Lumion Launches Axogram, a Free Tool for 3D Architectural Diagrams Linked to SketchUp, Revit and Archicad

Lumion has launched Axogram, a tool that lets architects build 3D diagrams straight from their CAD or BIM models and keep them up to date as the design changes. Instead of exporting fixed views and redrawing them in graphics software, users create diagrams that remain connected to SketchUp, Revit or Archicad, AEC Magazine reports.

Architects rely on diagrams to explain a scheme, from its logic and movement patterns to the reasoning behind its main choices. Lumion says that making them has traditionally meant exporting views, rebuilding them in another program and repeating the whole process whenever the model changed. Axogram is designed to remove that loop.

Diagrams that follow the model

The software runs alongside the three modelling tools, so diagrams update with the model. Users can try out conceptual styles without altering the original geometry or materials, and place arrows, labels, zones and graphic styles directly around the model in three dimensions.

Several diagram types are supported. Sequence diagrams break a scheme’s development into stages, and context diagrams explain how a project responds to its site and surroundings. Section diagrams reveal how spaces, levels, structure and activities relate inside a building, while circulation diagrams map the routes taken by people, cars and building services inside and around the project.

Availability and pricing

The Windows release already works with SketchUp, Revit and Archicad, and a macOS version for SketchUp is expected soon. Lumion offers it free of charge, and the free tier includes five saved views and renders at full HD. Paid subscriptions, sold for one or three years, remove the watermark, allow unlimited saved views and render at up to 4K.

All plans come with Lumion Cloud, a space for collecting diagrams together with renders and other project images and sending them to clients or team members for feedback. For students and small practices, the free tier is a low-risk way to test whether model-linked diagrams can replace the usual export and redraw routine.