October 14, 2020

Owned by Cory Omand
Last updated: Oct 14, 2020
2 min read

Video Conference Link

Attendance

Cory Omand - WG Chair, Pixar/TWDS
Alan Blevins, Dreamworks
Alex Schwank, Apple
Aloys Baillet, Animal Logic
Andy Biar,  Warner Bros.
Anandhaiyappan, Botvfx
Arash Keissami, Nira.app
Ben Chung-Hoon, Google
Bill Spitzak, Dreamworks Animation
Brian Green, Dreamworks
Carson Brownlee, Intel
Charles Fleche, Rodeo FX
Chris Rydalch, Blue Sky Studios
Daniel Heckenberg, Animal Logic
David Aguilar, Walt Disney Animation
Deke Kincaid, Digital Domain
Dhruv Govil, Apple
Doug MacMillan, Tippett Studio
Eoin Murphy, NVidia
Eric Enderton, NVidia
Fabrice Macagno, Animal Logic
Francois Lord, Rodeo FX
Gary Jones, Foundry
Gordon Bradley, Autodesk
Greg Wuller, AWS
Henry Vera, DNEG
James Pedlingham, Foundry
Jeff Bradley, Dreamworks
John Hood, SPI
John Mertic, Linux Foundation
Jordan Soles, Rodeo FX
JT Nelson, Pasadena Open Source Consortium/SoCal Blender group
Kimball Thurston, Weta
Larry Gritz, SPI
Lee Kerley, SPI
Luca Scheller, RiseFX
Mark Elendt, SideFX
Mark Final, Foundry
Mark Tucker, SideFX
Mathieu Mazerolle, Foundry
Matthew Levine, WDAS
Matthew Low, DWA
Michael B. Johnson, Apple
Michael Kass, NVidia
Michael Min, Netflix
Niall Redmond, Foundry
Nick Porcino, Pixar
Nicolas Montmarquette, Autodesk
Philippe Sawicki, Autodesk
Pier Paolo Ciarravano, MPC
Richard Lei, Weta
Robin Rowe, CinePaint
Roman Zulak, SPI
Rory Woodford, Foundry
Sean Looper, AWS
Sean McDuffee, Intel
Serguei Kalentchouk, Apple
Shawn Dunn, Epic Games
Sue Sauer, Sunrise Productions

Minutes

  • Action item follow-up (0:05-0:10)

    • Wiki content review (Cory O.)

    • Charter language changes (Cory O.)

  • Discussion: VFX platform/USD alignment (0:10-0:50)

    • How can we best provide information for integrators for what versions of USD are applicable in a particular platform CY.

    • Vfx platform is intended to include the set of infrastructure software, for alignment of low-level components like the compiler, boost, etc. Not about adding all of the possible "important" software, otherwise it becomes impossible to track the fanout of dependencies.

    • Libraries like OpenVDB, which are part of the platform standard, make an extraordinary effort to maintain compatibility so newer versions of the library can be swapped into DCCs that were compiled with an older version of the library.

    • Would be nice to have a "works with VFX YYYY" badge for USD versions.

      • Current versions of USD that state "works with VFX YYYY" don't make any statement about other CY standard that it may also work with.

    • Could Hydra be split from the USD core? would that provide additional stability? Seems like a lot of work, and may not provide a lot of additional stability.

    • Seems like it would be good to have a matrix of USD feature to version

      • Which file format versions support which features (e.g. must have this version to use UsdShade)

      • Noting API/ABI breaks

      • Noting File format version semantic breaks

      • Noting where it's possible to diverge from the standard without breaking anything.

    • Continued discussion about a "universal bridge"

      • MichaelK: Nvidia may make the extension mechanism in Omniverse public

      • This could be a good starting point for a universal bridge.

      • Would be great to have the team attend a future WG session to present and discuss.

    • Ideas for upcoming discussions?

      • How-to make plugins for USD demo (KimballT and RichardL)

      • Physics schema proposal (NVidia, Apple, Pixar (dme)) sent to usd-interest.

      • Standardized USD camera (MichaelM)

      • Omniverse extension mechanism (MichaelK)

  • Closing/Action Items (0:50-0:55)

    • AlanB: Start a page in the wiki as an outline for a version compatibility matrix.

    • CoryO: Create discussion scheduling page with above topics as placeholders, start discussing scheduling.

    • NO MEETING 2020-10-28 – next session is 2020-11-11

Parking Lot

  • USD Superbuilds (Carson B.)

Reference

License: CC BY 4.0, Copyright Contributors to the ASWF USD working group.