Introduction to USD 1001

Learn the fundamentals of USD to build production-ready assets.

In this course*, we’ll explore all things USD. We’ll do this be modelling a photoreal environment and then creating a series of varaints, allowing us to have a multitude of variants for use in shot work. Throughout the course, we’ll explore the built-in tools in Maya 2024 for a USD workflow, and discuss how we can go about approaching an asset for maximum flexibility. This includes variants, version control and general asset publishing.

*Please note that the lesson plan is subject to minor change.

Course Details

Type: On-demand
Level: Beginner
Lessons: TBC
Duration: TBC
Format: Video on-demand
Assignments: 14
Tools: Maya 2024
Prerequisites: Basic Knowledge of Maya
Course Access Time: Lifetime

Industry partners

Lessons in this course

01. Overview of USD

We’ll be kicking off the course off with a breakdown of what USD is and how it came about.
Available on: 07.08.2023 9:00 am
02. USD Basics in Maya

In this lesson, we'll explore how USD has been integrated into Maya.
Available on: 07.08.2023 9:00 am
03. Maya Data v USD Data

Here we will compare Maya and USD data.
Available on: 07.08.2023 9:00 am
04. Capturing Onset Modelling Reference

In this lesson, we'll give you an overview of the onset data captured for the modelling aspect of this course.
Available on: 07.08.2023 9:00 am
05. Processing the Modelling Reference

Here we will prep our modelling reference, so we are ready to start the task of modelling.
Available on: 07.08.2023 9:00 am
06. Modelling the Environment for USD

Now that we have our data prepped, we'll look at blocking out the environment to work for a USD workflow.
Available on: 07.08.2023 9:00 am
07. Refining the Environment Assets

In this lesson, we'll continue to build our environment asset.
Available on: 07.08.2023 9:00 am
08. Basic Shader Creation and Assignment

With our environment created, we'll now look at applying some basic shaders to get a clearer idea of how things will look in render.
Available on: 07.08.2023 9:00 am
09. Scene Structure and Layers

With our environment good to go, we'll explore how we can set it up as a USD asset for maximum flexibility.
Available on: 07.08.2023 9:00 am
10. Creating Asset Variants

Here we will create a series of different environment variants to be used across multiple sequences.
Available on: 07.08.2023 9:00 am
11. USD Layer Editor and Bifrost

In this lesson, we'll use the USD Layer Editor and Bifrost to handle our variants.
Available on: 07.08.2023 9:00 am
12. Dealing with Asset Updates

Here we will explore how to go about dealing with asset updates.
Available on: 07.08.2023 9:00 am
13. Hydra and Arnold Support

With our variants ready to go, we'll explore how we can visualise the data using Hydra and Arnold.
Available on: 07.08.2023 9:00 am
14. Testing our USD in other Applications

For our final lesson, we'll test our USD asset in other applications.
Available on: 07.08.2023 9:00 am

Tutor: Jahirul Amin

VFX Trainer

Jahirul Amin is a Computer Animation and Visual Effects Trainer and Consultant. He specialises in designing and delivering courses to create solid and diverse production ready skills in all 3D related departments and across a number of facilities worldwide. His background in academia feeds into his ongoing connections with Universities and Colleges which provide Computer Animation and Visual Effects courses. He is also involved in course and examination design as well as lecturing, running workshops and mentoring.

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Introduction to USD 1001

In partnership with Autodesk, this FREE course will teach you the fundamentals of USD through practical exercises, in which we will create an interior photoreal environment suitable for VFX.