Tuesday, August 1st 2023
NVIDIA Key Player in Creation of OpenUSD Standard for 3D Worlds
NVIDIA joined Pixar, Adobe, Apple and Autodesk today to found the Alliance for OpenUSD, a major leap toward unlocking the next era of 3D graphics, design and simulation. The group will standardize and extend OpenUSD, the open-source Universal Scene Description framework that's the foundation of interoperable 3D applications and projects ranging from visual effects to industrial digital twins.
Several leading companies in the 3D ecosystem already signed on as the alliance's first general members—Cesium, Epic Games, Foundry, Hexagon, IKEA, SideFX and Unity. Standardizing OpenUSD will accelerate its adoption, creating a foundational technology that will help today's 2D internet evolve into a 3D web. Many companies are already working with NVIDIA to pioneer this future.
From Skyscrapers to Sports Cars
OpenUSD is the foundation of NVIDIA Omniverse, a development platform for connecting and building 3D tools and applications. Omniverse is helping companies like Heavy.AI, Kroger and Siemens build and test physically accurate simulations of factories, retail locations, skyscrapers, sports cars and more.
For IKEA, OpenUSD represents "a nonproprietary standard format to author and store 3D content to connect our value chain even closer, and develop home furnishing solutions to a lower price," Martin Enthed, an innovation manager at IKEA, said in a press release the alliance issued today.
"By joining the alliance, we're demonstrating our dedication to the advantages that OpenUSD provides our clients when linking with cloud-based platforms, including Nexus, Hexagon's manufacturing platform, HxDR, Hexagon's digital reality platform, and NVIDIA Omniverse to build innovative solutions in their industries," said Burkhard Boeckem, CTO of Hexagon.
The Origins of OpenUSD
Pixar started work on USD in 2012 as a 3D foundation for its feature films, offering interoperability across data and workflows. The company made this powerful, multifaceted technology open source four years later, so anyone can use OpenUSD and contribute to its development.
A breakdown of a scene from Pixar's "Coco" contrasted with the final image. USD was instrumental in creating the film's complex world. Image courtesy of Disney/Pixar.
OpenUSD supports the requirements of building virtual worlds—like geometry, cameras, lights and materials. It also includes features necessary for scaling to large, complex datasets, and it's tremendously extensible, enabling the technology to be adapted to workflows beyond visual effects.
Diagram of OpenUSD that demonstrates it's power as a technology for large scale, industrial workflows.
One unique capability of OpenUSD is its layering system, which lets users collaborate in real time without stepping on each other's toes. For example, one artist can model a scene while others create the lighting for it.
Forging a Shared Standard
As its first priority, the alliance will develop a specification that describes the core functionality of OpenUSD. That'll provide a recipe tool builders can implement, encouraging adoption of the open standard across the widest possible array of use cases.
The alliance will operate as part of the Joint Development Foundation (JDF), a branch of the Linux Foundation. The JDF provides a path to turn written specifications into industry standards suitable for adoption by globally respected groups like the International Organization for Standardization, or the ISO.
From OpenUSD to Omniverse
NVIDIA has a deep commitment to OpenUSD and working with ecosystem partners to accelerate the framework's evolution and adoption across industries.
At last year's SIGGRAPH, NVIDIA detailed a multiyear roadmap of contributions it's making to enable OpenUSD use in architecture, engineering, manufacturing and more. An update on these plans will be presented by NVIDIA as part of the alliance at this year's conference on computer graphics.
Help Build the 3D Future
Collaboration is key to the alliance and evolution of OpenUSD.
To get involved or learn more, attend NVIDIA's keynote, OpenUSD day, hands-on labs and other showfloor activities at SIGGRAPH, running Aug. 6-10.
The Alliance for OpenUSD also will host a keynote panel session at the Academy Software Foundation's Open Source Days 2023.
For more information on the Alliance for OpenUSD (AOUSD), visit the webpage, and follow @AllianceOpenUSD on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
For a deeper dive on OpenUSD:
Several leading companies in the 3D ecosystem already signed on as the alliance's first general members—Cesium, Epic Games, Foundry, Hexagon, IKEA, SideFX and Unity. Standardizing OpenUSD will accelerate its adoption, creating a foundational technology that will help today's 2D internet evolve into a 3D web. Many companies are already working with NVIDIA to pioneer this future.
OpenUSD is the foundation of NVIDIA Omniverse, a development platform for connecting and building 3D tools and applications. Omniverse is helping companies like Heavy.AI, Kroger and Siemens build and test physically accurate simulations of factories, retail locations, skyscrapers, sports cars and more.
For IKEA, OpenUSD represents "a nonproprietary standard format to author and store 3D content to connect our value chain even closer, and develop home furnishing solutions to a lower price," Martin Enthed, an innovation manager at IKEA, said in a press release the alliance issued today.
"By joining the alliance, we're demonstrating our dedication to the advantages that OpenUSD provides our clients when linking with cloud-based platforms, including Nexus, Hexagon's manufacturing platform, HxDR, Hexagon's digital reality platform, and NVIDIA Omniverse to build innovative solutions in their industries," said Burkhard Boeckem, CTO of Hexagon.
The Origins of OpenUSD
Pixar started work on USD in 2012 as a 3D foundation for its feature films, offering interoperability across data and workflows. The company made this powerful, multifaceted technology open source four years later, so anyone can use OpenUSD and contribute to its development.
OpenUSD supports the requirements of building virtual worlds—like geometry, cameras, lights and materials. It also includes features necessary for scaling to large, complex datasets, and it's tremendously extensible, enabling the technology to be adapted to workflows beyond visual effects.
One unique capability of OpenUSD is its layering system, which lets users collaborate in real time without stepping on each other's toes. For example, one artist can model a scene while others create the lighting for it.
Forging a Shared Standard
As its first priority, the alliance will develop a specification that describes the core functionality of OpenUSD. That'll provide a recipe tool builders can implement, encouraging adoption of the open standard across the widest possible array of use cases.
The alliance will operate as part of the Joint Development Foundation (JDF), a branch of the Linux Foundation. The JDF provides a path to turn written specifications into industry standards suitable for adoption by globally respected groups like the International Organization for Standardization, or the ISO.
From OpenUSD to Omniverse
NVIDIA has a deep commitment to OpenUSD and working with ecosystem partners to accelerate the framework's evolution and adoption across industries.
At last year's SIGGRAPH, NVIDIA detailed a multiyear roadmap of contributions it's making to enable OpenUSD use in architecture, engineering, manufacturing and more. An update on these plans will be presented by NVIDIA as part of the alliance at this year's conference on computer graphics.
Help Build the 3D Future
Collaboration is key to the alliance and evolution of OpenUSD.
To get involved or learn more, attend NVIDIA's keynote, OpenUSD day, hands-on labs and other showfloor activities at SIGGRAPH, running Aug. 6-10.
The Alliance for OpenUSD also will host a keynote panel session at the Academy Software Foundation's Open Source Days 2023.
For more information on the Alliance for OpenUSD (AOUSD), visit the webpage, and follow @AllianceOpenUSD on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
For a deeper dive on OpenUSD:
- Check out our USD resources page.
- Watch a video series on getting started with OpenUSD.
- Take a course on using OpenUSD in 3D workflows.
- And watch a webinar about building applications with NVIDIA Omniverse.
15 Comments on NVIDIA Key Player in Creation of OpenUSD Standard for 3D Worlds
It starts with a huge, prickly cactus plant, covered in smoldering black tar, and placed in a location that normally does not receive much sunlight, and of course, this will be immediately be followed by a nuclear-tipped 155mm Howitzer with a penetration-only fuse.... hehehe :)
They are all abusive corporations that will use EVERYTHING in their power to destroy you. Lawyers and Laws that protect these types of corporations make them predatory to "us". Trying to make everything a subscription instead of owning a physical copy. DMCA strike downs on everything that might hurt their bottom line or just buy them out and bury their IP's so that they can not be used by anyone.
Mayyybe I've had some dealings with one of more of these companies who pretend to have their best interest for their customer base.
Why in hell do you think I keep my old tech running as well as going FOSS open source? I want nothing to do with the ever growing control of the freedoms that we have left.
You people have no idea on the freedoms that you lost. If it was not for those freedoms that I took advantage of years ago, I would not be here now.
Never forget that THEY... ARE... THE ENEMY to us... The Diy community.
I don't think I would place my IP at risk in this way but they will.
PR illusions, its the great marketing tactic of our time.
I know making an Adobe account to view pdf files on my phone is annoying as fuck. thankfully firefox has this built in now.
I'm waiting Ngreedia... :roll:
Now if DLSS we're to do that, much like XeSS, there would almost certainly have to be two or more code paths like XeSS, where it performs and looks worse on non RTX cards, which is not only a detriment to it's name (two version of the same thing with disparate quality and performance, but the same name), which has been built over time and is recognisable to many gamers and synonymous with the best looking upscaler at this point, but gamers already have multiple other choices by way of XeSS and FSR. I just don't see who this would actually benefit in the here and now, and asking for it over and over seems like an absolute waste of time.