a simple switch to turn on/off the driver, so one can use the same vehicle for both traffic and parking lots.

    let us know how their libraries are created so that we could create our own custom characters

    Most large cities have their own distinctive tram cars or subway, often articulated. Busses are mostly regional companies, changing every five years due to tenders. Would be nice to incorporate those vehicles into our library. With passengers, so busses don't drive around empty.

    LumenRT update 3

    Ivo Blaauw
    = = = = = = = = = = = = =
    Look what the CAD dragged in...

  • As i remember - there was Adobe Fuse to make great characters animated - that work in Lumen 

  • Thanks for the reminder on this. I did make a few characters but found the process cumbersome and buggy. Jerry's SIG pointed out that materials sometimes came through as varnished or transparent, so you needed to take the character through VUE to get it to work properly. I didn't want to buy VUE just to get characters to work. That was three years ago.

    I've just tried the process again - Fuse CC, upload to Mixamo, animate character, export to DAE, load into LumenRT. Characters come through transparent. So I change material from Glass to Standard, and the character is then broken (body parts separate from each other, and the animation no longer works).

    Max