The omniverse, a real-time graphics collaboration platform created by Nvidia, is an open platform that allows developers to create and connect across geographies, apps, and systems. Nvidia Omniverse is not just one software, but a suite of different tools that connects different applications together and allows people to work collaboratively in real-time with large teams. The result of this collaboration is the ability to streamline across multiple pipelines of an intricate project, helping a team easily create visually stunning and scalable computer graphics, simulations, and new worlds.

Omniverse Includes

• AI: The Omniverse is heavily driven by AI through many included AI applications which include simulations for weather, the “Audio2Face” feature which constructs facial animations corresponding to spoken text, and pose estimation which creates an animated avatar from a webcam feed.
• VR/AR: Omniverse enables both virtual and augmented reality, and the simulations, environments, and objects created can be experienced through wearing a headset via immersive 3D.
• MDL (Materials Definition Library) is an open-source material definition language developed by Nvidia which supports the Materials in Omniverse.
• Path Tracing is an interactive rendering mode.
• Physics/VFX: Omniverse allows for users to create various virtual effects in a more collaborative, efficient way through accelerating the pipeline.
• USD (Universal Scene Descriptor), which is a central component to Nvidia Omniverse, and is a fundamental building block of how it all interacts and works together.

Components of Omniverse

• Launcher is the “gateway” to the Omniverse, which features an elegant user interface and gives the user access to all the apps, connectors and other downloads.
• Nucleus is the database and collaboration engine of Omniverse that connects multiple users of a team together in real-time across multiple applications at once. Not only does this allow members to choose the application they are most familiar with, it facilitates rapid iteration when changes are made.
• Omniverse Kit is a toolkit for building native Omniverse applications and microservices. It comes with a default UI that allows it to act as a USD inspector, editor, layout tool and viewer. However, NVIDIA expects to develop customizations that would allow for targeting specific industries, users, and communities.
• Connect allows applications to connect to the Nucleus, and to publish and subscribe to individual assets.
• Materials and Rendering are common across all Omniverse Kit Based Apps, and they offer users a seamless experience with expected results.
• Extensions are powerful tools for developing critical infrastructure to pipelines, augmenting workflows, and adding functionality to Omniverse

Apps within Omniverse

• Omniverse Create: allows users to stage scenes for environments, characters, animations, to make beautiful renders, cinematics, etc.
• Omniverse Machinima: helps users put together cinematics quickly and efficiently
• Omniverse Audio2Face: an AI facial animation tool which converts sound clips into animations for the characters’ faces, while trying to take into account emotion and inflection of speech
• Omniverse Connectors: helps users live link programs together (such as maya, 3ds max, unreal engine, blender, etc.) which in turn helps teams work faster and more efficiently through linking all software together in real time – for example, one can make edits to a model and see it update in the omniverse as they are editing it, without having to manually export and import

Applications of Omniverse

Nvidia Omniverse’s framework consists of many layers of plugins and simulation tools, called ‘connectors’ along with an extremely powerful real-time clustered rendering system. This allows Omniverse to provide value to 3D creators and designers, and also enables 3D pipelines for Architecture, Engineering, Manufacturing, and other industries to benefit from this set of tools. The Omniverse is an expanding ecosystem that is continuing to expand its functionality to create new and exciting possibilities.

One popular application of Omniverse in the real world is in creating digital twins. Companies like BMW, Ericsson, Siemens Energy, and Lockheed Martin utilize it to create physically accurate virtual replicas of objects and environments. This leverages AI and allows the digital twin to be perpetually synchronized with real-world inputs of data and information.

Another example of using Omniverse to help in the architectural industry is the company KPF, which has designed a number of structures including the CUNY research center in New York, 52 Lime Street in London, and China Resources tower in Shenzhen. Director Cobus Bothma revealed that integrating Omniverse into KPF’s workflow has allowed the building of simulations that let employees experience projects from the point of view of users, all before building the structure has even begun.

Pricing

NVIDIA Omniverse Platform is free for individuals to use. NVIDIA Omniverse Enterprise is a platform offering that helps businesses transform their 3D production workflows through end-to-end remote collaboration and true-to-reality simulation platforms. The Omniverse Enterprise solution starts at $14,000 per year for a workgroup of 5 3D Creators and an unlimited number of “Viewers”.

Conclusion

Nvidia’s Omniverse is a powerful tool that is becoming increasingly useful in today’s environment, where so many teams work remotely as a result of the pandemic. Omniverse effectively streamlines and centralizes workflows for these remote and dispersed teams to bring back opportunities for creative team working and culture-building, which would have existed naturally in a shared physical workspace.

Omniverse is best suited towards teams that are working remotely and seeking opportunities to stay connected and innovative. It can also be extremely helpful in driving efficiency by connecting multiple platforms and automating updates. This will allow a firm to best allocate its effort and resources.