What Is an Asset Interface? (Part 2)#

Now that we’ve had a chance to experiment with creating an asset with an entry point prim, let’s get back to our lesson on asset interfaces.

Library assets (like a palette of related materials) may not have a single entry point. Each defined material may be individually referenced by downstream assets.

For library assets with a large number of entry points, scope prims can be used to group and organize the entry points.

1#usda 1.0
2
3def Scope "World" {
4  def "City" (references = @uri:/project/city.usd@) {}
5  def "TaxiCab" (references = @uri:/project/taxi_cab.usd@) {}
6}

Sometimes, an entry point is simply a convention for a particular type of asset. For example, the World prim doesn’t have a special role; it’s just the agreed-upon parent that keeps the scene outside of the root namespace.

Even if it’s not set as a default prim, we don’t need to overthink what the entry point is.

Encapsulation#

Content authors should practice encapsulation with their prim entry points. Encapsulation means ensuring that everything intended to be part of an asset, rooted at a specific entry point, is a descendant of that prim entry point. This includes any relationship targets. Let’s explore this concept further in our next hands-on exercise.

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