USDView Quickstart#

NVIDIA provides USDView fully built and bootstrapped with Python and all of its requirements through Omniverse Launcher. Downloading USDView from the Omniverse Launcher is the easiest way to start viewing and introspecting OpenUSD files.

Prerequisites#

You will need to download Omniverse Launcher and follow the installation instructions.

Installing USDView#

With the Omniverse Launcher, installing USDView takes just a few steps.

  1. Click on Exchange tab in Launcher.

  2. Type “usdview” in the Search field.

  3. Click on the USDView tile to select the app.

  4. Click on the Install button to begin the installation. It will take a few minutes to install.

    How to install USDView

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Launching USDView#

Once you have installed USDView you can launch the application from the Library tab in the Omniverse Launcher.

  1. Click on the Library tab in Launcher.

  2. Click on USDView in the Apps section.

  3. Click the Launch button.

    How to launch USDView from the Omniverse Launcher.

USDView will launch with a default Stage. You can open a different USD Stage by clicking on File ‣ Open.

USDView default scene

Locating USD Tutorial Content and Examples#

If you want to follow the openusd.org tutorials, the tutorials will prompt you to locate files from the OpenUSD repository. The repository also includes useful plugin and script examples to learn from. NVIDIA provides these files within the USDView installation. To locate the installation directory:

  1. Click on the burger menu in the USDView details pane on the Omniverse Launcher.

    USDView Settings in the Omniverse Launcher

  2. Click Settings.

  3. Click on the folder icon to open the installation directory in a file browser.

From the installation directory opened in the file browser, you can navigate to share/usd/tutorials and share/usd/examples for the tutorial and example content respectively.

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Setting Up a Python USD Environment#

The USDView installation also comes with some batch files to set up a Python USD environment. Everything you need is already installed, these batch files just setup some environment variables to use the USD Python API in an interactive Python interpreter or to run Python scripts that use the API.

Warning

The batch files currently only work in Windows Command Prompt so you will need to use that.

11 STEPS

1. The first step is to open Omniverse Launcher - Library - USD USDView and click the burger menu button.

Step 1 image

2. Click Settings

Step 2 image

3. Click the folder icon for the USDView version you are using.

Step 3 image

4. Doubleclick scripts

Step 4 image

5. Click in the address bar

Step 5 image

6. Type in cmd and Press Enter

Step 6 image

7. Click the Command Prompt window to set the text cursor.

Step 7 image

8. Type .\set_usd_env.bat and Press Enter

Step 8 image

9. Type .\set_usd_python_env.bat and Press Enter

Step 9 image

10. Type python -c "from pxr import Usd;print(Usd.GetVersion())" and Press Enter

Step 10 image

11. The version tuple for the USD you are using will be printed confirming that the environment is setup correctly.

Step 11 image

Here's an interactive tutorial

** Best experienced in Full Screen (click the icon in the top right corner before you begin) **

https://www.iorad.com/player/2229066/USDView---Setup-USD-Python-Environment

Note

Your version may differ from this tutorial. It will match your USDView version.

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