Agenda
Building a USD Pipeline for 'Apex Legends'
Cole O'Brien (Principal Technical Artist, Respawn Entertainment)
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Track:
Visual Art, Programming
Audience Level:
Intermediate
Format:
Lecture
Vault Recording: TBD
Audience Level: Intermediate
For long-running live service games like Apex Legends, content pipeline reliability and iteration speed are critical. Respawn Entertainment transitioned its source asset pipeline from Maya scenes to Universal Scene Description (OpenUSD). This presentation details how they customized OpenUSD as a source format, rather than just a scene construction tool, to decouple artist workspaces from asset storage.
Principal Technical Artist Cole O'Brien addresses specific technical hurdles encountered during the transition, including decoupling skinning data from geometry, working around USD skeleton limitations, and using codeless schemas to store proprietary data. Attendees learn how Respawn validated these massive structural changes using automated validation to ensure minimal visual regression upon deployment. Through this session, technical artists and tool programmers discover concrete strategies for building a collaborative, multi-department USD pipeline for AAA games.
Principal Technical Artist Cole O'Brien addresses specific technical hurdles encountered during the transition, including decoupling skinning data from geometry, working around USD skeleton limitations, and using codeless schemas to store proprietary data. Attendees learn how Respawn validated these massive structural changes using automated validation to ensure minimal visual regression upon deployment. Through this session, technical artists and tool programmers discover concrete strategies for building a collaborative, multi-department USD pipeline for AAA games.
Takeaway
Attendees learn strategies for decoupling source asset storage from DCC workspaces using OpenUSD. They gain practical solutions for customizing USD using codeless schemas, working around USD skeleton limitations, managing skinning data independently from geometry, and deploying pipeline migrations with confidence.
Intended Audience
This session targets technical artists and tools developers working on AAA asset pipelines. Attendees benefit most if they possess a foundational understanding of game production pipelines, DCC integration (particularly Maya), and basic concepts of Universal Scene Description (OpenUSD).