Giants such as Apple, Nvidia, and Pixar form an alliance to develop 3D graphics standards in the Metaverse

Source: The Paper

Reporter Shao Wen

Apple, Nvidia, Pixar, Adobe, and Autodesk jointly formed the OpenUSD Alliance (AOUSD). Several of the companies weren't talking specifically about the "Metaverse" at their launch event, but they are promoting one of the key features of the Open Metaverse -- interoperability between 3D tools and data.

Image source: Generated by Unbounded AI tool

On August 1 local time, five major companies in the 3D content industry in the United States, Apple, Nvidia, Pixar, Adobe, and Autodesk, jointly established the OpenUSD Alliance (AOUSD). OpenUSD technology is the foundation of Nvidia's Omniverse platform, which may one day become the standard for 3D graphics in the "Metaverse."

OpenUSD is an open data format developed by Pixar Animation Studios that allows teams to work together on large-scale 3D workflows and share 3D objects and environments that can be used in AR (augmented reality) and VR (virtual reality) projects Information.

The OpenUSD Alliance will develop a written specification detailing the characteristics of OpenUSD. This will increase the compatibility of OpenUSD, broaden its adoption, integration and implementation, and enable other standardization organizations to also incorporate into this specification. The Joint Development Foundation (JDF), a subsidiary of the Linux Foundation, has been selected as the hosting organization for the project, which will promote open, efficient and effective OpenUSD specification development, and provide access to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certification. way.

Steve May, chief technology officer of Pixar and chairman of the OpenUSD Alliance, said, "OpenUSD is based on Pixar's years of research and application in the field of film production. We open sourced the project in 2016. Today, the influence of OpenUSD is not limited to Film, VFX and animation are also expanding into other industries that increasingly rely on 3D data for media exchange."

Nvidia has long used OpenUSD as the basis for its Omniverse platform, and in particular has been working to support the Industrial Metaverse through the concept of a digital twin (a fully virtual digital asset that reflects every detail of a real-world object, including physical properties). ). Omniverse is a platform that supports real-time collaboration and simulation, allowing artists and engineers to virtually design and recreate virtual worlds at scale.

"OpenUSD provides a complete foundation for 3D developers, artists and designers with broad multi-application interoperability to support processing large-scale industrial , digital content creation, and simulation work. The consortium presents a unique opportunity to accelerate global collaboration on OpenUSD by establishing formal standards across industries and taking steps to enable the digitalization of the 3D world and industry."

Interoperability, also known as interoperability, refers to the ability of different computer systems, networks, operating systems and applications to work together and share information.

OpenUSD will also find a place in the virtual reality and augmented reality markets, with Apple recently releasing a powerful new headset, the Vision Pro, and the visionOS operating system that runs it. “Apple has been an active contributor to the development of USD, a key technology behind the breakthrough VisionOS platform as well as the new Reality Composer Pro development tool,” said Mike Rockwell, vice president of Apple’s Visual Products Group. OpenUSD will Help accelerate the development of next-generation AR experiences, from art creation to content delivery, and enable a growing number of spatial computing applications."

Several companies didn't talk specifically about the "Metaverse" at the launch event, but they are promoting one of the key features of the Open Metaverse -- by facilitating greater interoperability of 3D tools and data, the consortium will enable developers and Content creators are able to describe, author and simulate large-scale 3D projects and build an ever-expanding range of 3D products and services.