There are times when a straightforward design model will do – and there are other times in which realism and modeling of potential real-world conditions are extremely important. To provide high quality project visualization for professionals in urban planning, architecture, design and construction, gaming company Epic Games has released a new version of its visualization tool, Twinmotion 2020. Armed with the best technologies from gaming – including the Unreal Engine – Twinmotion 2020 is raising the bar for realism.

Adding new computer-generated lighting controls, improved plants and vegetation, more material options, the 2020 release further blurs the line between computer-generated models and envisioning a model in the real world.

Lighting features include a new global illumination method for simulating indirect lighting, as well as a sun and sky model that gives more realism to building and outdoor renders, and even controls to adjust light at different times of year.

The people have gotten better, too. The 3D animated characters are all new, with photo-scanned character assets. 62 animated and 82 posed characters are available and look more realistic and less distracting than previous versions.

The vegetation, while probably not important to the actual designers/owners/builders, is impressive, with realistic trees, individual grass blades, and detailed shrubs of all kinds. A new vegetation growth tool can model how vegetation will look within a property over time, from first planting to full growth.

Marc Petit, General Manager of Unreal Engine at Epic Games says that the architectural industry, in particular, has been very interested in these types of renderings. 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.

“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,” says Petit.

“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.”

Licenses of Twinmotion 2020 are available 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/get-now/twinmotion for a full list of pricing and licensing information.