NVIDIA is opening Omniverse to everyone. This platform will revolutionize the creation of 3D content
NVIDIA has just opened its platform Omniverse to 3D creators around the world. The company deems it ready for anyone to create virtual worlds with an unprecedented level of collaboration and simulation. Better yet, for individuals, the tool is free to use.
NVIDIA opens Omniverse to everyone
If you’re unfamiliar with Omniverse, know that it’s an NVIDIA platform thought and designed to solve one of the biggest challenges 3D creators face – working collaboratively. The second objective is to enable realistic simulations in the Omniverse virtual worlds.
Content can be created from many tools in various formats. Each team and member agree on a set of tools, file formats, protocols for importing / exporting data and a place to store all this data. The best is to have a dedicated technical team to put it all in place. But it is difficult and very expensive.
Omniverse wants to replace all this workflow (including rendering) by offering features like Nucleus Cloud, which acts as a data steward for all participants. Omniverse connectors designed by companies like Adobe or Autodesk help manage the flow of data to and from Omniverse before it gets to the screen.
In theory, creators can work without engineers or technical direction, but it is possible to customize the code through plugins when needed.
The bi-directionality of the flow is very powerful. This means that the data created in Omniverse can be exported to an authoring application like 3DS Max.
For example, NVIDIA’s Omniverse Audio2Face application uses AI to automatically generate “shapes” needed for facial animations. This is usually the job of a designer. These shapes can, in theory, 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 giving creators the ability to use any tool to collaborate with Omniverse. We are not there yet, but the foundations already laid really open up to this possibility.
Creator data is imported into virtual scenes for viewing by the Omniverse runtime. This runtime is the equivalent of the 3D engine for the layman. In Omniverse, the entire creative team can visualize a unified world in which the slightest change from any creator is immediately visible to everyone.
Omniverse can generate the renderings using a variety of techniques, including ray-tracing, and it is possible to use the laws of physics in the scenes, which opens the door to very realistic simulations in virtual worlds. One of the most popular uses of Omniverse in business is virtual construction planning.
Omniverse rests on the shoulders of many giants. One of its fundamental building blocks is the Pixar Universal Scene Description (USD) format which is now open source and at the heart of Omniverse.
The USD mechanism allows 3D data to be created, merged and manipulated easily and securely. USD is the result of decades of development and experimentation at Pixar.
On top of the USD, NVIDIA adds decades of rendering engineering, physics, and artificial intelligence. Creators can now have it all in one place.
Anyone who has worked in the 3D industry before can tell you that the issues that NVIDIA Omniverse solves here are extremely difficult to grasp. And for the first time, there might be a real solution. Creating and managing content is as titanic as rendering it. Omniverse takes care of everything.
Elements for Omniverse can already be found at TurboSquid by Shutterstock, CGTrader, Sketchfab and Twinbru. Others will arrive soon at Reallusion’s ActorCore, Daz3D and e-on software PlantCatalog.
Video game fans, on the other hand, should check out Omniverse Machimina, they can create video game-like cutscenes with elements of the game.
Omniverse has a lot of things that are still very changing, but this little overview gives you a taste of what it does and how important this platform could be. 3D creators can download Omniverse, but keep in mind that you need an NVIDIA RTX graphics card and NVIDIA Studio drivers to enjoy it. Feel free to watch the video tutorials.