The Maya Learning Channel posts a look into USD and how it works.

USD, or universal scene description, promises ultimate interoperability between 3D applications. But USD is much more than that, and this look from the Maya Learning Channel offers an excellent primer to help us understand what USD is and how it works from an artist’s perspective.

Maya 2023 also gives the ability to work with USD across Maya’s toolset, including in the Bifrost Graph with new USD nodes.

“This update integrates USD in Bifrost for the first time, allowing people to use Maya almost anywhere there’s a USD implementation in the pipeline – from familiar Maya workflows to procedural Bifrost workflows. Support for USD in the Channel Box is also improved, accelerating the editing process for layout and assembly. At the same time, the Attribute Editor makes it easier to distinguish between USD and Maya data. Manipulate large USD data sets faster with point snapping performance in the viewport, edit attributes while preserving changes. With a new USD locking feature, isolate ‘select’ to focus on where work is in a scene, and visualize materials in the viewport with new MaterialX support.”