NVIDIA and Industry Titans Forge a Revolutionary Transformation in 3D graphics, design, and simulation
NVIDIA has partnered with renowned companies like Pixar, Adobe, Apple, and Autodesk to establish the Alliance for OpenUSD, marking a significant milestone in paving the way for the future of 3D graphics, design, and simulation.
At the core of NVIDIA Omniverse, lies OpenUSD, serving as the fundamental building block for a cutting-edge development platform that fosters connectivity and creation of 3D tools and applications. Through Omniverse, enterprises such as Heavy.AI, Kroger, and Siemens are empowered to construct and evaluate highly precise simulations of various domains, including factories, retail environments, skyscrapers, sports cars, and more.
Need to Know. NVIDIA Omniverse is a powerful and cutting-edge platform developed by NVIDIA, providing unique capabilities for creators to build, connect, and visualize the 3D world. Omniverse brings together technologies that enable various industries, including visual effects, industrial design, architecture, and retail, to collaboratively work on complex and precise simulations and projects. Leveraging OpenUSD as its foundation, Omniverse ensures seamless interoperability between diverse tools and applications, enhancing productivity and unleashing creative potential for all stakeholders involved in the 3D content development process.
What Companies Will do
The consortium aims to establish a standardized and enhanced version of OpenUSD, an open-source Universal Scene Description framework that serves as the fundamental basis for compatible 3D applications and projects, spanning from visual effects to industrial digital twins.
As an encouraging sign of progress, several prominent companies in the 3D ecosystem have already committed as the alliance's initial general members, including Cesium, Epic Games, Foundry, Hexagon, IKEA, SideFX, and Unity.
The standardization of OpenUSD is set to expedite its widespread adoption, ushering in a revolutionary technology that will transform today's 2D internet into a dynamic 3D web. Many enterprises are already collaborating with NVIDIA, pioneering this forthcoming era.
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 Beginnings of OpenUSD
In 2012, Pixar initiated the development of USD as a 3D foundation for its feature films, offering seamless interoperability across data and workflows. Four years later, the company generously released this powerful, versatile technology as an open-source project, making OpenUSD accessible to everyone and encouraging collaborative contributions to its advancement.
OpenUSD facilitates the creation of virtual worlds, encompassing essential elements such as geometry, cameras, lights, and materials. Moreover, it includes features crucial for handling extensive, intricate datasets, making it highly adaptable to workflows beyond visual effects.
A unique attribute of OpenUSD is its layering system, enabling real-time collaboration without interference. For instance, while one artist models a scene, others can simultaneously work on the lighting aspects.
Forging a Common Standard
The alliance's primary focus is to develop a comprehensive specification describing OpenUSD's core functionalities. This specification will serve as a valuable tool for builders, encouraging widespread adoption of this open standard across a diverse range of applications.
Operating as part of the Joint Development Foundation (JDF), a division of the Linux Foundation, the alliance has a clear path to transform written specifications into industry standards suitable for recognition by esteemed organizations like the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
From OpenUSD to Omniverse
NVIDIA has demonstrated unwavering dedication to OpenUSD and has been collaborating with ecosystem partners to accelerate its evolution and adoption across various industries.
During last year's SIGGRAPH, NVIDIA presented a multi-year roadmap outlining their contributions to enable OpenUSD's implementation in fields like architecture, engineering, manufacturing, and beyond. NVIDIA will provide an update on these plans as part of the alliance's participation in this year's computer graphics conference.