NVIDIA joined forces with Pixar, Adobe, Apple and Autodesk to establish the Alliance for OpenUSD, aiming to standardize and expand the open-source Universal Scene Description framework (OpenUSD) for 3D graphics, design and simulation applications.
The alliance, with its first general members including Cesium, Epic Games, Foundry, Hexagon, IKEA, SideFX and Unity, will work on creating a foundational technology that facilitates the transition from a 2D internet to a 3D web, with potential applications in various industries, including virtual worlds and simulations of factories, retail locations and more, according to an Aug. 1 news release.
“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,” Burkhard Boeckem, CTO of Hexagon, said in the release.
This alliance is meant to be a step toward enabling the next generation of 3D graphics, design and simulation. The group will standardize and expand OpenUSD, the free and open-source framework for universal scene descriptions that serves as the basis for a variety of 3D projects, from visual effects to industrial digital twins, the release said.
Standardizing OpenUSD will hasten its utilization and produce a core technology that will aid in the transition from the current 2D internet to a 3D one. With NVIDIA, many businesses are already paving the way for this future, according to the release.
Martin Enthed, an innovation manager at IKEA said OpenUSD looks to be "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," the release reported.
In order to provide interoperability across data and workflows for its feature films, Pixar began work on USD in 2012. Four years later, the company made this robust, multifunctional technology open source so that anybody could use it and help shape its future, according to the release.
The prerequisites for creating virtual worlds, including geometry, cameras, lights and materials, are supported by OpenUSD. Additionally, it has the capabilities for scaling to very large and complicated datasets, and it is incredibly flexible, allowing the technology to be applied to operations other than visual effects, according to the release.
OpenUSD has a special layering mechanism that enables users to work together in real time without stepping on each other's toes. One artist might model a scene while another works on the lighting, for instance, the release said. The alliance's top objective will be to create a specification that outlines OpenUSD's fundamental features. That will offer a template that tool developers can apply, promoting acceptance of the open standard across the broadest range of use cases.
The alliance will function as a division of the Linux Foundation's Joint Development Foundation, the release reported. The JDF offers a means of transforming textual specifications into commercial standards that can be accepted by internationally renowned organizations like the International Organization for Standardization, or ISO.
