Omniverse USD Composer Skills

Here, you learn many of the essential skills you’ll need to work effectively in Omniverse USD Composer.

Layer Setup

Here are some examples of how you might use layers in your work.

Outdoor Scenario

Create, hide, and show, a new material sublayer:

Key takeaways:

• Creating sublayer adds a new layer above the existing layers.

• Layers, in Omniverse, stack on top of one another.

  • Hiding a layer reveals the underlying layer.

  • Showing a layer overrides the underlying layer.

Indoor Scenario

Create a new sublayer for every room in a home:

Key takeaways:

• When building an interior environment with a lot of props, it’s convenient to create a layer for every room.

• Consider grouping your room layers by story.

Viewport Navigation

Here are some examples of how you can navigate the Viewport:

Key Takeaways:

• Hold the right mouse button to look around.

• Hold the right mouse button and press W, A, S, D, Q, or E to move the camera.

• Hold the middle mouse button to pan.

• Press F to focus on an object.

• Hold Alt and hold the left mouse button to orbit.

• Refer to Viewport Navigation for a more detailed walk-through.

Model vs Prim (Selection Modes)

Here, you learn the differences between model mode and primitive mode:

Key Takeaways:

• Use the Select button in the Toolbar to switch between primitive and model modes.

• In model mode, you move the whole object around.

• In primitive mode, you mode individual primitives around.

• To change materials, make sure you’re in model mode, not primitive mode. Primitive mode only works if the object has a single material ID.

Prop Placement

General

Add props to your scene:

Key Takeaways:

• Add primitives with the Create menu.

• Add assets with the Asset browser.

Snapping Tool

Place props using the snapping tool:

Key Takeaways:

• Add assets with the Asset browser.

• Access the snapping tool in the Toolbar.

• Snap to Face puts the origin of the object on a face.

• Snap to Increment moves the object by a specified increment.

Changing Materials

Here are some examples of how you can change materials:

Outdoor Scene

Change materials in an outdoor scene:

Key Takeaways:

• Make sure you’re in model mode, not primitive mode. Primitive mode only works if the object has a single material ID.

• Add materials with the material browser.

• If multiple objects have the same material, modify that material in the Materials on selected models widget.

Indoor Scene

Change materials in an indoor scene:

Key Takeaways:

• Make sure you’re in model mode, not primitive mode. Primitive mode only works if the object has a single material ID.

• Add materials with the material browser.

• From the Stage panel, right-click a material to select everything in the scene that has that same material.

• Right-click a material in the material browser to Apply to selected.

Paint Tool

Here are some examples of how you can use the paint tool to paint foliage in your scene:

Key Takeaways:

• The default painting object is a cube.

• Choose different painting assets from the Asset browser.

• Stamp Spacing controls the distance between instances of the painted objects.

• Erase mistakes with Erase Mode.

Dome Light

Here are two ways of adding dome lights to your scene:

Key Takeaways:

• Everything in the Sky browser that isn’t a dynamic sky is a dome light.

• Choosing a dome light from the Sky browser creates a new Environment on your Stage.

• You can also create a dome light from the Create menu.

Dynamic Sky

Here is an example of how you add a dynamic sky to your scene:

Key Takeaways:

• Add a dynamic sky from the Sky browser.

• Set the date, time, and location to customize your dynamic sky.

Sun Study

Here is an example of how you do a sun study:

Key Takeaways:

• Add a dynamic sky from the Sky browser.

• Set the date, time, and location to customize your dynamic sky.

Emissive Materials

Here is an example of how you add emissive lighting to your scene:

Key Takeaways:

• Choose emissive lights from the Material browser.

• Adjust the material in the Property panel.

Flow

Here are some examples of how you might use Flow in your work.

Fire

Add fire effects to your scene:

Key Takeaways:

• Add XForms.

• Reset Accumulation on Time Change in the Render Settings is required to show the flame animation. This setting enables constant rendering.

Candle

Use Wispy Fire effects to animate a candle flame:

Key Takeaways:

• Use F2 to rename prims.

• Add a Wispy Fire Effect from the Create menu.

Make Camera

Here are some examples of how you create a camera in your scene:

Key Takeaways:

• One way to create a camera is to use Create from View in the Viewport camera menu.

• You can also use the Create menu.

• Or, you can use the Keyframer.

Camera Animation

Here is an example of how to make a quick animation:

Key Takeaways:

• Use the Keyframer to make an animation.

• Use movie capture to render the animation.

Render Settings

Here are some walk-throughs of Omniverse render settings.

Rendering Engines

Learn about the three rendering engines in Omniverse:

Key Takeaways:

• There are three rendering engines: RTX – Accurate (Iray), RTX – Interactive (Path Tracing), and RTX – Real-Time.

• You may need to update your Ray Tracing settings to make the output look the way you want.

Render Settings

Learn about the Omniverse render settings:

Rendering A Sun Study

Here is an example of how to do a sun study:

Key Takeaways:

• With a sun study, you control the start and end time.

• Customize and capture the sun study with movie capture

IES Lights

Here is an example of how you might use IES lights in your work:

Key Takeaways:

• Create a sphere light from the Create menu.

• Check out ies library for ies lights.

Duplication

Here is an example of how to copy objects and layers:

Key Takeaways:

• Instancing makes an exact copy of an object’s original USD file.

• Duplicating makes a copy of the object’s current USD file.

• Duplicate - All Layers brings the information from all the layers and brings it down to the layer you’re working on.

Zero-G Placement

Here is an example of how to use zero gravity in your work:

Key Takeaways:

• If you need more accuracy, set the static marker to the exact mesh.

• Adjust an object’s placement to make it look however you’d like.

360 Degree Render

Here is an example of how to do a 360-degree render:

Key Takeaways:

• Configure your fish eye lens in the camera’s property panel.

• Use movie capture to capture a single frame.

Tone Mapping

Here is an example of how you add tone mapping in your scene:

Key Takeaways:

• Configure tone mapping in the Tone Mapping Post Processing render settings.

• The Aces tone mapping operator is the standard. It’s the largest color space and color gamut.

• With RTX – Accurate (Iray), you can control the blacks and the highlights in your render.

• HableUc2 (Uncharted 2’s tone mapper) has a filmic look.

Autoexposure

Here is an example of how to use autoexposure:

Key Takeaways:

• Configure autoexposure in the Post Processing section of the render settings.

• Lower adaptation speed is slower.

Reshade

Here is an example of how to do reshade in Create menu:

Key Takeaways:

• Configure reshade in the Post Processing section of the render settings.

• This requires a workaround where you borrow the presets from Machinima</app_machinima/overview>.