What is Universal Scene Description (USD)?

Universal Scene Description

Open Source at Autodesk

Image courtesy of Amaru Zeas. Made in Maya.

Open Standards: Charting a Path to a More Resilient Future (video: 57:49 min.)

What is Universal Scene Description (USD)?

OpenUSD is a high-performance extensible framework and ecosystem for describing, composing, simulating, and navigating 3D scenes. Originally created by Pixar Animation Studios, OpenUSD is designed to meet the needs of large-scale 3D production pipelines.

Autodesk has joined Pixar, Adobe, Apple, and NVIDIA as inaugural members of the Alliance for OpenUSD (AOUSD), launched by the Joint Development Foundation, an affiliate of The Linux Foundation. We’re proud to be part of this industry-wide effort to make it easier for artists to collaborate more effectively across projects, tools, and teams.

Read up on USD

BLOG

Ethan Olsen

3ds Max Enters the USD Stage

Learn how Autodesk is bringing 3ds Max and USD closer together.

BLOG

Open Source in the Entertainment Industry

Sr Principal Engineer, Doug Walker, explains USD, MaterialX, OpenColorIO, and more open source projects.

BLOG

Amaru Zeas

The most powerful Maya yet

USD is now seamlessly integrated in Maya. Read up on how your Maya toolset just got a whole lot bigger.

BLOG

USD Plugin for Maya: An Overview

Get some background on what USD is, where it came from, and why you want to be using it.

BLOG

©Disney/Pixar

From preproduction to production: Pixar's USD Pipeline

Read about the rendering innovations and advances in data management that are transforming Pixar's pipeline.

BLOG

USD Plugin for Maya: Fundamental Pillars

Get let in on the plan to deliver a USD plugin for Maya, with the help of industry partners and the open source community.

Get started with USD in Maya

GUIDE

Amaru Zeas

Get Started with USD in Maya

GUIDE

Amaru Zeas

Create a USD Stage

GUIDE

Amaru Zeas

Create a Maya USD Model

GUIDE

Amaru Zeas

Work with the USD Layer Editor

GUIDE

Amaru Zeas

USD in the Maya Interface

Sit back and watch

WATCH

Experimenting with USD in Game Pipelines

Watch Eidos Montreal and NetEase Games dive into the challenges USD can solve for games and share their experimentation journey.

WATCH

Tim Burroughs

Next-Gen Game Workflows with USD ft. Epic Games

Watch technology experts from Autodesk and Epic Games explore the potential of an extensible and open solution like USD.

WATCH

From In-House to Off-the-Shelf: USD in Production

Animal Logic shares their journey of how they integrated USD in Maya into their production pipeline.

WATCH

Quantillion

The Source Awakens: USD, MaterialX and OpenColorIO

In this Vision Series presentation, dive into our work on the USD plugin for Maya, including collaboration with tech partners and creative studios.

WATCH

Lee Griggs

Taking on Complexity: GPU Rendering, USD & Scalability with Arnold

Cover major updates from the last year including Arnold GPU and USD components.

WATCH

©Lucasfilm

Panel: The Road to Open Standards ft. IKEA, Adobe & Lucasfilm

IKEA, Adobe and Lucasfilm discuss the importance of open standards and its integration into their pipelines.

WATCH

Catch Up with 3ds Max

Join the team behind 3ds Max for a look at how the latest USD updates can help you maximize your creative potential.

WATCH

Harvey Newman

Catch Up with Maya ft. Luma Pictures & ILM

Dive into USD, animation, and modeling workflows in Maya with the product team and special guests, Luma Pictures and Industrial Light & Magic.

WATCH

Quantillion

The Source Awakens: USD, MaterialX and OpenColorIO

In this Vision Series presentation, dive into our work on the USD plugin for Maya, including collaboration with tech partners and creative studios.

WATCH

Quantillion

The Source Awakens: USD, MaterialX and OpenColorIO

In this Vision Series presentation, dive into our work on the USD plugin for Maya, including collaboration with tech partners and creative studios.

WATCH

Lee Griggs

Taking on Complexity: GPU Rendering, USD & Scalability with Arnold

Cover major updates from the last year including Arnold GPU and USD components.

WATCH

©Lucasfilm

Panel: The Road to Open Standards ft. IKEA, Adobe & Lucasfilm

IKEA, Adobe and Lucasfilm discuss the importance of open standards and its integration into their pipelines.

WATCH

Material Transfer in Production Using Arnold and MaterialX

Learn about setting up your pipeline to capitalize on reusability of looks and see examples of taking asset looks through different software.

WATCH

Universal Scene Description: Open Source at Autodesk

Watch as Autodesk, Pixar, Animal Logic, and NVIDIA discuss the collaborative effort behind open source initiatives.

WATCH

Arnold + USD = Love

Learn what's out there and how you can contribute to all of Arnold software’s efforts for USD.

WATCH

Lee Griggs

Taking on Complexity: GPU Rendering, USD & Scalability with Arnold

Cover major updates from the last year including Arnold GPU and USD components.

WATCH

©Lucasfilm

Panel: The Road to Open Standards ft. IKEA, Adobe & Lucasfilm

IKEA, Adobe and Lucasfilm discuss the importance of open standards and its integration into their pipelines.

WATCH

Material Transfer in Production Using Arnold and MaterialX

Learn about setting up your pipeline to capitalize on reusability of looks and see examples of taking asset looks through different software.

WATCH

Massimo Righi

Maya 2020 Webinar ft. Blue Sky Studios

The Maya team discusses the Maya 2020 release. Blue Sky Studios drops by to talk about how they used Maya 2020 for their film, Spies in Disguise.

WATCH

Universal Scene Description: Open Source at Autodesk

Watch as Autodesk, Pixar, Animal Logic, and NVIDIA discuss the collaborative effort behind open source initiatives.

WATCH

Arnold + USD = Love

Learn what's out there and how you can contribute to all of Arnold software’s efforts for USD.

WATCH

Massimo Righi

Maya 2020 Webinar ft. Blue Sky Studios

The Maya team discusses the Maya 2020 release. Blue Sky Studios drops by to talk about how they used Maya 2020 for their film, Spies in Disguise.

Visit Our Open Source Community Site.

Learn more about how Autodesk is supporting open source initiatives, and contribute to projects like Maya USD, Bifrost USD, Arnold USD, and more on GitHub.

Learn more

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