Apple, Adobe and Pixar team up to standardize OpenUSD 3D software

Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, Nvidia and Pixar will work together to promote open standards for creating 3D content. The companies are jointly forming the Alliance for OpenUSD to work on Pixar’s Universal Scene Description technique.

The companies report on Tuesday in a press release that they will work with the alliance on the “standardization, development, evolution and growth” of Pixar’s Universal Scene Description technology. The companies hope to contribute to ‘interoperability of 3D content’. The Alliance for OpenUSD will, among other things, prepare written specifications describing the functions of OpenUSD. Makers of 3D software can use this to make their software compatible with USD. The Joint Development Foundation, which is part of the Linux Foundation, will house the initiative.

Pixar mentions OpenUSD ‘the first open source software that can exchange 3D scenes in a robust and scalable way’ and can include different assets, sources and animations. For example, USD allows artists to collaborate on 3D projects and exchange 3D data between different applications used for the production of animated films. Pixar says the software can also be applied to creating content for the metaverse and mixed reality or virtual reality devices. Apple, for example, calls USD a “key technology” for its visionOS operating system for the Vision Pro.

Pixar first used USD to produce the film Brave. The company made an open source variant available in 2016, called OpenUSD. By forming an alliance and creating specifications for OpenUSD, the companies expect that more 3D design software can become compatible with OpenUSD. This should make it easier to create 3D objects and scenes with different applications. It is not known when the specifications will be ready.

Alliance for OpenUSD