Navigation Mesh#
Overview#
Navigation Mesh, or “NavMesh”, is a tool used to compute a polygonal mesh that represents the traversable area. From a computed polygonal mesh, a NavMesh can be used to perform queries to determine shortest path computation between two end-points, closest point, or random points on the NavMesh.
Setup#
In a USD stage you can set up Navigation Include/Exclude Volume prims to include or exclude mesh geometry within axis-aligned volume bounds that contribute to baking a traversable area. You must then bake the NavMesh to perform API query operations.
The default preference has auto-bake disabled. When you enable auto-bake in NavMesh settings (for a single stage) or in Preferences (for all new stages), the system bakes automatically after changes that impact the NavMesh, following the specified auto-bake delay. When auto-bake is disabled, perform a manual bake after stage authoring: use the Bake button in the NavMesh window to recompute the NavMesh.
Viewport Visualization#
By default, the baked NavMesh is not visible. To view the NavMesh results, use the Viewport menu Show/Hide > Show By Type > NavMesh.
User Manual#
You can install the extension, create and configure NavMesh volumes, and use the API to query paths and areas. For step-by-step setup, refer to Installation. For API reference, refer to API Commands.