OpenUSD

Universal Scene Description is an open and extensible ecosystem for 3D worlds.

OpenUSD logo

Building Interoperable 3D Workflows With OpenUSD

Universal Scene Description (OpenUSD) is more than just a file format. It’s an open and extensible ecosystem for describing, composing, simulating, and collaborating within 3D worlds.

Invented by Pixar Animation Studio, OpenUSD encompasses a collection of fundamental tools and capabilities that accelerate workflows, teams, and projects, whether you’re creating assets and environments for large-scale, AI-enabled virtual worlds or building the tools to make these worlds possible.

The Benefits of OpenUSD

OpenUSD is extensible

Extensible

Provides an open, extensible framework and ecosystem with APIs for composing, editing, querying, rendering, collaborating, and simulating within 3D virtual worlds.

OpenUSD is non-destructive

Non-Destructive

Enables non-destructive workflows and collaboration in scene creation and asset aggregation so teams can iterate together.

OpenUSD is collaborative

Collaborative

Is file system agnostic, providing an extensible asset resolver to support any data storage model and allow for disparate data sources. 

OpenUSD is customizable

Customizable

Supports custom renderers in a generalized pipeline thanks to its Hydra rendering architecture that provides flexibility in visualizing data.

Alliance for OpenUSD

NVIDIA, Pixar, Adobe, Apple, and Autodesk co-founded the Alliance for OpenUSD (AOUSD), an open, nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the interoperability of 3D content through OpenUSD.

Join us to shape the future of OpenUSD in Working Groups, participate in Interest Groups, or engage with the community in the AOUSD forums.

Alliance for OpenUSD (AOUSD)

Pixar, Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, and NVIDIA have formed AOUSD, an open, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the interoperability of 3D content through OpenUSD.

Evangelizing OpenUSD

AOUSD fosters the standardization, development, evolution, and growth of OpenUSD to empower developers and content creators across the 3D ecosystem.

Becoming a Member

Join AOUSD to help standardize the 3D ecosystem and define the structure and future features of OpenUSD.

Built on OpenUSD

Pushing the Limits of OpenUSD

NVIDIA continues to accelerate USD’s evolution for use cases beyond visual effects (VFX), testing the limits of the USD ecosystem through industrial, robotics, and AI applications.

Omniverse

NVIDIA Omniverse

NVIDIA Omniverse™ is a platform of APIs and SDKs that enable developers to build applications for complex 3D and industrial digitalization workflows based on OpenUSD.

Isaac Sim

NVIDIA Isaac Sim

Based on USD, NVIDIA Isaac Sim™ is a scalable robotics simulation application framework and synthetic data-generation tool that powers physically accurate virtual environments to develop, test, and manage AI-based robots.

SimReady Assets

OpenUSD SimReady Assets

USD serves as the foundation for simulation-ready assets—advanced 3D assets with physical properties that let them behave like they would in the real world.

NVIDIA’s Work in OpenUSD

Latest Contributions

NVIDIA is expanding development of OpenUSD to help our industrial and scientific communities build large-scale, physically accurate digital twins. We’re also investing in OpenUSD to include many future capabilities, such as geospatial coordinates, connections to the glTF file format, real-time proceduralism, the ability to run in web browsers, and real-time streaming of IoT data.

Material Definition Language (MDL)

Material Definition Language (MDL)

MDL lets you easily share physically based materials between supporting applications.

USD Physics

USD Physics

Watch a technical deep dive into the rigid body physics extension to USD with a real-time simulation demonstration in NVIDIA Omniverse.

Python 3 Bindings

Python 3 Bindings

Omniverse Kit uses the Python 3 async API to safely load and save assets between Omniverse servers and the local file system.

Prebuilt USD Binaries

Prebuilt USD Binaries

NVIDIA provides prebuilt USD binaries for Windows and Linux to accelerate developer workflows.

Get Started With OpenUSD

Get Started with OpenUSD
On-Demand

Introduction to OpenUSD

Watch this Introduction to USD to Learn the Basics
On-Demand

Learn the OpenUSD Basics

Learn OpenUSD Foundations
Self-Paced

Learn OpenUSD Foundations

Get Started

Platform SDK

Platform SDK

For developers looking to build an application from scratch, NVIDIA offers Omniverse SDKs and free developer sample applications that can be easily customized and extended. You can then containerize for local or self-hosted cloud usage​, or host and stream from Omniverse Cloud.

Cloud APIs

Cloud APIs

Omniverse core technologies for OpenUSD and RTX are exposed as simple APIs that developers can self-host or use as a managed service.

Coming soon to Microsoft Azure. 

Resources

Get Live Help

Connect with Omniverse experts live to get your questions answered.

Explore Resources

Learn at your own pace with free getting started material.

Latest News

Into the Omniverse: OpenUSD Workflows Advance Physical AI for Robotics, Autonomous Vehicles
January 22, 2025
The next frontier of AI is physical AI. Physical AI models can understand instructions and perceive, interact and perform complex actions in the real world to power autonomous machines like robots and self-driving cars.  
Into the Omniverse: How OpenUSD-Based Simulation and Synthetic Data Generation Advance Robot Learning
December 11, 2024
Tools like NVIDIA Isaac Sim enhance synthetic data generation, improving AI model performance and accelerating robotics development.
Into the Omniverse: How Generative AI Fuels Personalized, Brand-Accurate Visuals With OpenUSD
November 21, 2024
Interactive 3D tools built by NVIDIA Omniverse developers are helping brands deliver tailored, high-quality marketing content at scale.