[danwills]

I find it slightly odd that SideFX aren't part of this. They have worked very closely with Pixar on integrating USD into Houdini in a new subsystem/type of network called 'Solaris' / Lops. It is a very deep and powerful integration too: You can edit USD data using the Python Lop (pxr.Usd API) or even with Vex/Vops (a SIMD-focused language that can be 'written' using 'Vop' nodes that compiles to bytecode and runs (fast) on LLVM.) Makes sense considering how much Houdini gets used to create assets (including at Pixar and for many AAA games as well.) Hopefully the alliance don't make things harder for Solaris! (Autodesk is a direct competitor because of Maya).

[danwills]

Ah, I see SideFX are there as a "General Member"! Cool!

[agumonkey]

pretty cool indeed

long live sidefx

[danwills]

I couldn't agree more, and that's from much experience working in VFX on tools/code and contacting SideFX support a lot (mostly by email) It's just been some astoundingly good support! I hope they last forever, and if they ever do have to pack it in, I hope they release the source so that Houdini can live on.

[lvncelot]

Solaris (in Houdini 18 I think?) was my introduction to USD and a pretty deep rabbit hole for a few weeks.

Although its functionality is way beyond a solo hobbyist's needs, the whole time I was thinking about how cool it is to have a standardized format, and how much it must benefit teams working together on a project.