Beyond the Basics#

In this module, we’ll go deeper into production-ready techniques that power real-world pipelines involving complex scenes, data workflows, and custom requirements across industries and use cases.

What You’ll Learn#

By the end of this module, you’ll understand how to:

  • Work with primvars - attach rendering data like UVs, vertex colors, and custom attributes to geometry

  • Leverage value resolution - understand how USD resolves attribute values from multiple composition sources

  • Create custom properties - extend USD’s data model with user-defined attributes for specific workflows

  • Manage scene complexity - use active/inactive prims for efficient, non-destructive scene management

  • Utilize model kinds - structure assets using component, assembly, and group hierarchies

  • Traverse stages - implement high-performance iteration through complex scene graphs

  • Understand Hydra rendering - work with USD’s flexible rendering architecture and multiple backends

Why These Skills Matter#

These advanced techniques separate hobby projects from production pipelines. They’re the tools that enable:

  • Performance at Scale: Handle scenes with millions of prims through efficient traversal and selective activation

  • Pipeline Flexibility: Extend USD with custom data that fits your specific workflow needs

  • Asset Organization: Structure complex projects with clear hierarchies that scale across teams

  • Rendering Integration: Connect USD scenes to any rendering backend through Hydra’s extensible architecture

  • Production Robustness: Build reliable systems that handle edge cases and complex data resolution scenarios

What’s Next#

These skills prepare you for the most advanced USD topics: creating custom schemas, building specialized tools, and architecting large-scale USD-based systems, which we’ll cover in the intermediate Learn OpenUSD courses.