USD Composer App Template

Overview

The USD Composer App Template provides a streamlined starting point for developers aiming to create complex OpenUSD scenes. This template is tailored for configurator applications, featuring enhanced performance through the Fabric Scene Delegate, improved support for AXF sourced MDLs, and robust Variant Tools.

To better serve complex scene editing use cases, USD Composer has been optimized to include a refined set of extensions, focusing on the most essential components. This template simplifies the creation and manipulation of detailed 3D scenes, making it easier to customize and extend functionalities to meet your team's and customer's needs.

Use Cases

The USD Composer Template is perfectly suited for:

Configurators - USD Composer is targeted at authoring for Configurators. Developers can leverage, asset layout, materials, lighting, rendering, and variant tools to bring their configurator projects to final quality. The resulting USD asset can then be packaged and deployed to end users using the USD Viewer kit-app-template
Design Review - The exact same asset that is authored for configurators can also be used for Design Review. Stakeholders can walk through the options of a product that the design team has authored and decide what works best for their final product offering

Key Features

OpenUSD File Aggregation: Seamlessly combine and manage multiple USD files in a unified scene.
Variant Tools: View, edit, and interact with USD Variants throughout USD Composer.
Scene Optimizer and Validation: Validate and modify your USD based on your custom pipeline.
Asset Packaging: Collect and prepare your final content for deployment to your end user experiences.
Built in Importers: Directly import and convert files into the OpenUSD format.
Material Library: library of materials to seed your imagination and use on your assets.
Live Collaboration: Real-time collaboration tools allowing multiple users to view and edit scenes concurrently

Usage

Getting Started

To get started with the USD Composer template, ensure your development environment meets the prerequisites outlined in the top-level README.

NOTE: Example commands should be executed in powershell in Windows and terminal in Linux.

Cloning the Repository

git clone https://github.com/NVIDIA-Omniverse/kit-app-template.git
cd kit-app-template

Create New Application

Note for USD Composer : Some applications require setup extensions to function as intended. In the case of USD Composer, the setup extension controls the configuration of the extensions within the application, their layout, and other settings. During Application configuration, you will be prompted for information about this extension.

NOTE: Feel free to use default values for testing purposes.

Linux:

./repo.sh template new

Windows:

.\repo.bat template new

NOTE: If this is your first time running the template new tool, you'll be prompted to accept the Omniverse Licensing Terms.

Follow the prompt instructions:

? Select what you want to create with arrow keys ↑↓: Application
? Select desired template with arrow keys ↑↓: USD Composer
? Enter name of application .kit file [name-spaced, lowercase, alphanumeric]: [set application name]
? Enter application_display_name: [set application display name]
? Enter version: [set application version]

The application template you have selected requires a setup extension. Setup Extension -> omni_usd_composer_setup

? Enter name of extension [name-spaced, lowercase, alphanumeric]: [set extension name]
? Enter extension_display_name: [set extension display name]
? Enter version: [set extension version]

Build and Launch

Note that the build step will build all applications contained in the source directory. Outside of initial experimentation, it is recommended that you build only the application you are actively developing.

Build your application using the provided build scripts:

Linux:

./repo.sh build

Windows:

.\repo.bat build

If you experience issues related to build, please see the Usage and Troubleshooting section for additional information.

Launch your application:

Linux:

./repo.sh launch

Windows:

.\repo.bat launch

? Select with arrow keys which App would you like to launch: [Select the desired composer application]

NOTE: The initial startup may take a 5 to 8 minutes as shaders compile for the first time. After initial shader compilation, startup time will reduce dramatically.

Select Window > Browsers > Configurator Samples - to open configuration sample browser

Testing

Applications and their associated extensions can be tested using the repo test tooling provided. Each application template includes an initial test suite that can be run to verify the application's functionality.

NOTE: Testing will only be run on applications and extensions within the build directory. A successful build is required before testing.

Linux:

./repo.sh test

Windows:

.\repo.bat test

Customization

Enable Extension

From the running application select Developer > Extensions
Browse and enable extensions of interest from the Extension Manager.
- Enabling the extensions within the Extension Manager UI will allow you to try out the features of the extension in the currently running application.
- To permanently add the extension to the application, you will need to add the extension to the .kit file. For example, adding the Layer View extension would require adding omni.kit.widget.layers to the dependencies section of the .kit file.
For additional information on the Developer Bundle Extensions, refer to the Developer Bundle Extensions documentation.

Create Custom Extension

Linux:

./repo.sh template new

Windows:

.\repo.bat template new

Follow the prompt instructions:

? Select what you want to create with arrow keys ↑↓: Extension
? Select desired template with arrow keys ↑↓:: [choose extension template]
? Enter name of extension [name-spaced, lowercase, alphanumeric]:: [set extension name]
? Enter extension_display_name:: [set extension display name]
? Enter version: [set extension version]

Adding Extension to .kit File

Importantly For an extension to become a persistent part of an application, the extension will need to be added to the .kit file.

[dependencies]
"extension.name" = {}

Build with New Extensions

After a new extension has been added to the .kit file, the application should be rebuilt to ensure extensions are populated to the build directory.

Packaging and Deployment

For deploying your application, create a deployable package using the package command:

Linux:

./repo.sh package

Windows:

.\repo.bat package

By default, the package command will name the package based on the name value contained in the repo.toml file at the root of the repository. By default, this value is set to kit-app-template. Modify this value to set a persistent package name for your application.

Alternatively, you can specify a package name using the --name flag:

Linux:

./repo.sh package --name <package_name>

Windows:

.\repo.bat package --name <package_name>

This will bundle your application into a distributable format, ready for deployment on compatible platforms.

⚠️ Important Note for Packaging: Because the packaging operation will package everything within the source/ directory the package version will need to be set independently of a given kit file. The version is set within the tools/VERSION.md file.

Launching a Package

Applications packaged using the package command can be launched using the launch command:

Linux:

./repo.sh launch --package <full-path-to-package>

Windows:

.\repo.bat launch --package <full-path-to-package>

NOTE: This behavior is not supported when packaging with the --thin flag.

Containerization (Linux Only)

Requires: Docker and NVIDIA Container Toolkit

The packaging tooling provided by the Kit App Template also supports containerization of applications. This is especially useful for deploying headless services and streaming applications in a containerized environment.

To package your application as a container image, use the --container flag:

Linux:

./repo.sh package --container

You will be prompted to select a .kit file to serve as the application to launch via the container entrypoint script. This will dictate the behavior of your containerized application.

For example, if you are containerizing an application for streaming, select the {your-app-name}_streaming.kit file to ensure the correct application configuration is launched within the container.

NOTE: If creating a container for a NVIDIA Cloud Functions (NVCF) based deployment, select the {your-app-name}_nvcf.kit file to ensure the proper settings are used for that platform.

Similar to desktop packaging, the container option allows for specifying a package name using the --name flag to name the container image:

Linux:

./repo.sh package --container --name [container_image_name]

Launching a Container

Applications packaged as container images can be launched using the launch command:

Linux:

./repo.sh launch --container

If only a single container image exists, it will launch automatically. If multiple container images exist, you will be prompted to select the desired container image to launch.

Local Streaming

During the creation of a new application, you can enable streaming by selecting the desired streaming layer(s) for your application. Selecting the Omniverse Kit App Streaming (Default) layer will create a {your-app-name}_streaming.kit which we will use for local streaming. This file inherits from the base application and adds necessary streaming components like omni.kit.livestream.webrtc. To try local streaming, you need a web client to connect to the streaming server.

1. Clone Web Viewer Sample

The web viewer sample can be found here

git clone https://github.com/NVIDIA-Omniverse/web-viewer-sample.git

Follow the Quick Start instructions in the README to install the necessary dependencies.

2. Start the streaming Kit Application

⚠️ Important: Launching the streaming application with --no-window passes an argument directly to Kit allowing it to run without the main application window to prevent conflicts with the streaming client.

Launch and stream a desktop application:

Linux:

./repo.sh launch -- --no-window

Windows:

.\repo.bat launch -- --no-window

Select the {your-app-name}_streaming.kit and wait for the application to start

Launch and stream a containerized application:

When streaming a containerized application, ensure that the containerized application was configured during packaging to launch a streaming application (e.g., {your_app_name}_streaming.kit).

Linux:

./repo.sh launch --container

If only a single container image exists, it will launch automatically. If multiple container images exist, you will be prompted to select the desired container image to launch.

NOTE: The --no-window flag is not required for containerized applications as it is the default launch behavior.

3. Start the Streaming Client

Follow the Quick Start instructions in the web-viewer-sample README to start the streaming client (stream only no UI overlay) and connect via a Chromium-based browser. You should see the streaming client connect to the running Kit application.

Additional Learning