#United States #San Francisco #OpenUSD #AOUSD #3D Standards

The Alliance for OpenUSD Expands Its Community and Efforts

On March 17, 2025, the Alliance for OpenUSD (AOUSD) made a groundbreaking announcement regarding its development, revealing the addition of five new general members and the establishment of two new interest groups. This move signifies a pivotal step toward enhancing the adoption of OpenUSD, a robust framework aimed at transforming how 3D scenes are described and interacted with across various industries.

New Members Enhancing the Network

The AOUSD proudly welcomed new members including tech giants like Amazon and Delta Electronics, alongside innovative companies such as Homestyler, Kondux, and Rockwell Automation. Each member brings unique expertise and perspectives that will undoubtedly fortify the OpenUSD ecosystem. By joining forces, these companies aim to advance collaborative 3D modeling and representation in sectors like AI design, industrial automation, and smart manufacturing.

Amazon's Commitment to Open Standards

Parris Wellman, VP of Engineering and Robotics at Amazon, emphasized the importance of open standards, asserting that they are crucial for advancing 3D workflows. The company aims to streamline collaborations across different platforms and organizations, fostering a unified ecosystem for 3D content creation.

Delta Electronics and the Future of Smart Manufacturing

Delta Electronics expressed its dedication to smart manufacturing, acknowledging that as market demands evolve, integrating digital twins into their solutions becomes increasingly vital. Through their involvement in AOUSD, Delta intends to promote their innovative digital twin solutions and help shape the future of OpenUSD standards.

Innovations from Homestyler and Kondux

Homestyler, with its user base of 18 million, aims to eliminate data silos in 3D modeling by fully adopting the OpenUSD framework. Similarly, Kondux seeks to enhance security frameworks for real-time visualization, aligning with OpenUSD's lightweight and extensible nature to ensure efficient and secure asset exchange.

Rockwell Automation's Digital Transformation Goals

Recognized as a leader in industrial automation, Rockwell Automation's participation in AOUSD underscores their commitment to improving data interoperability and supporting digital twin solutions. By engaging in the alliance, they aim to provide better technological usability for customers globally.

Establishment of New Interest Groups

In addition to welcoming new members, the AOUSD has introduced two new interest groups that focus on driving innovation and applications of OpenUSD.

Industrial and Engineering Digital Twin Interest Group

This group aims to explore the applicability of OpenUSD in creating digital twins specifically for industrial and engineering usage. They will craft guidelines addressing critical definitions and requirements that facilitate USD adoption in these areas, ensuring the technology meets the rising demands of businesses in this sector.

Web Interest Group

The Web Interest Group is dedicated to optimizing the interaction of OpenUSD content with web technologies. They will recommend strategies for enhancing the usability of OpenUSD for web applications, including the implementation of WebAssembly builds. This initiative aims to broaden the scope of OpenUSD applications on the Internet.

Working Groups Making Significant Progress

AOUSD's working groups, such as the Core Spec Working Group, are progressing well, nearing completion of their draft for Core Spec 1.0. This specification focuses on providing precise algorithms for value resolution in USD contexts, ensuring consistent querying results across different content types. The specifications being developed by this group will not only support compliance testing but also enhance user interactions with USD files.

The Materials Working Group is working diligently on authoring standards for material node definitions, ensuring seamless integration with the MaterialX Specification. This effort intends to enable users to create rich, compatible materials across various platforms.

The Future Ahead

As the AOUSD community continues to grow, the alliance reaffirms its commitment to facilitating collaboration in the realm of 3D content creation. With the recent release of OpenUSD v25.02, enhancements have been made to support interoperability in content, along with optimizations to existing workflows.

The advancement of OpenUSD hinges not only on technological improvements but also on the collaborative drive from its members. As industry leaders converge to share their knowledge and expertise, the promise of OpenUSD as a formidable solution for 3D content description becomes increasingly viable. Looking forward, AOUSD will showcase innovations and more during the upcoming NVIDIA GTC event, further cementing its imperative role in the evolution of 3D technology standards.

Conclusion

The steps taken by the Alliance for OpenUSD represent a major leap forward in fostering an inclusive and efficient 3D content environment. As new members join and working groups make measurable progress, the future of 3D interoperability looks bright and geared toward broadening its impact across various sectors around the world.