Thread by @auradeluxe

Learning more about USDZ by piecing together graphics.pixar.com/usd/files/USDZ… and
graphics.pixar.com/usd/docs/USD-F…?

"A usdz file can contain only file types whose data can be consumed by the USD runtime via mmap or (eventually)
pointer to memory."

"This excludes, for example, Alembic files, currently. Initially this will include only the native USD
file formats and a small number of image formats, but may grow over time."

"Out of the box, USD includes a human-readable ASCII file format ("usda") and a binary file format ("usdc"), also known as Crate. It also includes support for reading and writing Alembic files."

"Users can extend USD to read and write from other file formats by writing a plugin that will translate the data in that format to the USD scenegraph."

What is Crate? graphics.pixar.com/usd/docs/USD-G…

"The crate file format is USD's own binary file format, whose file extension is ".usdc", and which is losslessly, bidirectionally convertible to the ".usda" ascii format."

Ok so that clears that up.

Seems like this will be great for production pipelines, importing into Unity apps and such. I guess that means it's occupying a place in the food chain similar to COLLADA and FBX... ?

And for the syntax-inclined

def Xform "Forest_set" (
kind = "assembly"
)
{
def Xform "Outskirts" (
kind = "group"
)
{
# More deeply nested groups, bottoming out at references to other assemblies and components
}

def Xform "Glade" (
kind = "group"
)
{

# etc...

Kind VRMLy actually... takes me back

So I assume for web use, since you can't JSON parse it, you would parse the binary, which would be better for transmission anyway. Blobs FTW. glTB files do the same.

Reading deeper... the Crate format seems REALLY powerful!

Makes me wonder if you could embed glTF inside a USD container... and if you could write a USD->glTF converter... and if the USD file contained a glTF

And could one convert a glTF to a USD with Crate data @Tojiro ?

And @JulesUrbach what say u

unroll s’il te plait