How to make your SketchUp concepts stand out
Visual styles that bring clarity and direction to early design work
Styled for clarity
When you’re just starting out in SketchUp, getting a design idea into shape is a big win. But once the mass is built, another challenge kicks in: how do you make it feel clear and intentional—especially to someone else?
Whether it’s a teammate or a client, you need your model to do more than just show form. You need it to communicate direction, invite feedback, and show progress.
But here’s the thing: that doesn’t mean you need a polished render. What you really need are visuals with purpose—simple, styled outputs that help people understand your thinking.
Creating the right visual at the right time
Most early-stage reviews don’t require photorealism. In fact, jumping into it too soon can backfire. You run the risk of your work feeling “done” when it’s still evolving. To maintain momentum, you’re not aiming for final, breathtaking renders. You’re aiming for understanding. For alignment. For decisions made with clarity.
That’s where Lumion View comes in.
Lumion View is a plugin available for SketchUp that gives you instant access to a range of clear, stylized outputs. No exporting, no setup, no experience required. This real-time rendering tool offers visualization options designed specifically for the early and iterative phases of your workflow—when ideas are still forming, and the conversation is about intent, not polish.
It’s for:
➡️ Exploring massing and spatial relationships
➡️ Reviewing material schemes and lighting direction
➡️ Presenting options to internal teams or clients
➡️ Aligning on a form before you finalize the details
The output isn’t just high-quality, it’s the right kind of quality: clear, stylized, purposeful. Like a well-drawn section or elevation, the goal isn’t emotion—it’s comprehension.
Visual shortcuts to better design conversations
A well-chosen style can accelerate a client's understanding of design intent and ensure project conversations remain fluid, relevant, and precise. Do you need to focus on massing? Show how light moves through and across the space? Compare materials? Or simply communicate that the design is still in progress?
Here are four conceptual styles—each one built into Lumion View—that help guide feedback, simplify decisions, and move your project forward.
#1
Clay
➡️ Use for:
Massing and volume studies by focusing on shape and light without textures.
➡️ When it helps:
When you want to focus attention on overall form and proportion without distraction from surface detail.
➡️ Quick tip:
Use soft, balanced lighting to avoid dramatic shadows or highlights.
#2
Wood
➡️ Use for:
Evoking a handmade, tactile feel in massing studies, while emphasizing form and space.
➡️ When it helps:
Useful when exploring form and space in early and more advanced design stages.
➡️ Quick tip:
Avoid harsh shadows—aim for studio-type lighting with soft shadows.
#3
Styrofoam
➡️ Use for:
Quick massing studies that reflect the flexible, iterative nature of early design exploration.
➡️ When it helps:
Ideal in early design stages when speed, iteration, and form exploration are more important than detail.
➡️ Quick tip:
Increase the distance between the light and the subject to soften shadows, or use multiple light sources from different angles to reduce contrast.
#4
Glossy
➡️ Use for:
Achieving a clean, minimalistic aesthetic often used for conceptual renderings.
➡️ When it helps:
For presenting organic forms or architectural designs with intricate geometry.
➡️ Quick tip:
Customize with the color picker and turn on edges to emphasize the lines and contours of the geometry.
Use these styles to support your design thinking
Each of these views gives you more than just a good-looking image. They help you:
✅ Communicate progress
✅ Frame the conversation around what matters now
✅ Get buy-in without over-explaining
✅ Keep your momentum between reviews
Think of them like diagrams: they’re not meant to wow—they’re meant to communicate. And when that communication is clear, design decisions come faster.
Don’t just model your ideas—make them clear.
SketchUp gets your concept into shape. Lumion View helps others understand it.
These visual styles are built for speed, clarity, and feedback. You don’t need any prior rendering experience or to build a new workflow. They're already inside Lumion View, and therefore inside SketchUp—ready when you are.
