Getting ready

Before we begin, you may want to use a top-view angle camera to better adjust the 3D models you want to use.

How to do it…

To align the orientation of two or more 3D models, perform the following steps:

How it works…

We need to keep in mind that the model we select first has dictated the rotation used for all the 3D models selected. For example, have a look at the following screenshot:

We want to align these two cars using the orientation from the white car. This means that when we select the 3D model, we need to select the white car first and then select the black car. Then, when we click on the Same rotation option, Lumion uses the white car's orientation to adjust the one for the black car.

There's more…

This is a simple and straightforward recipe, but is useful in some specific situations. Let's see one example of how we can apply this recipe for a commercial project. In this project, we need to have cars in the car park. However, when we look at the final result after placing all the cars, it surely looks computer generated because everything is perfectly aligned in the same orientation, as you can see in the following screenshot:

However, in real life, when we go to a car park, it is easy to see how people park their vehicles in different orientations. To achieve the same result, we can use the Same rotation option in Lumion to accomplish that. One way we can do this is by performing the following steps:

As you can see, now the car park looks more real and believable, and using this recipe has helped us save time and the trouble of manually changing the rotation of every single car or other 3D model. In conclusion, even simple recipes, such as this one, have a significant impact on our project if we know how to use them.