On December 12, 2023, the Alliance for OpenUSD (AOUSD) unveiled a strategic collaboration roadmap, aimed at reinforcing its position as the future 3D standard architecture. The plan is designed to enhance the interoperability of 3D objects, applications, and games, thereby fostering deeper industry-wide collaboration.
What are OpenUSD and AOUSD?
OpenUSD (Open Universal Scene Description), an open-source project developed by Pixar Animation Studios, is a comprehensive file format and toolset for describing and exchanging 3D graphic scenes. It has been extensively used in a number of industries, including virtual reality, augmented reality, game development, and film production. It offers a strong platform for the development, sharing, and cooperation of digital content.
©NVIDIA
Image from AOUSD
Established in August this year, AOUSD is an organization committed to promoting the standardization, development, evolution, and growth of OpenUSD. Industry giants Pixar, Apple, Adobe, Autodesk, NVIDIA, and the Joint Development Foundation (JDF), a branch of the Linux Foundation, are among the alliance's members.
AOUSD's Two-year Roadmap
Pixar's Chief Technology Officer and AOUSD Chair Steve May stressed the organization's goal of fostering better interoperability among 3D tools and data. To ensure interoperability and collaboration, the new roadmap highlights anticipated expansions and milestones for the upcoming year, demonstrating the progress the alliance is making.
Image from AOUSD
The roadmap of the alliance aims to achieve greater compatibility, wider adoption, integration, and implementation of OpenUSD. It outlines the journey to become an international standard for interoperability of various data types used to describe 3D scenes and environments. As the first step of the roadmap, AOUSD’s Core Specification working group will define the foundation of OpenUSD, focusing on how to build and interpret underlying data, ensuring portability and interoperability across various software platforms and devices.
AOUSD Announced New Members and Collaboration
AOUSD also announced the arrival of 12 new general members, including five major giants: Cesium, Epic Games, Foundry, SideFX, and Unity. Renderer developers Chaos and Otoy, CAD modeling technology company Spatial, retailers IKEA and Lowe’s, and tech giants Hexagon and Meta have also officially joined. This expansion of the member team aims to promote deeper cooperation on the 3D standard and increase the coverage of professional knowledge.
Image from AOUSD
In addition, the OpenUSD Alliance announced the establishment of a liaison relationship with the Khronos Group, another standard alliance, to promote better community support through the sharing of ideas. The cooperation with the Khronos Group aims to improve the consistency and interoperability of OpenUSD and Khronos’s glTF, a widely adopted 3D asset open standard, providing support for seamless transitions between technologies, and promoting the creation of complex 3D content that can be experienced on a range of platforms and engines.
Source: AOUSD
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