What is USD?
Developed by Pixar, Universal Scene Description (USD) is the first open-source software that can robustly and scalably interchange 3D scenes that may be composed of many different assets, sources, and animations, while fostering highly collaborative workflows.
At Pixar, engineers work hand in hand with artists to create innovative technologies, tools, and pipelines that make our films. In this clip from Toy Story 4, millions of models, textures, lights, and colors are possible because of the power of USD architecture.
The complex imagery seen in many Pixar films would not be possible without USD.
USD at Pixar
USD is foundational to our work at Pixar– every character, every location, and every image of our films is built on top of USD and is made possible by the technology in USD.
Pixar is designing and deploying the next generation of features for USD and its imaging framework Hydra and, with the investment and support of The Walt Disney Company, increasing our collaboration on USD with the growing USD community, new industries, and partners.
Pixar has a long history of creating foundational and innovative technologies in computer graphics and beyond. We believe that USD has much to offer in the growing challenges of collaboration in 3D world-building and delivering assets at scale.
The Alliance for OpenUSD
In August 2023, Pixar announced the launch of the Alliance for OpenUSD (AOUSD), to promote the standardization, development, evolution, and growth of Pixar’s Universal Scene Description technology. Learn more about AOUSD here.
Opportunities in the metaverse
Pixar envisioned USD to solve several workflow challenges and computer graphics complexity issues.
When we created USD, we weren’t thinking about the metaverse, but it just so happens that creating complex 3D worlds is an expertise that most companies don’t have. And it is a fundamental requirement for anyone building content or technology for the metaverse.
Join us on this exciting journey!
We are seeking the best software engineers and managers in the industry to join Pixar’s Software R&D and RenderMan teams.
Being open with our technology and sharing it with our peers is how we can best continue to drive innovation. For a deeper look into USD technology and to access tutorials, downloads, FAQs and more, visit Pixar’s official OpenUSD website: openusd.org.
“USD is transformational technology created by Pixar engineers working directly with Pixar artists and filmmakers. It is the foundation for our industry-leading animation tools, and it is rapidly becoming the standard for all companies and industries that leverage 3D. With USD at the forefront of this groundbreaking shift, there could not be a more exciting time to work at Pixar.”
- Steve May, Chief Technology Officer, Pixar
USD has revolutionized animation and VFX. But the work to innovate continues, and Pixar is further evolving USD to tackle grand challenges facing those fields and many others. If you're excited about the future possibilities of USD technology we want to hear from you!
Find available USD roles.