Placing models on the terrain
All projects are different, and this typically brings in unique challenges. Sometimes, a building or the environment are really intricate, and this can cause difficulties when we are placing 3D models from the Lumion library. Lumion recognizes surfaces and will avoid intersecting them with any 3D model you want to place in your world. However, there are times when this feature may be in our way and cause difficulties when placing a 3D model. Let's see how we can solve that.
Getting ready
To follow the example in this recipe, you should have a 3D model placed in your project; for example, to follow this recipe, you can use a table or bench to see how to place a 3D model.
How to do it…
To start placing content, perform the following steps:
- On the left-hand side of the screen, select the Objects menu. Here, you will find different categories of 3D models to add to your 3D world.
- As an example, select the Outdoor category. This will open the Outdoor Library window with all the content available in this class.
- In the example used in this recipe, I selected the GardenTable_003 option from the Assorted tab.
- After placing the garden table, we can add some books, and you can find some of them under the Furniture tab.
- Before placing the 3D model, you can see a yellow box that represents the 3D model along with a red dimension line that informs you of the height where you are placing the 3D model.
- To force Lumion to place the book on the terrain, press and hold the G key and note that even if you put the mouse over a surface, Lumion will ignore it and put the 3D model on the terrain. This is shown in the following screenshot:
- Press and hold the G key to force the placing of the 3D model on the ground, and click with the left mouse button to place one copy of the 3D model.
There's more…
There are some specific situations when this feature will become very handy. As mentioned in the beginning of this recipe, some projects are very complex—we need to fill plants, flowers, or rocks in a precise manner. Due the nature of the building, we may find it difficult and frustrating to place the 3D models close to edges because Lumion starts to get confused where we want to place the 3D model because it avoids intersecting of surfaces.