Omniverse / Blender Manual¶
Omniverse’s version of Blender is different from the standard Blender versions. The main benefits of Omniverse’s version are that it includes:
A variety of USD import and export options
NVIDIA MDL materials and support
Importing USD Files¶
To import USD files with Omniverse’s version of Blender, navigate to File > Import > Universal Scene Description:

During import, you can configure what to include:

USD Import¶
Option |
Description |
---|---|
Cameras |
Imports camera prims |
Curves |
Imports curve-based prims |
Lights |
Imports light prims |
Materials |
Imports material data |
Meshes |
Imports mesh data |
Blend Shapes |
Imports USD blend shapes as shape keys with animation curves. Limitation: Importing blend shape in-betweens is not currently supported. |
Volumes |
Imports volume data |
Skeletons |
Imports USD skeletons as armatures with animation curves and creates armature deformers for meshes bound to skeletons. Limitation: USD skeletons with bones that have negative scales cannot currently be imported, as the Blender bone representation does not support such scaling. |
USD Shapes |
Imports USD Shape primitives as Blender Mesh objects, with animation. |
Path Mask |
Imports only the subset of the USD scene rooted at the given primitive |
Scale |
Scales the imported objects with respect to the world’s origin |
Apply Unit Conversion Scale |
Scales to convert scene units to Blender units (meters) |
UV Coordinates |
Reads UV coordinates |
Color Attributes |
Imports color primvars as color attributes |
Validate Meshes |
Removes non-manifold or otherwise improper geometry from all meshes (slow operation!). |
Subdivision |
Creates subdivision surface modifiers based on the USD |
Import Instance Proxies |
Creates unique Blender objects for USD instances |
Visible Primitives Only |
Ignores invisible USD primitives (This only applies to prims with a non-animated visibility attribute. Prims with animated visibility are always imported.) |
Defined Primitives Only |
Import only defined primitives. This option can be disabled to allow importing primitive overrides. |
Guide |
Includes primitives with
purpose
|
Proxy |
Includes primitives with purpose |
Render |
Includes primitives with |
Set Frame Range |
Updates the Blender scene’s start and end frames to match the incoming USD’s start and end frames |
Relative Path |
Uses relative paths from the Blender file to the USD file |
Create Collection |
Adds all imported objects to a collection |
Light Intensity Scale |
Multiplies light intensity |
Convert Light Units from Nits |
Converts light intensity values from nits to Blender Light Units |
Scale Light Radius |
Applies the scene scale factor, from unit conversion or global scaling, to the radius of spot and local lights |
Create Background Shader |
Imports USD dome lights to world background shaders |
Material Name Collision |
Determines the behavior when an imported material’s name conflicts with an existing material’s name:
|
Import Attributes |
Determines the behavior when importing USD attributes as Blender custom properties:
Supported types are |
Instancing |
Imports USD scenegraph instances as Blender collection instances. (Point instances are not yet handled by this option.) |
Import Shaders |
Specifies the type of USD shader to convert to Blender Principled BSDF shader networks |
Set Material Blend |
Sets the material blend method based on the USD shader’s |
Actions¶
Option |
Description |
---|---|
Import USD |
Imports the USD file with the options selected |
Cancel |
Closes the import dialog and cancels the operation |
Exporting USD Files¶
To export USD files in Omniverse’s version of Blender, navigate to File > Export > Universal Scene Description:

During export, you can configure what to include:

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USD Export¶
Option |
Description |
---|---|
Use Settings for |
Determines the visibility of objects, modifier settings, and other areas where there are different settings for viewport and rendering |
Apply Subdiv |
Uses subdivision modifiers for mesh evaluation |
Author Blender Name |
Authors custom |
Selection Only |
Exports only the selected objects (Unselected parents of selected objects are exported as empty transforms.) |
Visible Only |
Exports only visible objects are exported (Invisible parents of exported objects are exported as empty transforms.) |
Animation |
Exports the render frame range (If unchecked, only the current frame is exported.) |
Export USD Kind |
Comning Soon: If a “usdkind” custom string property is on the object, use this to author the matching UsdPrim’s Kind. |
Export As Overs |
Creates all prims as overrides |
Merge Transform and Shape |
Merges transforms and shapes into one prim path |
Export Identity Transforms |
Always authors transform operations, even if the transform is identity/unit/zeroed |
Export Child Particles |
Exports child particles |
Vertex Groups As faceVarying |
Exports vertex groups as |
Attributes¶
Option |
Description |
---|---|
Export Blender Metadata |
Exports extra metadata for round-tripping operations, such as original Blender names and the name and path of the original Blender file used for export. |
Export Custom Properties |
Exports custom properties as USD
|
Add Properties Namespace |
Adds exported custom properties to |
Cycles Settings¶
Option |
Description |
---|---|
Override Shutter |
Overrides the explicit shutter open and close attributes (When disabled, the shutter is used from Cycles render settings.) |
Note
The Blender Cycles Hydra Render Delegate is support in Omniverse Create as a Kit extension. To use the Cycles Hydra Render Delegate, Open Create > Window > Extensions > Cycles Hydra Render Delegate > Click Install
Mesh Options¶
Option |
Description |
---|---|
Vertices |
Exports vertex and point data |
Vertex Colors |
Exports all vertex colors |
Vertex Groups |
Exports vertex groups |
Face Maps |
Exports face maps |
UV Maps |
Exports UV maps of exported meshes |
Normals |
Includes normals of exported meshes |
Triangulate Meshes |
Triangulate meshes on export |
Method Quads |
Methods for how to triangulate quads |
Polygons |
Methods for how to triangulate NGons |
Primitive Types¶
Option |
Description |
---|---|
Transforms |
Exports transform data (If disabled, objects will be saved as prims with the identity transform.) |
Meshes |
Exports mesh data |
Materials |
Exports material data |
Lights |
Exports lights |
Curves |
Exports curve-based shapes |
Hair |
Exports hair data |
Particles |
Exports particle data |
Armatures |
Exports armature data Note: USD requires that skeletons and their skinning target meshes be organized in a hierarchy of “Skeleton Root” (SkelRoot) primitives. Specifically, a skeleton and its target must share a common SkelRoot ancestor to ensure correct binding. Since armatures and meshes with armature modifiers are automatically converted to USD SkelRoots, a straightforward way to maintain a correct hierarchy is to ensure that the target mesh is parented to the armature. Alternatively, there is an experimental “Fix Skel Root” option (in the Experimental section) to automatically find a common Xform ancestor of the skeleton and its target and make that ancestor the SkelRoot. Note that this option could potentially designate the scene root as a SkelRoot, which may be inefficient, especially for large scenes. This can be avoided by grouping the armature and target mesh under an Empty object that isn’t also the scene root. Limitation: Export of “bendy bones” is not currently supported. |
Blend Shapes |
Exports shape keys as USD blend shapes. Limitations: Export of “absolute” shape keys is not currently supported. In addition, when exporting shape keys, the Blender mesh may not have modifiers applied, other than the armature modifier. Note: USD meshes with blend shape targets are typically bound to skeletons. Thererefore, if exporting armatures is disabled or if the Blender mesh with shape keys doesn’t have an armature deformer, the exported USD mesh will be bound to an automatically created “placeholder” skeleton with a single joint. |
Stage Options¶
Option |
Description |
---|---|
Default Prim Path |
Specifies the default prim in the USD |
Root Prim Path |
Adds an Xform prim with the given path as the parent of all prims in the USD scene. Note: The given root path must not match the name of an existing root-level object in the Blender scene. If such a Blender object exists, a warning will be generated and the root prim will not be added. This is avoid redundant names in the path, such as |
Material Prim Path |
Specifies where all generated USD materials and shaders are placed in the scene |
Default Prim Kind |
Comning Soon: Specifies the Kind to author on the Default Prim. |
Note
We highly recommended users insert a root name (e.g., /root
) before all prim paths, as in the default option values. This helps with USD compliance and allows assets sent to Omniverse to work correctly when using sent assets in other scenes:

Conversion¶
Option |
Description |
---|---|
Create ARKit Asset |
For USDZ export, flatten the entire stage as per the ARKit Asset recommendations. |
Convert Orientation |
Converts the orientation axes |
Convert to Centimeters |
Converts the USD units to centimeters and scales the scene to convert from meters |
Export Cycles Shaders |
Exports Cycles shader nodes to USD |
Convert to USD Preview Surface |
Generates an approximate USD preview surface shader network (This is experimental and suitable for converting simple material graphs.) |
Convert to MDL |
Converts Blender materials to MDL materials (This requires the Universal Material Map (UMM) add-on to be installed.) |
Light Intensity Scale |
Multiplies light intensity |
Convert Light Units to Nits |
Converts light intensity values from Blender Light Units to nits |
Scale Light Radius |
Applies the scene scale factor, from unit conversion or manual scaling, to the radius of spot and sphere lights |
Convert World Material |
Converts the world material to a USD dome light. (This currently works for simple materials, consisting of an environment texture connected to a background shader, with an optional vector multiply of the texture color.) |
Convert uv to st |
Renames UV maps to the interchangeable USD primvar name |
Xform Ops |
Specifies how transform information is represented in USD, using one of the following options:
|
Textures¶
Option |
Description |
---|---|
Export Textures |
Exports textures referenced by material nodes to a |
Overwrite Textures |
Allow overwriting existing files when exporting textures |
Relative Texture Paths |
Saves material texture asset paths as relative paths in the USD |
USDZ Texture Downsampling |
For USDZ exports, keep textures the same size, downsample by longest edge to one of the preset sizes, or choose your own custom size |
Experimental¶
Option |
Description |
---|---|
Instancing |
Exports Blender collection instances as USD scenegraph instances (Particle systems are exported as USD point instances.) |
Fix Skel Root |
Attempts to automatically correct invalid USD Skeleton Root hierarchies when exporting armatures (Refer to the Armatures option for more information.) |
Actions¶
Option |
Description |
---|---|
Export USD |
Exports the USD file with the options selected |
Cancel |
Closes the export dialog and cancels the operation |