NVIDIA has updated its AI-assisted reel-time collaboration and simulation platform Omniverse, announcing at a virtual event to coincide with CES in Las Vegas that it now supports generative AI and Unity’s game engine. Performance and usability have both been improved and new connectors have been added to expand the Omniverse ecosystem. Omniverse customers include Dentsu, Mercedes Benz and Zaha Hadid Architects. Mercedes are about to use Omniverse to design a complete new factory as a digital twin first, prior to construction starting.
Omniverse, which supports the USD format and is also now available in the cloud, allows all types of businesses to create simulations to evaluate how something might work in the real world and aggregate technologies as a stepping stone to creating mixed reality and metaverse environments.
NVIDIA Omniverse Launcher
NVIDIA Omniverse Launcher will come pre-installed on a new range of RTX-equipped Studio PCs (laptops and desktop machines).
Omniverse Enterprise
Designed for maximum flexibility and scalability, the Enterprise version of Omniverse is also now more powerful, with big leaps in real-time RTX ray tracing, path tracing and workflow design, including the ability to break down 3D data silos through aggregation, build custom 3D pipeline tools and generate synthetic 3D data.
Omniverse Avatar Cloud Engine
The Omniverse Avatar Cloud Engine (ACE), a suite of cloud-native AI microservices that make it easier to build and deploy intelligent virtual assistants and digital humans at scale, is brand-new and available as an early-access programme. Users have access to pre-built models, toolsets and domain-specific reference applications.
The early-access programme includes access to the prerelease versions of ACE animation AI and conversational AI microservices, including 3D animation AI microservice for third-party avatars. This uses Omniverse Audio2Face generative AI to bring to life characters in Unreal Engine and other rendering tools by creating realistic facial animation from just an audio file.
The Omniverse ACE animation AI microservice supports 3D characters from the Ready Player Me avatar building platform
Generative AI Support
A new release for Blender available in the Omniverse Launcher) gives 3D generative AI to Blender users, allowing them to easily transfer shape keys and rigged characters. Reattaching a rigged character’s head is now can now a one-button operation from Omniverse Audio2Face — an AI-enabled tool that automatically generates realistic facial expressions from an audio file.
Other generative AI tools are getting performance updates that make it easier for developers and creators to integrate into their current 3D pipelines.
Audio2Emotion – realistic emotions ranging from happy and excited to sad and regretful
Audio2Gesture – realistic upper-body movement
A new scene optimisation panel lets users create USD scenes within their multi-app 3D workflows more easily and in real time.
Omniverse Create
Omniverse Create is a reference app for composing large-scale, USD-based worlds that now includes Nvidia DLSS 3 and multi-viewport support, making it easier for Omniverse Enterprise users to fluidly interact with extremely large and complex scenes.
Omniverse View
Omniverse View is a reference app for reviewing 3D scenes that has been streamlined to focus purely on the review and approval experience. New collaborative, real-time, interactive capabilities — including markup, annotation, measure and simple navigation — make stakeholder presentations easier and more interactive than ever.
Omniverse Nucleus
Omniverse Nucleus, the database and collaboration engine, now includes improved IT management tools, such as expanded version control to handle atomic checkpoints on the server.
The updated Large File Transfer service enables users to move files between servers, on premises or in the cloud to benefit hybrid workflows.
New self-service deployment instructions for Enterprise Nucleus Server on AWS are now available, letting customers deploy and manage Nucleus in the cloud.
NVIDIA Canvas
Coming soon, an update to NVIDIA Canvas will include 360 surround images for creating panoramic environments and beautiful images. The AI ToyBox will enable the creation of 3D meshes from 2D inputs.
Unity
Early access to the Unity Omniverse Connector plugin is now available.
If you are looking for support to incorporate NVIDIA Omniverse’s powerful collaboration and simulation capabilities into your production workflow, please get in touch. We are here to help – contact@mondatum.com.
Source: Venturebeat