What is OpenUSD?

OpenUSD (Universal Scene Description) is an open-source framework developed by Pixar for describing, composing, simulating, and collaborating in 3D scenes. While originally created for Pixar’s animation pipeline, OpenUSD has evolved into a standard across industries to enable the development of digital twins and AI in 3D worlds.

Why Industries are Adopting OpenUSD

Core Purpose

OpenUSD addresses the fundamental challenge of managing complex 3D scenes in collaborative environments by providing a unified framework that allows multiple teams to work on different aspects of a scene simultaneously without destructive conflicts.

Key Capabilities

Non-Destructive Collaboration

OpenUSD enables multiple artists and teams to contribute to the same scene without overwriting each other’s work. Changes are layered and composed together, preserving the original data while allowing for iterative refinement.

Modularity and Scalability

Scenes can be built from reusable components that can be referenced, instanced, and shared across projects. This modular approach scales from simple assets to massive virtual worlds with millions of objects.

Cross-Application Interoperability

OpenUSD acts as a common language between different 3D applications, allowing data to flow seamlessly between modeling, animation, lighting, and rendering tools.

Getting Started

This course will guide you through OpenUSD’s concepts step by step, starting with the fundamental building blocks and progressing to advanced composition techniques. Each lesson includes practical examples and Python code samples to help you apply these concepts in your own projects.

Ready to dive in? Let’s start by setting the stage with OpenUSD’s core components.