Cesium team members in Denver for SIGGRAPH 2024
As the curtain closes on SIGGRAPH 2024, the Alliance for OpenUSD (AOUSD) has once again demonstrated its pivotal role in, and commitment to, shaping the future of 3D development and content creation through the adoption of Universal Scene Description, or OpenUSD. Held in Denver, Colorado, this year’s conference was a vibrant hub of innovation, collaboration, and learning.
Key Takeaways:
- OpenUSD is rapidly becoming the lingua franca for 3D content across industries.
- Major players like Pixar, Meta, and NVIDIA are pushing OpenUSD capabilities to new heights.
- Interoperability efforts between OpenUSD and glTF promise a more connected 3D ecosystem.
Innovations and Insights
The event was marked by a series of enlightening presentations and discussions led by AOUSD members and industry giants such as Adobe, Ansys, Apple, Autodesk, Cesium, Epic Games, Meta, NVIDIA, Pixar, SideFX, Sony Group, and WPP. These sessions delved deep into the capabilities and applications of OpenUSD, highlighting its growing importance in streamlining production pipelines across industries.
Dexter Studios presented how they integrated OpenUSD to accelerate film productions in the Autodesk Vision Series
Session Highlights:
The Autodesk Vision Series explored the integration of OpenUSD to optimize visual effects pipelines
- Dexter Studios spoke about how they leveraged Autodesk Maya and OpenUSD to reduce shot work time by 50%.
- Fin Design + Effects took attendees behind-the-scenes on the making of major motion picture, “The Creator,” highlighting the critical role of open standards like OpenUSD, MaterialX, and OCIO in the process.
Chairperson of the Core Specification Working Group for AOUSD and Director of Product Management at NVIDIA, Aaron Luk presented during the AOUSD and ASWF USD Working Group BoF
The AOUSD and ASWF USD Working Group BoF highlighted the liaison agreement between the two groups and how, together, they are responding to community needs and standards development for OpenUSD.
At USD, Hydra and OpenSubdiv: Pixar’s Open Source Meetup, Pixar shared the latest updates to OpenUSD, Hydra, and Opensubdiv followed by an extensive lineup of partner presentations.
NVIDIA’s OpenUSD Day program showed the breadth of OpenUSD adoption across various industries, with several AOUSD members taking center stage:
- Meta Scales Avatars to Billions: Meta Reality Labs team presented their groundbreaking work on avatar technology using OpenUSD. They explored how OpenUSD enables the creation of complex dynamic character assembly workflows, supporting Meta’s goal of delivering high-quality avatars at scale for billions of users.
- WPP Reimagines Creative Workflows: Perry Nightingale, SVP Creative AI for WPP, shared insights on how WPP, one of the world’s largest marketing services companies, is transforming content creation for global brands using robotics, OpenUSD, and AI.
- Ansys Bridges the Gap Between Simulation and Reality: Rich Goldman at Ansys explored how Ansys is leveraging OpenUSD to enhance physics-based simulation and visualization, improving the accuracy and realism of virtual prototypes across industries.
NVIDIA Pushes the Boundaries of Real-time Rendering and AI Integration: NVIDIA showcased multiple applications of OpenUSD, from cloud streaming to autonomous vehicle development. Looking ahead, we can expect to see more integration between OpenUSD and AI technologies. This could lead to more dynamic and responsive 3D environments in games, simulations, and virtual production.
Bridging Worlds: Metaverse Standards Forum’s panel showcased the work being done by the OpenUSD and the glTF community toward interoperability between the two key technologies in the 3D ecosystem. Cesium highlighted how they are using OpenUSD, glTF, and 3D Tiles to advance 3D geospatial.
This focus on interoperability aligns closely with AOUSD’s mission to promote the development and adoption of OpenUSD as a foundational technology for 3D content creation. The insights shared during this panel underscored the importance of continued collaboration and standardization efforts in realizing the full potential of 3D technologies across industries and communities.
SIGGRAPH attendees were also able to get hands-on training assistance during NVIDIA’s OpenUSD labs, which covered creating composition arcs, asset structuring, and developing data exchange pipelines with OpenUSD.
Engagement and Networking
The conference also offered numerous networking opportunities, with the annual ASWF Beers of a Feather Evening Reception, Pixar’s Open Source Meetup, and NVIDIA OpenUSD Day Developer Meetup.
Looking Forward
SIGGRAPH 2024 showcased OpenUSD’s growing influence across industries. A key development is the AOUSD Core Specification Working Group’s progress towards formalizing OpenUSD’s foundational elements. Their goal to finalize specifications by late 2025 marks a crucial step towards establishing OpenUSD as an international standard for virtual world datasets. Learn more about the Core Specification progress.
As we reflect on the success of SIGGRAPH 2024, it’s clear that the future is bright for OpenUSD and its growing ecosystem. The conference demonstrated the expanding reach of OpenUSD beyond traditional media and entertainment, into fields such as robotics, autonomous vehicles, avatar technology, and industrial applications.
Continue your OpenUSD journey at Autodesk University (AU) 2024, which will gather the brightest across industries — from VFX, architecture, animation, product design, and more — to advance industry practices, explore opportunities for the future, and share ideas and insights on emerging technology like AI and open standards. Register today.
To stay up to date on all other events AOUSD will be participating in, check out our event calendar.
You can learn more about OpenUSD in our explainer blog on the framework. For more resources, check out our forum.
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