Nvidia has expanded its Omniverse simulation and collaboration platform through new integrations with Blender and Adobe.
Open-source 3D animation tool Blender will now have Universal Scene Description (USD) support, enabling artists to access Omniverse production pipelines. In addition, Adobe is collaborating with Nvidia on a Substance 3D plug-in that will bring Substance Material support to Omniverse, unlocking new material editing capabilities for Omniverse and Substance 3D users.
Nvidia Omniverse makes it possible for designers, artists and reviewers to work together in real time across software applications in a shared virtual world from anywhere. Professionals at over 500 companies, including SHoP Architects, South Park and Lockheed Martin, are evaluating the platform. Since the launch of its open beta in December, Omniverse has been downloaded by over 50,000 individual creators.
“Nvidia Omniverse connects worlds by enabling the vision of the metaverse to become a reality,” said Richard Kerris, vice president of the Omniverse development platform at Nvidia. “With input from developers, partners and customers, we’re advancing this platform so that everyone from individuals to large enterprises can work with others to build amazing virtual worlds that look, feel and behave just as the physical world does.”
The metaverse is an immersive and connected shared virtual world. In it, artists can create one-of-a-kind digital scenes, architects can create buildings and engineers can design new products for homes. These creations can then be taken into the physical world after they have been perfected in the digital world.
Nvidia Omniverse has a growing ecosystem of supporting partners. Key to its industry adoption is Pixar’s open-source USD — the foundation of Omniverse’s collaboration and simulation platform — enabling large teams to work simultaneously across multiple software applications on a shared 3D scene. This open standard foundation gives software partners multiple ways to extend and connect to Omniverse, whether through USD adoption and support, building a plug-in, or via an Omniverse Connector.
Apple, Pixar and Nvidia have collaborated to bring advanced physics capabilities to USD, embracing open standards to provide 3D workflows to billions of devices. Blender and Nvidia have provided USD support to the upcoming release of Blender 3.0 and Nvidia is contributing USD and materials support in Blender 3.0 alpha USD, which is set to be available soon.
“Nvidia engineering efforts on integrating USD into Blender is exemplary for how the industry contributes to open source,” said Ton Roosendaal, chairman of the Blender Foundation. “Thanks to USD, Blender artists can have high-quality access to studio pipelines and collaboration platforms such as Omniverse.”
Adobe and Nvidia’s Substance 3D plug-in will unlock new material editing abilities for Omniverse and Substance 3D users. Artists and creators will be able to work directly with Substance Materials either sourced from the Substance 3D Asset platform or created in Substance 3D applications, creating a more seamless 3D workflow.
“Adobe is dedicated to an open and connected community of 3D designers,” said Sebastien Deguy, vice president of 3D and immersive at Adobe. “As an industry standard, Substance will strengthen the Omniverse ecosystem by empowering 3D creators with access to Substance 3D materials.”
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