Connect Overview¶

What is NVIDIA Omniverse™ Connect?¶

NVIDIA has built Extensions and additional software layers on top of the open-source USD distribution that allows digital content creation (DCC) tools and compute services to communicate with each other through the Omniverse Nucleus Database (DB). Those Extensions, additions, and the application plug-ins that make use of them are collectively known as NVIDIA Omniverse™ Connect.

Connect libraries allow client applications to connect to the Nucleus DB and to publish and subscribe to individual assets and full worlds. For typical existing DCC tools, most of the work in creating a proper plug-in to Omniverse is to establish a two-way synchronization between the scene representation in the USD library and whatever scene representation the tool uses internally. For applications that natively rely on the USD library, no such synchronization is necessary.

With any needed synchronization in place, a DCC plug-in will use the Connect libraries to apply externally received updates and publish internally generated changes as necessary. The Connect libraries make this particularly easy. As the application makes changes to its USD representation of the scene, Connect uses the built-in USD notification mechanisms to keep track of all the local changes since the last publishing event. When requested by the application, the Connect libraries will construct a file-by-file set of differences and publish them to the Nucleus DB where they will then be forwarded to all subscribers.

Connecting to Omniverse¶

There are multiple ways to interact with Omniverse from other applications, many of which are in real time and with automated material conversion:

Connectivity	Description	Examples
Bi-Directional	Real-time updates are shared between participating applications after a single export/import. Material conversion supported.	Epic Games Unreal Engine Autodesk Maya Autodesk 3DS Max ipolog BETA
Uni-Directional	Real-time updates from DCC application are reflected in OV. Changes in OV are not shared with host application. Material conversion supported.	Graphisoft Archicad Kitware Paraview BETA Autodesk Revit McNeel Rhinoceros Trimble SketchUp ESRI CityEngine Reallusion Character Creator BETA Reallusion Iclone BETA PTC Creo BETA Adobe Substance 3D Painter BETA SideFX Houdini BETA
Export/Import	Common formats via direct import or third-party app conversion to USD. Often, materials are manually converted.	Export: FBX, GLB, GLTF, OBJ, OpenVDB, USDZ, USD Import: 3D PDF, 3DS, 3DXML, 3MF, Dassault Systemes ACIS, Alembic, Dassault Systemes CATIA V4, Dassault Systemes CATIA V5, Collada, Autodesk DWF, Autodesk DWG, E57, IFC, IGES, Autodesk Inventor, Siemens JT, LXO, MD5, Siemens NX, Siemens Parasolid, PRC, PTC PRO/E, ShapeNet, Siemens Solid Edge, Dassault Systemes SOLIDWORKS, STL, STP, U3D, URDF, VDA-FS, VRML, X3D
Omni-Drive	OmniDrive capable DCC apps allow for USD or Texture export. Similar to uni-directional, but no connector required.	Adobe Substance 3D Designer BETA Adobe Photoshop BETA Blender BETA Pixologic ZBrush BETA
Extensions	Kit Extensions developed by partners that "connect" their apps or tools to the platform	PTC Onshape BETA Lightmap HDR Light Studio BETA RADiCAL live BETA Replica BETA