Calling all Visionary Developers: Design the Future in Spatial Computing

Explore the world of visionOS and build groundbreaking applications for Apple's next-gen mixed reality headset, Apple Vision Pro.

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Notes on OpenUSD & USDZ.

Universal Scene Description (USD) and USDz are interrelated but serve different purposes

Universal Scene Description (USD)

USD is an open-source framework for describing, composing, simulating, and collaborating within 3D worlds. It's more than just a file format; it's an ecosystem for handling 3D data.

Key features:

• • Interchange: USD allows seamless exchange of 3D data between various software applications used in content creation (modeling, animation, rendering etc.).

  • Collaboration: Multiple creators can work on the same scene simultaneously, with the ability to non-destructively edit different aspects.

  • Scalability: USD can handle large and complex 3D scenes efficiently.

  • Extensibility: The framework can be extended to incorporate new data types and functionalities beyond traditional 3D graphics.

USDZ

• What it is: USDZ is a compressed and optimized version of USD specifically designed for sharing 3D assets across platforms (https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/tags/usdz). It's a more lightweight and streamlined format compared to USD.

• Key features:

  • Sharing: USDZ is ideal for sharing 3D models across platforms.

  • Simplicity: USDZ files are smaller and easier to handle than USD files, making them suitable for mobile or web applications.

  • Preserves key aspects: Despite its compressed form, USDZ retains essential information about the 3D model, including geometry, materials, textures, and basic rigging.

Relationship between USD and USDZ

• USD is the foundation that provides the core functionality for describing 3D scenes.

• USDZ leverages USD but streamlines it for specific use cases, particularly sharing 3D assets in AR/VR applications or mobile environments.

• You can convert a USD file to a USDZ file for sharing purposes, but not the other way around.

In summary, USD is the comprehensive framework for working with 3D scenes, while USDZ is the delivery format optimized for sharing specific 3D assets across platforms.

Omniverse USD Composer vs. Reality Composer Pro

While both tools cater to 3D content creation, their underlying toolchains differ significantly in philosophy and target audience. Here’s a more technical breakdown:

Nvidia Omniverse USD Composer:

• Core Engine: Utilizes Nvidia’s open-source Omniverse Nucleus, a scalable scene description database that facilitates real-time collaboration and data streaming across geographically distributed teams.

• Scene Description: Relies on Universal Scene Description (USD), an open-layered format that allows for modular scene assembly and editing. USD enables efficient management of complex scenes with references to external assets and layered edits.

• 3D Editing and Authoring: Integrates with various 3D authoring tools like Maya, Houdini, Blender, and Adobe Substance through USD plugins. This allows artists to leverage their preferred tools for modeling, texturing, and animation, with final assets exported as USD files.

• Rendering and Simulation: Integrates with a variety of third-party renderers like Pixar RenderMan, Nvidia RTX, and physically-based simulation tools like Nvidia PhysX. This flexibility allows for high-fidelity rendering and realistic simulations tailored to the specific project needs.

• Material Authoring: Offers support for industry-standard Physically Based Shading (PBS) workflows, allowing artists to create realistic materials with advanced lighting and texturing capabilities. Integration with tools like Substance Designer and Mari enables advanced material creation and editing.

• Animation Tools: Provides a timeline-based animation system with keyframe editing, character rigging capabilities, and integration with motion capture data.

Apple Reality Composer Pro:

• Core Engine: Leverages Apple’s SceneKit framework, a high-performance 3D scene graph API optimized for real-time rendering on Apple devices. SceneKit offers a streamlined approach for building 3D scenes for AR experiences.

• Scene Description: Primarily uses SceneKit’s native scene format, which is efficient for AR development within the Apple ecosystem but less interoperable with broader 3D pipelines.

• 3D Editing and Authoring: Provides built-in 3D modeling tools for basic geometry creation and editing. However, for complex models, integration with external tools like Maya or Blender through USD plugins might be necessary.

• Rendering and Simulation: Real-time rendering is handled directly by SceneKit, leveraging Metal graphics API for efficient performance on Apple devices. Physics and particle simulations are also supported through SceneKit’s built-in physics engine.

• Material Authoring: Offers a simplified material editor with basic properties like diffuse, specular, and emissive control. For advanced materials, external tools like Substance Designer might be needed, with the final material exported for use in Reality Composer Pro.

• Animation Tools: Provides a timeline-based animation system with keyframe editing capabilities. While not as robust as professional animation tools, it allows for basic animations and character rigging for AR experiences.

In Conclusion:

Omniverse USD Composer offers a powerful and highly customizable toolchain, ideal for professional 3D artists working with complex scenes and requiring interoperability across platforms. Reality Composer Pro prioritizes ease of use and real-time performance for AR development within the Apple ecosystem. Its streamlined toolchain might not be suitable for highly detailed 3D assets but excels in rapid prototyping and iteration for AR applications. Both use USD(z) as their foundation to build on.