USD Preview Surface Shader Export

The USD Export feature enables you to generate flattened preview looks from a USD Preview Surface Shader in Mari, so that they may be used in other programs that support the USD format, such as Katana.

The USD Export tab as it appears in the Export Manager.

USD Export Types

The USD export options for Mari are as follows:

  • USD Look File - This export contains the ‘look’ of an asset, for example any materials, assignments or shading networks associated with your object will be exported.

  • USD Assembly File - This export bundles the ‘look’ of an asset with the geometry it is associated with.

Note:  To export USD Assembly files, you must specify an associated USD payload file.

Exporting USD Preview Looks

To export a USD Preview Surface in Mari:

  1. Open the Export Manager through Channels > Export Manager or the icon in the project toolbar.

  2. Open the USD Export tab.

  3. Ensure the checkbox for your object and assigned shader correspond.

  4. Select the channels you wish to export for your shader and specify the export Size, Color Space, Depth, and Format per channel.

  5. Specify the target destination for your export and any variables for the file names of your textures. See Exporting Textures from Channels for more details.

    6. • If the export is a flattened preview, the target destination can be specified in the Texture File Name field.

    • To generate a USD ‘look’ file of your channels, specify a target destination in the USD Look File field.

    • To export an assembly file containing any geometry used with the shaders in your scene, specify a target destination in the USD Assembly File field.

  6. Once all the relevant target destinations have been set, click Export to USD.

    7. Note:  When exporting USD files, a root name must be specified in the Root Name text field. Any root name specified to this parameter must include the / (forward slash) prefix.