The Alliance for OpenUSD (AOUSD) is a Linux Foundation project dedicated to promoting interoperability of 3D content through Universal Scene Description (OpenUSD). Founded by Pixar, Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, and NVIDIA, AOUSD standardizes 3D content ecosystems for film, gaming, architecture, industrial design, and the metaverse. OpenUSD provides a high-performance extensible software platform for collaboratively constructing animated 3D scenes with schemas for geometry, shading, lighting, physics, and volume rendering.
Alliance for OpenUSD publishes 2 APIs on the APIs.io network. Tagged areas include 3D, Interoperability, Linux Foundation, Metaverse, and OpenUSD.
The Alliance for OpenUSD catalog on APIs.io includes 1 JSON-LD context and 1 Spectral governance ruleset.
Alliance for OpenUSD’s developer surface includes developer portal, documentation, getting-started guide, engineering blog, and 11 more developer resources.
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The OpenUSD C++ API is the primary interface for working with Universal Scene Description data. Provides access to USD core (scene composition and asset management), UsdImaging ...
OpenUSD provides comprehensive Python bindings for all major C++ modules, enabling scripting and pipeline integration in Python-based DCC workflows. Python bindings cover the fu...
USD's composition arcs (references, payloads, variants, instancing, and specializes) enable non-destructive scene assembly from multiple asset layers with override workflows.
Schema-Driven Extensibility
OpenUSD's schema system allows studios and tool vendors to extend the core specification with domain-specific schemas for physics, simulation, characters, and environments.
Hydra Rendering Architecture
The Hydra rendering delegate architecture enables pluggable render backends including Storm (OpenGL), Arnold, RenderMan, and others.
Multiple File Formats
OpenUSD supports human-readable ASCII (.usda), binary (.usdb), and packaged archive (.usdz) file formats for different use cases.
Asset Resolution
The ArResolver system enables customizable asset path resolution for integrating USD with studio asset management systems.
name: Alliance for OpenUSD
description: The Alliance for OpenUSD (AOUSD) is a Linux Foundation project dedicated to promoting interoperability of 3D
content through Universal Scene Description (OpenUSD). Founded by Pixar, Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, and NVIDIA, AOUSD standardizes
3D content ecosystems for film, gaming, architecture, industrial design, and the metaverse. OpenUSD provides a high-performance
extensible software platform for collaboratively constructing animated 3D scenes with schemas for geometry, shading, lighting,
physics, and volume rendering.
deliveryModel:
model: unknown
open_source: unknown
commercial: false
callable_host: false
label: Delivery model not determined — needs a product licence on record
confidence: low
source:
- repository-unlicensed
generated: '2026-08-28'
method: derived
accessModel:
pricing: freemium
onboarding: unknown
trial: false
try_now: false
public: false
label: Freemium
confidence: medium
source:
- plans
generated: '2026-07-22'
method: derived
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/icons/aousd.png
tags:
- 3D
- Interoperability
- Linux Foundation
- Metaverse
- OpenUSD
- Specification
- Standards
- USD
- Visual Effects
created: '2026-03-16'
modified: '2026-04-19'
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/aousd/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
specificationVersion: '0.23'
apis:
- name: OpenUSD C++ API
description: The OpenUSD C++ API is the primary interface for working with Universal Scene Description data. Provides access
to USD core (scene composition and asset management), UsdImaging and Hydra (rendering infrastructure), schema APIs for
geometry (UsdGeom), shading (UsdShade), lighting (UsdLux), physics (UsdPhysics), volume (UsdVol), and the Shader Discovery
and Registry (SDR). Available as an open-source library under the Apache 2.0 license.
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg
humanURL: https://openusd.org/release/api/index.html
baseURL: https://openusd.org
tags:
- 3D
- C++
- File Format
- Library
- OpenUSD
- Rendering
- Scene Description
properties:
- type: Documentation
url: https://openusd.org/release/api/index.html
- type: APIReference
url: https://openusd.org/release/api/index.html
- type: GettingStarted
url: https://openusd.org/release/tut_usd_tutorials.html
- type: GitHubRepository
url: https://github.com/PixarAnimationStudios/OpenUSD
- type: Glossary
url: https://openusd.org/release/glossary.html
contact:
- FN: AOUSD Community
url: https://aousd.org/
- name: OpenUSD Python Bindings
description: OpenUSD provides comprehensive Python bindings for all major C++ modules, enabling scripting and pipeline integration
in Python-based DCC workflows. Python bindings cover the full USD API including pxr.Usd, pxr.UsdGeom, pxr.UsdShade, pxr.UsdLux,
pxr.UsdPhysics, pxr.Sdf, and Hydra. Used extensively in production pipelines at Pixar, ILM, and other studios.
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg
humanURL: https://openusd.org/release/api/index.html
baseURL: https://pypi.org/project/usd-core/
tags:
- 3D
- OpenUSD
- Python
- Scene Description
properties:
- type: Documentation
url: https://openusd.org/release/api/index.html
- type: SDKs
url: https://pypi.org/project/usd-core/
- type: GitHubRepository
url: https://github.com/PixarAnimationStudios/OpenUSD
contact:
- FN: Pixar Animation Studios
url: https://github.com/PixarAnimationStudios/OpenUSD
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
email: info@apievangelist.com
X: apievangelist
url: https://apievangelist.com
common:
- type: IssueTracker
url: https://github.com/PixarAnimationStudios/OpenUSD/issues
- type: Releases
url: https://github.com/PixarAnimationStudios/OpenUSD/releases
- type: SecurityPolicy
url: https://github.com/PixarAnimationStudios/OpenUSD/blob/dev/SECURITY.md
- type: CodeOfConduct
url: https://github.com/PixarAnimationStudios/OpenUSD/blob/dev/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
- type: ContributionGuide
url: https://github.com/PixarAnimationStudios/OpenUSD/blob/dev/CONTRIBUTING.md
- type: DomainSecurity
url: security/aousd-domain-security.yml
- type: LinkedIn
url: https://www.linkedin.com/company/allianceopenusd
- type: Portal
url: https://aousd.org
- type: Documentation
url: https://openusd.org/release/index.html
- type: GettingStarted
url: https://openusd.org/release/tut_usd_tutorials.html
- type: GitHubOrganization
url: https://github.com/PixarAnimationStudios
- type: GitHubRepository
url: https://github.com/PixarAnimationStudios/OpenUSD
- type: JSONSchema
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/aousd/refs/heads/main/json-schema/aousd-usd-layer-schema.json
title: USD Layer Schema
- type: Vocabulary
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/aousd/refs/heads/main/vocabulary/aousd-vocabulary.yaml
- type: Features
data:
- name: Scene Composition
description: USD's composition arcs (references, payloads, variants, instancing, and specializes) enable non-destructive
scene assembly from multiple asset layers with override workflows.
- name: Schema-Driven Extensibility
description: OpenUSD's schema system allows studios and tool vendors to extend the core specification with domain-specific
schemas for physics, simulation, characters, and environments.
- name: Hydra Rendering Architecture
description: The Hydra rendering delegate architecture enables pluggable render backends including Storm (OpenGL), Arnold,
RenderMan, and others.
- name: Multiple File Formats
description: OpenUSD supports human-readable ASCII (.usda), binary (.usdb), and packaged archive (.usdz) file formats
for different use cases.
- name: Asset Resolution
description: The ArResolver system enables customizable asset path resolution for integrating USD with studio asset management
systems.
- type: UseCases
data:
- name: Film and Visual Effects Production
description: Exchange complex animated scenes between DCC tools (Maya, Houdini, Blender, Katana) and render farms using
OpenUSD as the common format.
- name: Game Development
description: Use OpenUSD as an interchange format between game engines like Unreal Engine and Unity and DCC content creation
tools.
- name: Architecture and Design Visualization
description: Share 3D building models, materials, and lighting between architectural design tools and real-time visualization
platforms.
- name: Metaverse and XR
description: Enable interoperability of 3D assets and scenes across XR platforms, spatial computing devices, and virtual
world applications.
- name: Industrial Digital Twins
description: Represent complex mechanical assemblies and simulation environments for industrial digital twin applications
using USD schemas.
- type: Integrations
data:
- name: Autodesk Maya / 3ds Max
description: Import and export USD files via Autodesk's official USD plugins for Maya and 3ds Max, enabling OpenUSD-based
pipelines.
- name: SideFX Houdini
description: Native USD integration in Houdini via LOPs (Layout Object Primitives) for creating and editing USD scenes
and assets.
- name: Apple Reality Composer Pro
description: Apple's spatial computing tools use .usdz as the primary format for augmented reality and visionOS content.
- name: NVIDIA Omniverse
description: NVIDIA Omniverse is built on OpenUSD, using it as the foundation for collaborative 3D design and industrial
digital twin workflows.
- name: Pixar RenderMan
description: RenderMan natively reads USD scenes, making it the primary production renderer for USD-based feature film
pipelines.
- url: https://aousd.org/feed/
type: Blog
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