Uploaded March 2022 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

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USD (or Universal Scene Description) is quickly becoming a hot topic in the world of computer graphics. But what is it exactly, and why should you care? In this video, we get down to the bottom of it from an artist's perspective.

For more information on USD, check out these resources:
Pixar's official USD Home: graphics.pixar.com/usd/release/index.html
Pixar's test kitchen suite: graphics.pixar.com/usd/release/dl_kitchen_set.html

Create an epic robot battle in USD and Bifrost!: youtu.be/FwqS7f8Vb9k
Maya USD on GitHub: github.com/Autodesk/maya-usd
Catch up with Maya (USD content at 10:00): youtu.be/95h-3irNSCs

Moana Island Scene: disneyanimation.com/resources/moana-island-scene

License for Moana Island Scene
Copyright 2017-2022 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved.

00:00 - Intro
00:58 - What is USD?
01:25 - Why use USD?
02:53 - Prims
04:05 - USD data vs Maya data
05:31 - Variants
06:45 - Layers and opinions