USD for Maya v0.16.0 Release Notes

USD version 0.16.0 is a feature release with your installation of 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
- Basic interop of standard surface and preview surface via MaterialX node definitions and UsdShade is available in binaries.
- Visualization of UsdShade + MaterialX node definitions in VP2RenderDelegate is available in binaries.
- Support for AMD MaterialX Library
Added UsdSkel CPU compute support for VP2RenderDelegate
Added documentation for new translation framework APIs (API schema adapters and job context)
AL_USDMaya ProxyDrawOverride/ProxyShapeSelect removal
Performance improvements for viewport selection
General stability fixes

What's Fixed

Fixed Issues from GitHub
[GitHub 1419] Prims are drawn at the origin when using the default material viewport override MAYA-110842
[Pixar USD Issue 1516] Crash in TS4 scene when attempting to change purpose on large groups MAYA-113682
[Nvidia 200777676] driver bug: Screen-space ambient occlusion artifacts when using USD instancing & VP2 MAYA-112995

General Fixed Issues
Hardware selection mode issues with point snapping to correct prim MAYA-111846
Point snapping generates errors MAYA-109801
Remove hardcoded Ufe camera name MAYA-112895
Ungrouping USD prims gives // Error: Failed verification: ' !propName.IsEmpty() ' MAYA-112864
Read only layers still have the option to "revert to file" active MAYA-112793
Crash when loading\unloading the mtoh plugin in DirectX mode MAYA-105659
USD prims are still accessible to point snapping when hidden MAYA-110028
duplicating Maya data that has a USD correpondent causes the USD data to be overwritten MAYA-115074
instanced USD objects can't be merged back from maya on certain cases MAYA-120761
Maya USD error and no UI elements MAYA-121112
marking menu push UI not available on instanceable items that are in pulled state MAYA-121269
Improve updateSelectionGranularity performance MAYA-111159

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.