NVIDIA opens Omniverse to everyone. This platform will revolutionize the creation of 3D content.
NVIDIA has just opened up the Omniverse platform to 3D creators around the world. The company believes that anyone can create virtual worlds with an unprecedented level of collaboration and simulation. Better yet for individuals to use this tool for free.
NVIDIA opens Omniverse to everyone
If you’re new to Omniverse, know that it’s an NVIDIA platform conceived and designed to solve one of the biggest challenges 3D creators face: collaboration. The second goal is to enable realistic simulation of Omniverse virtual worlds.
Content can be created using a variety of tools in a variety of formats. Each team and each participant agrees on a set of tools, file formats, protocols for import/export of data, and a place to store all this data. It’s best to have a dedicated technical team to sort it all out. But it is difficult and very expensive.
Omniverse wants to replace this entire workflow (including rendering) with features such as the Nucleus Cloud, which acts as a data steward for all participants. Omniverse connectors, developed by companies like Adobe or Autodesk, help manage the flow of data in and out of Omniverse before it hits the screen.
Theoretically, creators can work without engineers or technicians, but if necessary, you can customize the code using plugins.
The bidirectional flow is very strong. This means that data created in Omniverse can be exported to a development application such as 3DS Max. For example, the NVIDIA Omniverse Audio2Face application uses AI to automatically generate the “shapes”required for facial animation. This is usually the work of a designer. Theoretically, these shapes can be re-exported to 3DS Max.
This platform will revolutionize the creation of 3D content.
The more Omniverse grows, the more companies participate, the more additional connectors will multiply, with the ultimate goal of enabling creators to use any tool to collaborate with Omniverse. We have not yet reached this, but the foundations already laid do open up this possibility.
Creator data is imported into virtual scenes for viewing by the Omniverse runtime. This runtime is the layman’s equivalent of a 3D engine. In Omniverse, the entire creative team can visualize a single world in which the slightest change from any creator is immediately visible to everyone.
Omniverse can generate renderings using a variety of techniques, including ray tracing, and you can use the laws of physics in scenes, opening the door to very realistic simulations in virtual worlds. One of the most popular uses of Omniverse in business is virtual construction planning.
The Omniverse rests on the shoulders of many giants. One of its main building blocks is Pixar’s Universal Scene Description Format (USD), which is now open source and at the heart of Omniverse. The USD engine makes it easy and secure to create, combine, and manipulate 3D data. The US dollar is the result of decades of development and experimentation at Pixar.
Beyond the US dollar, NVIDIA is adding decades of engineering, physics, and artificial intelligence. Creators can now collect it all in one place.
Anyone who has worked in the 3D industry before can tell you that the problems NVIDIA Omniverse solves are extremely difficult to understand. And for the first time, there may be a real solution. Creating and managing content is as titanic as rendering it. Omniverse takes care of everything.
Items for Omniverse can already be found on Shutterstock’s TurboSquid, CGTrader, Sketchfab and Twinbru. More coming soon on Reallusion’s ActorCore, Daz3D and e-on software PlantCatalog sites.
Video game fans, meanwhile, should check out Omniverse Machimina, they can create a video game-like screensaver with elements from Mechwarrior 5, Shadow Warrior 3, Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord and Squad.
There are a lot of things in Omniverse that are still very much changing, but this little overview gives you an idea of what it does and how important this platform can be. 3D creators can download Omniverse, but be aware that you’ll need an NVIDIA RTX graphics card and NVIDIA Studio drivers to use it. Feel free to watch video tutorials.
To see Omniverse in action, you can watch NVIDIA’s CES presentation below: