New CG lighting, vegetation, material options enable greater flexibility and realism
Cary, NC (March 11, 2020) – Epic Games today released Twinmotion 2020, a powerful new version to this leading architectural visualization tool. Powered by Unreal Engine, Twinmotion delivers real-time, final-quality project visualization for professionals in architecture, design, construction, urban planning, landscaping, and related fields–allowing users to quickly and easily communicate their designs to colleagues, clients, and beyond in just a few short clicks. In Twinmotion 2020, key new lighting, vegetation, material, and other features let users achieve more flexibility and realism in their designs than ever before.
“We have seen incredible adoption of Twinmotion within the architectural industry, with almost half a million Twinmotion registrations since it joined the Epic suite in May of last year,” shared Marc Petit, General Manager, Unreal Engine, Epic Games. “It’s always our mission to make high-end visualization more accessible to all users regardless of experience, and Twinmotion 2020 is the most robust release to date – enabling high-quality visuals in real-time, while still being extremely intuitive and easy to use.”
New features in Twinmotion 2020 include:
Enhanced lighting and rendering:
An array of new lighting features have been introduced, including a new screen-space global illumination (SSGI) method for dynamic indirect lighting, a physically-based atmospheric sun and sky model for more realistic exterior renders at different times of day and year, an area lighting tool to accurately fill spaces with diffuse lighting, a volumetric lighting tool for accurate light ray effects through particles such as fog or smoke, and cinematic depth of field.
Enhanced vegetation system:
Users now have access to all new high-fidelity tree assets from Xfrog, and bush assets from Quixel, containing various age and season options; sub-surface scattering tools accurately filter light through leaves. A new vegetation growth tool allows users to see how vegetation will look within a property over time, from first planting to full growth. Users also have increased control over landscapes with new grass customization options, a new vegetation scatter tool, and improved vegetation painting.
More realistic humans:
All 3D animated characters have been replaced by new high-quality photo-scanned character assets from AXYZ design. Users can choose from 62 animated characters, each with 5 clothing variations, or 82 ready-posed characters.
One-click synchronization with Rhino:
Rhino is now supported by Twinmotion’s Direct Link feature, enabling users to sync their Rhino and Grasshopper data into Twinmotion with a single click. Organization and hierarchy are retained, and native materials are automatically substituted with Twinmotion PBR materials.
Project presentation and review:
Twinmotion Presenter enables users to share an individual project in a standalone viewer in a lightweight package, with the option for multiple points of view and camera paths, and either a locked view, guided, or free-to-explore options for viewers. A new note tool also lets users annotate elements within a scene for streamlined project review and information sharing. Notes can be exported to Revit, ARCHICAD, and many other BIM packages.
New material and texture options:
Users can now import and use H264-encoded video as a material, enabling animated features such as an TV playing or a flickering fireplace. A new Frosted Glass material makes it easy to simulate translucent glass (such as privacy windows) and accurate light scatter. An enhanced Glow material uses screen-space global illumination (SSGI) to enable those objects to act as a light source. Additionally, a new X-Ray option lets users see the position of objects occluded by other objects, allowing for easy visualization of MEP data such as pipe or air duct locations.
Pricing and availability:
Licenses of Twinmotion 2020 are available now as a special offer to new users at a 50% discount off the US $499 purchase price, plus free upgrades through December 2021. Early adopters using previous versions of Twinmotion get access to Twinmotion 2020 free of charge, and free upgrades through December 2021.
Please see
https://www.unrealengine.com/
About Twinmotion
Twinmotion helps visualization professionals in the architecture, construction, urban planning, and landscaping industries better communicate their designs. Powered by Unreal Engine 4, Twinmotion delivers real-time, final-quality rendering through a simple and intuitive interface, with the ability to quickly produce a variety of presentation options including images, panoramas, videos, and virtual reality content.
About Unreal Engine
Epic Games’ Unreal Engine is the world’s most open and advanced real-time 3D platform. Creators across games, film, television, architecture, automotive and transportation, advertising, live events, and training and simulation choose Unreal to deliver cutting-edge content, interactive experiences, and immersive virtual worlds. Follow @UnrealEngine and download Unreal for free at unrealengine.com.
About Epic Games
Founded in 1991, Epic Games is the creator of Fortnite, Battle Breakers, Unreal, Gears of War, Shadow Complex, and the Infinity Blade series of games. Epic's Unreal Engine technology, which brings high-fidelity, interactive experiences to PC, console, mobile, AR, VR, and the Web, is freely available at unrealengine.com. The Epic Games Store offers a handpicked library of games, available at epicgames.com. Follow @EpicGames for updates.