On Tuesday, the Joint Development Foundation (JDF), a subsidiary of the Linux Foundation, and tech giants Apple, Pixar, Adobe, Autodesk, and NVIDIA announced the Alliance for OpenUSD (AOUSD) to support the standardization, development, evolution, and growth of Pixar’s Universal Scene Description technology.
The partnership aims to standardize the 3D ecosystem by expanding Open Universal Scene Description’s (OpenUSD) functionalities.
The partnership will make it possible for developers and content producers to describe, compose, and simulate large-scale 3D projects as well as create a constantly expanding range of 3D-enabled goods and services by encouraging better interoperability of 3D tools and data.
According to Mike Rockwell, Apple’s vice president of the Vision Products Group, “OpenUSD will help accelerate the next generation of AR experiences, from artistic creation to content delivery, and produce an ever-widening array of spatial computing applications.”
The ground-breaking visionOS platform and the brand-new Reality Composer Pro developer tool both rely on USD, which Apple actively contributed to the creation of. We expect promoting its development into a widely accepted standard, he continued.
The coalition will provide detailed written specifications outlining OpenUSD’s functionality.
As a result, there will be increased compatibility, wider adoption, integration, and implementation, and other standards organizations will be able to include it in their specifications.
The project will be housed by the Linux Foundation’s JDF because it will allow for the open, effective, and efficient development of OpenUSD specifications and because it offers a route to recognition through the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
Additionally, AOUSD will serve as the main venue for the industry’s collective definition of technological advancements.
According to Steve May, Chief Technology Officer at Pixar and Chairperson of AOUSD, “We open-sourced the project in 2016 and the influence of OpenUSD now extends beyond film, visual effects, and animation and into other industries that increasingly rely on 3D data for media interchange.”
The value that each package and gadget contributes to the creative process is multiplied, according to Guido Quaroni, Senior Director of Engineering, 3D&I at Adobe.
As one of these “multipliers,” OpenUSD was designed, and Quaroni continued, “We are excited to see a diverse group of companies joining together to support this innovative and open technology.”
