Uploaded October 2023 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

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Jason demonstrates how USD variants can be instanced to create a crowd and import it into Unreal Engine. Part of a 10-lesson workshop for aspiring technical artists. Expand this description for download links and more.

00:00 - Intro
00:07 - USD instancing overview
01:00 - Building our own
01:30 - Loading existing USD files
01:50 - USD layers
03:00 - Open USD layer and define USD reference
06:00 - Instancing begins
06:45 - Set variant selections
08:20 - Get variant sets
09:00 - Get USD attribute value
11:15 - Read USD meshes
12:50 - Bifrost scatter by color
17:50 - USD point instances
22:00 - USD override
24:25 - Unreal output

Download the scenes, compounds, slides, lesson plans and other files to follow along or adapt for your own curriculum: areadownloads.autodesk.com/wdm/maya/bifrost_bootcamp_lesson_8_files.zip

USD in Bifrost tutorials: youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8hZ6hQCGHMVPTLY8J-yeBE3TD0dEd8Z4