LogInCheck out this video to learn more about USD's new import feature, how it works with other apps, and the overall big picture for the USD workflow.
A YouTuber Anselem Nkoro a.k.a. askNK, known for various Blender-related tutorials and breakdowns, has released a new video covering Blender 3.0 Alpha's new Universal Scene Description function. Anselem shows how to work with the new import feature, thoroughly explains how USD works with other apps, and overall explains the general USD workflow.
According to the Blender Manual, Universal Scene Description files can contain complex layering, overriding, and references to other files. Blender’s USD Exporter takes a much simpler approach. When exporting, all visible, supported objects in the scene are exported, optionally limited by their selection state. Blender does not (yet) support exporting invisible objects, USD layers, variants, skeletal animation, etc.
The following objects can be exported to USD:
- Meshes (of different kinds, see below).
- Cameras (perspective cameras only at the moment, not orthogonal ones).
- Light (all types except area lights).
- Hair (exported as curves, and limited to parent strands).
When exporting an animation, the final, evaluated mesh is written to USD. This means that the following meshes can be exported:
- Static meshes.
- Deforming meshes; here the topology of the mesh does not change, but the locations of the vertices change over time. Examples are animated characters or bouncing (but not cracking) objects.
- Arbitrarily animated meshes; here the topology does change. An example is the result of a fluid simulation, where splashes of fluid can break off the main body.
- Metaballs are exported as animated meshes.
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