Alliance for OpenUSD

Name: OpenUSD Day
Start: 2023-08-09T09:00:00-07:00
End: 2023-08-09T17:30:00-07:00
Location: SIGGRAPH 2023

Become A Member

Our Mission

To foster the standardization, development, evolution, and growth of OpenUSD.

The Alliance for OpenUSD (AOUSD) is an open, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the interoperability of 3D content through OpenUSD (Universal Scene Description). Standardizing the 3D ecosystem will enable developers and content creators to describe, compose, and simulate large-scale 3D projects and build an ever-widening range of 3D-enabled products and services. Part of the Joint Development Foundation, the Alliance brings together a diverse and inclusive community of participants to provide an open forum for collaborative development and discussion around OpenUSD.

Core Initiatives

Standardization

A foundational goal is to provide a written specification for OpenUSD core functionality. This not only allows for the development of diverse and compatible OpenUSD implementations, but also enables other standards to reference OpenUSD in support of their technology initiatives.

Evolution

AOUSD serves as a key focal point for the coordinated development of new OpenUSD functionality by our members. We’re also committed to pursuing collaborative relationships with other organizations and standards bodies in the 3D ecosystem

Development

For new functionality where a reference implementation doesn’t already exist in the Pixar OpenUSD repository, AOUSD will provide a repository to house reference implementations. As the definition of essential OpenUSD functionality expands over time, new implementations can be added.

Growth

AOUSD is committed to offering new opportunities for the OpenUSD community of contributors, developers, and users. At the same time, we’ll work to remove friction and barriers for adoption across a wider array of use cases and implementations.

OpenUSD for 3D Interoperability

OpenUSD is far more than just a file format. It’s a comprehensive technology, platform, and ecosystem built to empower 3D creativity and visualization at cinematic scales.

Extensible Framework and Ecosystem for 3D Scenes

OpenUSD is a high-performance extensible framework and ecosystem for describing, composing, simulating, and collaboratively navigating and constructing 3D scenes.

Nvidia

Optimized for Large-Scale 3D Production Pipelines

Created by Pixar Animation Studios, OpenUSD is now being embraced by industries beyond the film industry, including architecture, engineering, construction, automotive, and manufacturing.

Describe, Compose, Simulate, and Collaborate on 3D Projects

OpenUSD gives developers and content creators the unique ability to broaden interoperability across content tools, data types, workflows, and platforms.

Nvidia

Events

There are no upcoming events.

There are no upcoming events.

Latest Past Events

August 16 @ 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm PDT

USD Working Group Virtual Town Hall

Open Source Days '23 Los Angeles

August 9 @ 9:00 am - 12:00 pm PDT

USD in Production

SIGGRAPH 2023 Los Angeles

August 9 @ 9:00 am - 5:30 pm PDT

OpenUSD Day

SIGGRAPH 2023 Los Angeles

News & Resources

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In News

The Alliance for OpenUSD (AOUSD): Shaping the Future of 3D Technology

Shortly before SIGGRAPH 2023, the Alliance for OpenUSD (AOUSD) was established, marking a significant development in the 3D technology sector. The alliance includes prominent members like Pixar, Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, and NVIDIA, focusing on standardizing and furthering OpenUSD 3D data specifications and technologies. This collaboration aims to enable 3D interoperability to better enable 3D content creation workflows, industrial digitalization, and graphics experiences such as spatial computing.

Founding Members

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“The Khronos Group warmly welcomes AOUSD to the community of open standard organizations. We look forward to a close cooperation so that Khronos standards, including glTF, can support and synergize with AOUSD’s mission for the good of the industry.”
Neil Trevett, VP, Developer Ecosystems, NVIDIA
President, The Khronos Group

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"Epic Games recognizes the significance of USD in establishing standards for 3D content, virtual worlds, and the open metaverse. Pixar has demonstrated exceptional leadership in the open source community over the last decade, and we are excited to witness the formation of the Alliance for OpenUSD, which will propel the technology to new levels of standardization."
Marc Petit, VP, Unreal Ecosystem, Epic Games

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"SideFX is excited to be aligning efforts toward USD adoption with fellow visionaries across the visualization industry. By working together to advance the adoption of USD standards, we can accelerate the pace of innovation among artists and developers, unlocking the full potential of virtual worlds."
Cristin Barghiel, Vice President of Research and Development, SideFX

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“We’re proud to be among this cohort of pioneers facilitating USD standardization and evolution in an open forum so that developers can more easily leverage the power of 3D geospatial data.”
Patrick Cozzi, CEO, Cesium
Co-Chair, 3D Asset Interoperability using USD and glTF group, Metaverse Standards Forum

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“Foundry is proud to be one of the first general members of this alliance, dedicated to the cause of standardizing the use of USD. We’re looking forward to supporting the AOUSD in its mission to standardize USD, unlocking its full potential to enable the collaboration, consistency, and flexibility required for content creation workflows of the future.”
Phil Parsonage, Chief Technology Officer, Foundry

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“Unity is committed to the continued adoption of USD standards. AOUSD is an important step forward to delivering a common foundation for content creation, collaboration and interoperability. We are excited to be involved in the alliance and to help shape the future of USD.”
Natalya Tatarchuk, Chief Architect for Professional Artistry and Graphics Innovation, Unity Gaming Services

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“We are excited to support the launch of the AOUSD and efforts to standardize OpenUSD. The Academy Software Foundation’s thriving 800+ member USD Working Group focuses on sharing best practices for deployment of USD technologies and providing vetted solutions for common USD issues and will serve as a liaison with the AOUSD. We look forward to working with the AOUSD to represent the interests, ideas and techniques developed by our communities for use in the motion picture industry.”
David Morin, Executive Director, The Academy Software Foundation

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“IKEA has, for more than 15 years, been implementing large scale 3D use and promoting open standards and collaboration to make our products accessible to the many suppliers, coworkers and customers. We have been searching for a non-proprietary standard format to author and store 3D content to connect our value chain even closer, and develop home furnishing solutions to a lower price. AOUSD is a big step in that direction. We are excited to make our contribution to it.”
Martin Enthed, Innovation Manager, IKEA

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"By joining the alliance, we're demonstrating our dedication to the advantages that OpenUSD provides our clients when linking with cloud-based platforms, including Nexus, Hexagon's manufacturing platform, and NVIDIA Omniverse to build innovative solutions in their industries."
Burkhard Boeckem, CTO, Hexagon

General Members

Membership

As an AOUSD General Member, you’ll have a seat at the table during discussion and development of new features to the OpenUSD specification. Through a structured but collaborative process, you’ll help shape the future features and directions of the OpenUSD technology stack and define the structure of the core functionality for how 3D worlds will be described and interacted with going forward.

Become A Member

For more information about AOUSD membership, click here. For information regarding AOUSD Working Group Processes, click here.

Still looking to get involved? The community forum is open to all without AOUSD membership.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Alliance for OpenUSD?

The Alliance for OpenUSD (AOUSD) is an open, non-profit organization dedicated to fostering the standardization, development, evolution, and growth of OpenUSD (Universal Scene Description) to promote interoperability of 3D content. Part of the Joint Development Foundation, the Alliance provides an open forum for collaborative development and discussion around OpenUSD, bringing together a diverse and inclusive community of participants.

For more information about becoming an AOUSD member, click here, and for the AOUSD Working Group Processes, click here.

Who is governing the Alliance for OpenUSD?

The Alliance for OpenUSD steering committee will comprise technical, business, and community leaders committed to driving the open standards technology, including one from each of the Founding Member companies and elected representatives of the general membership. Each of the Founding Member companies–Pixar, Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, and NVIDIA–has been and continues to be large contributors to and evangelists of OpenUSD.

Steve May, CTO of Pixar Animation Studios, is the initial Chairperson for the Alliance, selected by the steering committee.

How much does the Alliance for OpenUSD membership cost?

Members of AOUSD must also be members of Linux Foundation. General Members pay an annual fee of $10,000 USD.

Membership fees are used to support collaborative infrastructure, program management, standards editorial services, marketing, and PR, and in the future, compliance and certification testing efforts. General membership is now open. Become a member.

Have more questions about the Alliance for OpenUSD?

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