NVIDIA’s virtual reality (VR) compatible, enterprise-ready collaboration tool NVIDIA Omniverse saw an early access launch last year after debuting back in 2017 at the company’s GPU Technology Conference (GTC). This week as part of SIGGRAPH 2021, NVIDIA has announced that the platform is expanding by adding new integrations with Blender and Adobe.
NVIDIA has revealed that since the arrival of its open beta in December, Omniverse has been downloaded by over 50,000 creators. These new integrations could open the platform up to millions of designers and artists who use Blender and Adobe software and wish to collaborate.
Blender is an open-source 3D animation tool used around the world and now gets Universal Scene Description (USD) support, enabling access to Omniverse’s production pipelines. On the Adobe side, the two companies are collaborating on a Substance 3D plugin, eventually opening Substance Material support to Omniverse. This will unlock new material editing abilities for users.
“NVIDIA Omniverse connects worlds by enabling the vision of the metaverse to become a reality,” said Richard Kerris, vice president of the Omniverse development platform at NVIDIA in a blog post. “With input from developers, partners and customers, we’re advancing this revolutionary platform so that everyone from individuals to large enterprises can work with others to build amazing virtual worlds that look, feel and behave just as the physical world does.”
“Lots of companies are, and have been, talking about the metaverse, but NVIDIA is one of the few that is actually delivering on its promise,” said Jon Peddie, noted author, consultant and founder of Jon Peddie Research. “NVIDIA brings a broader understanding of the needs of designers of all types and has many of the tools they can use — for free. The NVIDIA Omniverse platform has the potential to transform nearly every industry by making truly collaborative, creative innovation possible in a common virtual space for the first time.”
Designed for global and smaller enterprise customers, NVIDIA Omniverse is currently being evaluated by the likes of SHoP Architects, South Park and Lockheed Martin. Artists can use the platform to design buildings and create new products, viewing them in on a flatscreen or in VR.
Whilst NVIDIA Omniverse is currently in early access NVIDIA plans on officially launching it later this year on a subscription basis. For continued updates on Omniverse keep reading VRFocus.