USD version 0.17.0 is a new release compatible with Maya 2023. Visit the official Autodesk MayaUSD GitHub repository to obtain this version or any subsequent releases.

Highlights

This release installer includes the following improvements:

• Compiled with USD 21.11 and MaterialX 1.38.3
• General stability fixes and performance improvements
• Export of NURBS curves
• Fixes to Edit as Maya workflows including
  • Selection persistence
  • Stability improvements to Undo/Redo
  • Loss of geometry or texture shaders
• Performance issues resolved when selecting many USD entities
• Delete key now clears a prim instead of de-activating it
• Marking Maya-to-Hydra (MtoH) as “Experimental”

What's Fixed

Fixed Issues from GitHub
[GitHub 1779] Load State of an objects is tied to its prim path and not the object itself MAYA-114593
[GitHub 1688] crashes when a user tries to interact with the outliner after unloading a payload MAYA-114855
[GitHub 1849] Revise documentation for "Setting Site-Specific Defaults" and add unit test MAYA-114977
[Github 1991] Investigate why interacting with heavy scenes is slow MAYA-121225
[Github 1991] Changing wireframe color triggers 5 unconsolidated frames MAYA-121316
[Github 1991] Having lots of USD things selected is slow due to populateSelection MAYA-121408
[Github 2150] renaming 2 usd items with illegal characters will cause Maya to crash MAYA-121937

General Fixed Issues
USD selection highlighting doesn't take Color Settings into consideration MAYA-106075
USD: animation performance very slow on certain assets - USD reports animated mesh topology MAYA-113944
merging Maya data to anonymous layer causes geometry to be lost MAYA-121208
USD geometry gets lost when pulled into maya in certain cases MAYA-121244
when using the viewport Marking menu to pull a USD node will sometimes bring the mesh instead of the selected node MAYA-121247
Error when attempting to add a Maya reference to a variant when the Layer edits are locked MAYA-121450
Refresh issue with deactivation of USD Prims with Display > Inactive Prims disabled MAYA-121600
cache to USD: Animation range option is not respected MAYA-121626
MayaUSD/MaterialX: faces with Z pointing normals render black MAYA-121735
Textures are broken when the same file is loaded multiple times MAYA-121882
Pulling the attached usd stage crashes maya MAYA-122122

Known Limitations

The following list of limitations remains in flux as development is ongoing.

USD stage creation workflow limitations

See Create a USD stage for more information

• Switching selected object variant can cause sync issues

USD import and export workflow limitations

See USD import options and USD export options for more information

• Cameras have limited support during import/export
• The round-trip workflow is currently lossy (ie. contains a loss of information from compression)
• Mesh component level control is unsupported
• Vertex/Edge Component tags are currently unsupported

USD materials workflow limitations

See USD import options for more information

• Duplicate Shader Nodes in the Materials dropdown of the USD File Type Specific Options Menu:

  Loading the latest MayaUSD plug-in will provide the UsdPreviewSurface shader node. Loading a previous version of the plug-in will provide a pxrUsdPreviewSurface shader node. While both materials can import and export intrinsically to USD, loading both plugins into the same file will provide both nodes and create backward compatibility issues. The two nodes will correctly export to UsdPreviewSurface, but importing the scene back into Maya will choose the first registered node (ie. selection is dependent on plug-in load order).

  • Workaround: Have only one of the two aforementioned plug-ins loaded in Maya or ensure the first loaded plug-in is the preferred selection.

• USD core rendering backend HydraGL(Storm) is not fully supported in Maya (switching to Hydra render delegate from VP2 on a Maya scene can cause Maya to crash)

  • Workaround: To ensure Maya's native VP2 render delegate can support the materials of a file, verify that the file's meta data inputs are importing correctly in Maya by using USD View. Generally, to achieve similar material results to an original file, convert to the original materials used on import.