3D Asset Interoperability

Purpose

We are witnessing the rapid emergence of increasingly sophisticated tools and platforms to author and distribute real-time 3D content. Multiple industry sectors employ a broad diversity of runtime 3D technologies, including in-browser engines, game engines, and simulation engines. The explosion of tools, engines, platforms, and use cases is driving an urgent need for 3D asset interoperability standards.

Specifically, the scene layering and composition concepts in USD are considered by many organizations to be a solid and proven foundation for representing virtual worlds and interactive experiences. At the same time, many industries and applications are embracing glTF as an efficient 3D object representation. This working group aims to facilitate productive communication between the USD and glTF communities, to foster collaboration, and to encourage standards and open source projects to evolve in a coordinated fashion.

Featured News & Update

Gaussian Splats: Ready for Standardization?

On January 22, 2025, members from the 3D Asset Interoperability Working Group hosted an industry-wide event on Gaussian Splats. This transformative technology has seen remarkable advances for digital reconstruction and visualization of the physical world.

3D Asset Interoperability Using USD and glTF Working Group 2023 Year in Review

“We’re thrilled to report on a tremendously productive first year for the 3D Asset Interoperability Working Group. Our engaged members have made meaningful progress in aligning key graphics standards like USD and glTF, advancing seamless 3D workflows.”

Projects

• glTF/USD interop – Creating assets and testing infrastructure to help identify gaps and issues with using glTF and USD together in authoring and deployment pipelines.
• Materials – Exploring alignment between PBR approaches, including Pixar’s USD, the Khronos glTF PBR specification, along with partners such as Autodesk and Adobe with OpenPBR, and the ASWF’s MaterialX open source project.
• Physics – Bringing together physics experts from multiple platforms and engines to outline a common representation for simulation behavior and dynamics in the glTF Physics extension and USD Physics template.
• Animation and FBX – Conducting an analysis between the FBX, USD, and glTF file formats, with a focus on identifying the critical workflows and use cases that currently rely on FBX. Based on the findings, propose a migration strategy and recommendations to standards bodies that will enable the transition of these essential workflows to either USD or glTF or to both, ensuring minimal disruption and maximizing compatibility. Also pinpoint key functions of the FBX SDK that offer valuable but complex computational services related to transformations and coordinate systems. Encourage these functions to be made accessible to everyone as an alternative to the current proprietary FBX SDK libraries.
• Interactivity – Feedback on glTF interactivity extension to encourage alignment with USD and work toward industry alignment and interoperability.

Additional Resources

• Working Group Charter
• Portal (members only)
• Meeting dates: We meet biweekly on Wednesdays at 11am PT
• USD & glTF Resources

Education Sessions

We host bi-weekly virtual education sessions with invited experts on topics ranging from material representations to physics to animation pipelines, and we learn about other formats and open source initiatives. Many of these Education Sessions are live on our YouTube channel, and we continue to add more. 

Working Group Chairs

Metaverse Standards Form working groups address the interoperability challenges and opportunities that are vital to driving the open metaverse.  These working groups are led by our volunteer chairs who give their time to help coordinate and drive discussions with members of the group.