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:

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:

Make Camera#

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

Key Takeaways:

Camera Animation#

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

Key Takeaways:

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:

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:

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>.

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