An Ominverse is a decentralised virtual world but controlled by one Entity that allows other entities to contribute freely. For example they allow external tools to connect and adhere to some industry standards but ultimately it is not decentralised. Simialr to the Metaverse it’s a concept that encompasses virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), the internet, and artificial intelligence (AI) creating a persistent digital world that exists alongside our physical reality.
Nvidia’s Omniverse
Nvidia’s Omniverse is a platform for connecting 3D worlds into a shared virtual universe. It’s designed to enable real-time collaboration and simulation, allowing creators, designers, and engineers to work together on complex projects within a shared virtual space.
The omniverse is an entirely different set of tools for you to use, its not just one bit of software and one of the key compnents is that it accepts usd file types.
Tools Unique to Nvidia’s Omniverse
- USD Compatibility:Omniverse utilizes Pixar’s Universal Scene Description (USD), an open-source framework for interoperability between different 3D software tools.
- Omniverse Create: allows you to stage scenes for environments, i.e. animation and renders
- Omniverse Machinima: allows you to create cinematic quality such as camera angles.
- Audio2face: allows you to convert sound clips into animations for characters faces, it even takes the emotion of the sound clip and portrays it on the subjects face.
- Omniverse connectors: Omniverse Connectors enable seamless integration with various 3D software applications, such as Autodesk Maya, Unreal Engine, and Blender.This happens in real time, so as you work on a project in unreal engine it gets updated in the omniverse and visa versa. In total there are 41 connectors currently however and SDK and Cloud API allows anyone to build their own.
- Real-time Collaboration: Multiple users can simultaneously work on the same 3D model or scene, regardless of their location.
- AI Integration: Omniverse leverages AI for tasks like generating realistic facial animations from audio (Audio2Face) and enhancing graphics rendering.
Omniverse & Interoperability
- The technology behind Nvidia Omniverse is in their interest to create a market for high end graphics in 3D environments. The technology behind Nvidia makes the world class leaders in the industry and allows them take a significant share of the market. The more open they make the metaverse the more profits they are likely to see.
- RTX stands for Ray Tracing Texel eXtreme providing better imaging and texture in video applications. This is the technology in the current graphics card that Nvidia are developing which is significantly ahead of competitors
- Open USD was invented by Pixar studios, it is an open ecosystem for composing and collaborating the creation of 3D worlds. IT uses agnostic file systems to allow interoperability between creators and software’s.
- Software Development Kit SDK – Omniverse also offers software development kit (SDK’s) and encourages people to develop applications to be used within their environment.
In addition to this Nvidia have highly intelligent cybersecurity algorithms and AI detectors so have the potential to significantly reduce risk when it comes to identity theft.
While Nvidia have possibly developed the closest realisation of the original vision of the metaverse where its open it appears that others are allowed to operating in Nvidia’s environment. They control who can and cannot enter, the can block and demote connectors in their openUSD Ecosystems much similar to how app stores work where we have seen many competition court cases happen due to breaches of competition law.
In addition to this Nvidia has openly stated that they have little to no interest in Cryptocurrency.
Nvidia never embraced the crypto community with open arms. In 2021, the company even released software that artificially constrained the ability to use its graphics cards from being used to mine the popular Ethereum cryptocurrency
The vision of the Metaverse that Nvidia shares is different to the web 3.0 version of a decentralised utopia and their statement shows that they will likely develop their version of the Metaverse in the Omniverse that others can interact with rather than being completely decentralised.
Omniverse Cloud API’s
Two of the biggest game changing features brought by Omniverse are related to the “Adaptation and Commonality” and “Sharing and Collaboration” guidelines. Omniverse has “Adaptation and Commonality” by being compatible with Disney Pixar’s open-source platform Universal Scene Description (USD), which provides interoperability between many tools used on the creation of virtual worlds. Omniverse has “Sharing and Collaboration” by allowing project team members to maximize productivity and enhance communication by editing the same 3D model from anywhere at the same time.
Two of the biggest game changing features brought by Omniverse are related to the “Adaptation and Commonality” and “Sharing and Collaboration” guidelines. Omniverse has “Adaptation and Commonality” by being compatible with Disney Pixar’s open-source platform Universal Scene Description (USD), which provides interoperability between many tools used on the creation of virtual worlds. Omniverse has “Sharing and Collaboration” by allowing project team members to maximize productivity and enhance communication by editing the same 3D model from anywhere at the same time.
The Multiverse, An Alternative Omniverse
The concept of the “Multiverse” adds another layer to this discussion. In cosmology, the Multiverse refers to the hypothetical set of possible universes, including our own. In the context of virtual worlds, the Multiverse can be seen as a collection of interconnected Metaverses, each with its own set of rules, experiences, and communities.
While Nvidia’s Omniverse is not a true Multiverse in the cosmological sense, it could be considered a Multiverse of 3D design and simulation environments. It allows users to create and connect different virtual spaces, each tailored to specific needs and applications.
