Nvidia has joined with Pixar, Adobe, Apple, and Autodesk to found the Alliance for OpenUSD, which the group says is a major leap towards unlocking the next era of 3D graphics, design, and simulation.
The group will standardise 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.
Standardising OpenUSD will accelerate its adoption, creating a foundational technology that will help today’s 2D Internet evolve into a 3D Web and Nvidia says many companies are already working with it 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 likeHeavy.AI, Kroger and Siemens build and test physically accurate simulations of factories, retail locations, skyscrapers, sports cars, and more.
“For Ikea, OpenUSD represents a non-proprietary standard format to author and store 3D content to connect our value chain even closer, and develop home furnishing solutions to a lower price,” says Martin Enthed, an innovation manager at Ikea.
“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,” says Burkhard Boeckem, chief technology officer 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, multi-faceted 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 realtime 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 Organisation for Standardisation, or the ISO.