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Omniverse Realtime Viewer

NVIDIAOfficialCreated by NVIDIA Omniverse

  • Skill
  • Tool integration
  • Software development
  • Apache-2.0
  • Medium risk

From the author

Use as the top-level router for Omniverse Realtime Viewer USD apps, XR delivery, SPG GPU processing, stylized rendering, and focused viewer reference documents.
— the description by NVIDIA Omniverse

AutoGineer summary

Written by AutoGineer from the skill’s own files, not by the author

The Omniverse Realtime Viewer skill acts as a central routing and architectural framework for developing USD-based 3D viewer applications. It provides a structured approach to composing rendering, scene state, and delivery mechanisms, ensuring that developers can integrate OVRTX rendering, OVStage scene management, and various UI or streaming adapters effectively. The skill emphasizes a modular architecture where the viewer runtime, UI/input adapters, and delivery systems are decoupled, allowing for consistent behavior across local and streamed environments.

What it does

  • Provides a routing architecture for USD viewer apps, XR delivery, and GPU-accelerated rendering.
  • Defines the separation of concerns between viewer runtime, UI adapters, and delivery systems.
  • Offers guidance on integrating OVRTX for high-fidelity 3D rendering.
  • Establishes conventions for camera interaction, scene state management, and input handling.
  • Supports the implementation of specialized features like stylized rendering and CAE/CFD visualization.
  • Provides protocols for agent-to-UI communication and scene control.

When to use it

  • When starting the development of a new USD-based realtime viewer application.
  • When integrating advanced rendering features like stylized visualization or AOV switching.
  • When building XR or spatial editing capabilities into an existing Omniverse application.
  • When you need to standardize the architecture for local and streamed viewer deployments.
  • When implementing chat-driven scene control or agent-based inspection of a 3D scene.

Advantages

  • Promotes a clean, modular architecture that separates rendering logic from UI and transport.
  • Ensures consistent behavior across different delivery methods, such as local windows or WebRTC streaming.
  • Provides clear paths for extending functionality without disrupting the core viewer runtime.
  • Facilitates the integration of complex simulation and visualization data into the viewer.
  • Standardizes conventions for scene state, selection, and camera control.

Usage examples

“How do I set up a basic USD viewer application using the Omniverse Realtime Viewer architecture?”
The agent will guide you to start with the viewer app reference, resolve dependencies, and implement the core runtime owner to manage the OVStage and OVRTX renderer.
“I need to add stylized rendering to my existing viewer. Where should I start?”
The agent will direct you to the stylized visualization references to implement the required USD/Lua/CUDA nodes within your existing runtime owner.
“How can I enable an AI agent to control the viewer scene?”
The agent will point to the A2UI Scene Copilot reference to implement an operation interface that allows the agent to send commands through the existing runtime owner.
“How do I switch between different render outputs like beauty and depth in my viewer?”
The agent will explain how to use the AOV switching reference to map RenderVars and update the RenderProduct's orderedVars through the runtime owner.

Install

  1. Download the skill as a ZIP:

    https://mp-staging.autogineer.com/agent-skills/nvidia/omniverse-realtime-viewer/download
  2. Unzip it into the cross-client skills folder of your project:

    mkdir -p .agents/skills && unzip omniverse-realtime-viewer.zip -d .agents/skills

Documentation by NVIDIA Omniverse

<!-- SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2026 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved. -->

<!-- SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0 -->

Omniverse Realtime Viewer

Build responsive USD viewers by composing OVRTX rendering, OVStage scene state, and the delivery/UI libraries appropriate to the app. Use this package for viewer architecture and interaction; use each selected SDK's upstream guidance for installation and exact release-specific APIs.

Start With The App

  1. When delivery is explicit, select its recipe through references/routing.md and follow its current phase. Otherwise start with references/usd-viewer-app/README.md. For an existing app, keep its architecture and read only the references for the requested change. Broad app, conventions and UI catalogs are lookups as needed.

  2. Resolve the selected libraries through references/dependencies/README.md. Preserve the project's manifest unless an upgrade is requested.

  3. Build a working frame and camera interaction in the chosen shell, then add the requested capabilities. Read references/conventions.md for shared input, camera, selection, and protocol conventions.

  4. Use references/viewer-ux-workflow/README.md for broader interface design. Loading, selection feedback, errors, and input responsiveness belong in the first working app, alongside rendering.

  5. Validate the actual delivery path with references/validation.md. A browser screenshot does not validate a native window or a different transport.

Architecture

OwnerResponsibility
Viewer runtimeOwn the live OVStage, publication clock, OVRTX renderer, scene changes, and render stepping.
UI and input adapterDisplay frames and copied app state; send user intent to the runtime owner.
Storage/query/simulation workersPerform their assigned work and return results through the selected integration boundary.
Delivery adapterPresent locally or stream through ovstream; respect frame ownership and backpressure.

Use OVRTX for USD/3D rendering. Browser apps display its WebRTC video; local apps present its output through their native shell. A missing GPU means rendering is unverified, not a reason to substitute a browser 3D renderer.

Keep viewer cameras, settings, effects, and transient edits in app-owned session or runtime state so the source USD stays intact. Serialize scene mutation and render stepping through the runtime owner. Read references/ovstage-ovrtx-integration/README.md for that loop, then the population or data-plane references when implementing scene loading or attribute writes.

Keep expensive loading and metadata work off the UI and render threads. Keep transport details behind a delivery adapter so camera, selection, properties, and loading state can be reused across local and streamed shells.

Add Capabilities As Needed

Use references/routing.md to select camera/picking, scene management, render settings, cloud assets, simulation, editor tools, deployment, or CAE/CFD visualization. Read the selected capability's implementation flow and its linked contract; the full reference catalog is not a prerequisite for a first frame.

For simulation, use the routing reference's Simulation Ecosystem section plus references/realtime-sim-integration/README.md. For UI-driven forces or control, add references/interaction-round-trip/README.md.

For example scenes, use references/usd-sample-data/README.md. When a runtime failure needs diagnosis, use references/troubleshooting/README.md and the selected SDK's matching release guidance before changing the architecture.

Solid Modeling: Upstream First

For usd-brep, exact BRep, solid modeling, kernel failures, CAD topology, or BrepArray questions, first read references/dependencies/README.md → USD BRep. Follow the owning repository's current agent guidance, skills, operation docs, and package API before selecting local integration references. Discover the upstream router rather than assuming skill names or directory layouts remain fixed. Upstream owns modeling semantics, schema rules, tuning, and diagnostics; this package owns OVRTX display, worker handoff, selection mapping, and publication timing.

GPU Processing And Stylized Viewers

For custom GPU processing, chained outputs and lens sampling, read references/spg-processing/README.md. For toon, ink, technical/X-Ray styles, geometry strokes or full wireframe, continue to references/stylized-visualization/implementation.md. Its USD/Lua/CUDA starting node and geometry/depth/composite build sequence work with the selected viewer recipe; use references/stylized-visualization/style-recipes.md for the preset math and references/stylized-visualization/README.md for supporting contracts. Implement the result inside the existing OVRTX/runtime owner and deliver the published processed output. These instructions do not require a sample checkout or a prior stylized-rendering implementation.

For an optional usd-brep geometry source, first read references/dependencies/README.md → USD BRep and the owning repository's current agent guidance, skills, and operation docs; then read references/stylized-visualization/usd-brep-source.md for the display boundary.

XR Viewers

For headsets, immersive viewers, or spatial editors, start with references/xr-viewer-recipe/README.md. Resolve SDK setup and contracts through references/dependencies/ovxr.md; the library owns OpenXR lifecycle and frame submission. For controllers, hands, navigation, or scene tools, add references/xr-spatial-input/README.md and references/ovxr-python-interactions/README.md. For projection-integrated UI, read references/ovxr-composition-ui/README.md and references/ovxr-composition-ui-validation/README.md.

Files

references/cpp-native-viewer/interaction-features.md

C++ Interaction Features

Apply these SDK contracts through the selected native toolkit. ImGui/GLFW input and widget snippets are examples; adapt event ownership and coordinates to the chosen shell without adding a second UI dependency.

Camera And Input State

Use camera-controls for orbit/pan/zoom and live-bounds fitting. Initialize the camera from the scene's bounds, units and up-axis; preserve that convention in navigation and fitting. UI events become bounded owner-thread commands through viewer-input-routing. The owner updates camera state and writes its local omni:xform through OVStage before publication. For a root-level session camera, that local matrix is also its world matrix.

Live Stage Writes

Create a query for the target prim through OVStage's own path dictionary and ovstage_query_from_path_list() (see stage-queries). Reuse valid queries within a stage generation and release them before replacement. A single-prim query can write a camera/local transform as one float64 matrix element:

#include <array>
using Mat4 = std::array<double, 16>;

static bool writeLocalMatrix(
    ovstage_instance_t* stage, ovstage_query_handle_t query,
    const Mat4& matrix, ovstage_ordinal_t ordinal)
{
    int64_t shape = 1;
    DLTensor tensor{};
    tensor.data = const_cast<double*>(matrix.data());
    tensor.device = {kDLCPU, 0};
    tensor.ndim = 1;
    tensor.dtype = {kDLFloat, 64, 16};
    tensor.shape = &shape;
    ovstage_write_data_t data{};
    data.tensors = &tensor;
    data.tensor_count = 1;
    data.semantic = OVSTAGE_SEMANTIC_MATRIX;
    return waitStageOperation(stage, ovstage_write_attribute(
        stage, query, {0, literal_to_ovx_string("omni:xform")}, ordinal,
        data, OVSTAGE_PRIM_MODE_UPSERT));
}

The wait keeps the stack-backed tensor alive until the write finishes; publish the batch's ordinal only after all writes succeed. Existing populated omni:xform values are local transforms. For world edits, read the live ancestor chain and reset-stack state, then compute the local result with the effective parent inverse. Preserve accepted local transforms across session recomposition. Use prim-transform-safety and transform-manipulator for this math; do not flatten a subtree into world matrices or create competing transform owners.

Native Picking

For click selection, enqueue a native pick query before the step that should produce the pick result. Read OVRTX_RENDER_VAR_PICK_HIT after that same step.

struct PendingPick {
    bool pending = false;
    int left = 0;
    int top = 0;
    int right = 0;
    int bottom = 0;
};

static bool enqueuePick(
    ovrtx_renderer_t* renderer,
    const std::string& renderProductPath,
    PendingPick& pendingPick,
    int renderWidth,
    int renderHeight)
{
    if (!pendingPick.pending || renderWidth <= 0 || renderHeight <= 0) return false;

    const ovrtx_pick_query_desc_t desc = {
        toOvxString(renderProductPath),
        static_cast<float>(pendingPick.left) / renderWidth,
        static_cast<float>(pendingPick.top) / renderHeight,
        static_cast<float>(pendingPick.right) / renderWidth,
        static_cast<float>(pendingPick.bottom) / renderHeight,
        0,
    };
    pendingPick = {};

    const ovrtx_enqueue_result_t pick = ovrtx_enqueue_pick_query(renderer, &desc);
    if (!ok(pick)) {
        printLastOvrtxError("Failed to enqueue pick query");
        return false;
    }
    return true;
}

Decode the pick-hit output by checking params and resolving primPath IDs through the path dictionary.

#include <ovx/path_dictionary/path_dictionary.h>
#include <ovx/path_dictionary/path_dictionary_helper.h>
#include <ovx/path_dictionary/path_dictionary_utils.h>

#include <algorithm>
#include <cstring>
#include <vector>

static const DLTensor* findTensor(const ovrtx_render_var_output_t& output, const char* name)
{
    for (size_t i = 0; output.tensors && i < output.num_tensors; ++i) {
        if (output.tensors[i].name &&
            sameString(*output.tensors[i].name, name)) {
            return output.tensors[i].dl;
        }
    }
    return nullptr;
}

static const DLTensor* findParam(const ovrtx_render_var_output_t& output, const char* name)
{
    for (size_t i = 0; output.params && i < output.num_params; ++i) {
        if (sameString(output.params[i].name, name)) return &output.params[i].dl;
    }
    return nullptr;
}

static bool readU64(const DLTensor& tensor, size_t index, std::uint64_t& value)
{
    if (!tensor.data || tensor.dtype.lanes != 1) return false;
    const auto* base = static_cast<const std::uint8_t*>(tensor.data) + tensor.byte_offset;
    const size_t bytes = tensor.dtype.bits / 8;
    const int64_t stride = tensor.strides ? tensor.strides[0] : 1;
    const auto* ptr = base + index * static_cast<size_t>(stride) * bytes;

    value = 0;
    if (tensor.dtype.code == static_cast<std::uint8_t>(kDLUInt)) {
        std::memcpy(&value, ptr, std::min(bytes, sizeof(value)));
        return true;
    }
    return false;
}

static std::string resolvePrimPathId(ovrtx_renderer_t* renderer, ovx_primpath_t pathId)
{
    path_dictionary_instance_t dictionary = {};
    if (!ok(ovrtx_get_path_dictionary(renderer, &dictionary))) {
        printLastOvrtxError("Failed to get OVRTX path dictionary");
        return {};
    }

    std::vector<ovx_token_t> tokenBuffer(256);
    ovx_token_t* tokensPerPath[] = {nullptr};
    size_t tokenCounts[] = {0};
    size_t pathsProcessed = 0;

    ovx_api_result_t tokenResult = path_dictionary_get_tokens_from_paths(
        &dictionary,
        &pathId,
        1,
        tokenBuffer.data(),
        tokenBuffer.size(),
        tokensPerPath,
        tokenCounts,
        &pathsProcessed);
    if (tokenResult.status != OVX_API_SUCCESS || pathsProcessed != 1 || !tokensPerPath[0]) {
        return {};
    }

    std::vector<ovx_string_t> tokenStrings(tokenCounts[0]);
    ovx_api_result_t stringResult = path_dictionary_get_strings_from_tokens(
        &dictionary,
        tokensPerPath[0],
        tokenCounts[0],
        tokenStrings.data());
    if (stringResult.status != OVX_API_SUCCESS) {
        return {};
    }

    std::string path;
    for (ovx_string_t token : tokenStrings) {
        std::string segment = fromOvxString(token);
        if (segment.empty()) continue;
        if (segment.front() != '/') path.push_back('/');
        path += segment;
    }
    return path.empty() ? "/" : path;
}

static std::vector<std::string> decodePickPaths(
    ovrtx_renderer_t* renderer,
    const ovrtx_render_var_output_t& pickOutput)
{
    std::uint64_t magic = 0;
    std::uint64_t version = 0;
    std::uint64_t hitCount = 0;
    const DLTensor* magicParam = findParam(pickOutput, "magic");
    const DLTensor* versionParam = findParam(pickOutput, "version");
    const DLTensor* hitCountParam = findParam(pickOutput, "hitCount");
    if (!magicParam || !versionParam || !hitCountParam ||
        !readU64(*magicParam, 0, magic) ||
        !readU64(*versionParam, 0, version) ||
        !readU64(*hitCountParam, 0, hitCount)) {
        return {};
    }
    if (magic != OVRTX_PICK_HIT_MAGIC || version != OVRTX_PICK_HIT_VERSION) {
        return {};
    }

    const DLTensor* primPathTensor = findTensor(pickOutput, "primPath");
    if (!primPathTensor || !primPathTensor->shape) return {};

    const size_t count =
        std::min(static_cast<size_t>(hitCount), static_cast<size_t>(primPathTensor->shape[0]));

    std::vector<std::string> paths;
    for (size_t i = 0; i < count; ++i) {
        std::uint64_t id = 0;
        if (!readU64(*primPathTensor, i, id) || id == 0) continue;
        std::string path = resolvePrimPathId(renderer, static_cast<ovx_primpath_t>(id));
        if (!path.empty() && std::find(paths.begin(), paths.end(), path) == paths.end()) {
            paths.push_back(path);
        }
    }
    return paths;
}

In the render loop, handle pick output beside LdrColor:

const bool pickQueued = enqueuePick(renderer, renderProductPath, pendingPick, renderWidth, renderHeight);

// After ovrtx_step_with_stage() and ovrtx_fetch_results():
if (pickQueued && sameString(var.render_var_path, OVRTX_RENDER_VAR_PICK_HIT)) {
    ovrtx_map_output_description_t mapDesc = {};
    mapDesc.device_type = OVRTX_MAP_DEVICE_TYPE_CPU;
    ovrtx_render_var_output_t mapped = {};
    if (ok(ovrtx_map_render_var_output(renderer, var.output_handle,
            &mapDesc, ovrtx_timeout_infinite, &mapped)) &&
        mapped.status == OVRTX_EVENT_COMPLETED) {
        std::vector<std::string> picked = decodePickPaths(renderer, mapped);
        setSelectedPrim(picked.empty() ? std::string{} : picked.front());
    }
    if (mapped.map_handle != OVRTX_INVALID_HANDLE) {
        ovrtx_unmap_render_var_output(renderer, mapped.map_handle, {});
    }
}

Treat left and top as inclusive, right and bottom as exclusive. A single click is a 1x1 pixel rectangle: {x, y, x + 1, y + 1}. Divide its edges by the current render-product width and height before enqueueing; the OVRTX query takes top-left-origin normalized coordinates in [0, 1], not pixels.

Selection Outline

Enable outlines in renderer config, then call ovrtx_set_selection_outline_group_strings() with canonical prim paths. Group 0 clears the outline; group 1 is primary selection. Queue this state on the owner after the waited stage update and before the next render step. Expand a selected Xform to its drawable descendants when the UI selects containers.

static void setSelectionOutline(
    ovrtx_renderer_t* renderer,
    const std::string& previousPath,
    const std::string& nextPath)
{
    if (!previousPath.empty()) {
        const ovx_string_t path = toOvxString(previousPath);
        const uint8_t group = 0;
        waitForOperation(renderer,
            ovrtx_set_selection_outline_group_strings(renderer, &path, 1, &group),
            "Failed to clear selection outline");
    }
    if (!nextPath.empty()) {
        const ovx_string_t path = toOvxString(nextPath);
        const uint8_t group = 1;
        waitForOperation(renderer,
            ovrtx_set_selection_outline_group_strings(renderer, &path, 1, &group),
            "Failed to set selection outline");
    }
}

For bulk updates, pass parallel string-path and group arrays. When renderer path IDs are already available, use ovrtx_set_selection_outline_group() with IDs from that renderer's own dictionary. Do not replace this renderer-owned selection state with a generic attribute write.

Optional Material Effects And Animation

Material effects write to OVStage at the owner's next ordinal. Resolve actual EffectLayer targets and save their current inputs:Fader values before changing them; do not hard-code scene-specific paths or create unknown shader inputs. For a single existing target, use a scalar float32 tensor (dtype = {kDLFloat, 32, 1}, shape {1}) with ovstage_write_attribute() and OVSTAGE_PRIM_MODE_UPSERT, after confirming the target and input exist; wait, then publish. Restore the saved value when no selected prim still uses that target. See prim-pick-effects for shared materials and app-owned effect setup.

Selection animation uses the same OVStage local-transform writer and publication clock. Capture a known local baseline, compose a reversible offset in parent space, and restore it on completion/deselection. Coordinate animation with manual editing so they never overwrite each other; do not substitute an identity matrix for an unknown baseline. See selection-animation and prim-transform-safety.

Requirements and compatibility

Works with: Claude Code, Claude apps, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Kiro, OpenCode, Goose, Amp, Roo Code, JetBrains Junie, Factory Droid, Devin (ex-Windsurf), Mistral Vibe, OpenHands, Letta

“Works with” means the tool reads the open Agent Skills format; a skill written for one tool may use features others lack.

Needs: Needs Python, Needs Node.js

The author says: Orchestrator skill. Downstream focused references may require NVIDIA GPUs, ovrtx, ovstream, ovui, OpenUSD, Python, Node/React, Tauri, Electron, C++, or cloud GPU deployment access depending on the selected viewer path.

Security

What our scanner noticed· Medium risk

  • Large base64-encoded blobs
  • Instructions that use the network

A static scan is not a guarantee. Skills are third-party content: review a skill before you let an agent use it.

Attribution and licence

Created by
NVIDIA Omniverse
Publisher
NVIDIA (Official)
Source
NVIDIA/skills · skills/omniverse-realtime-viewer · commit fce3cca
Licence
Apache License 2.0 (redistribution allowed)
  • LICENSE (added by AutoGineer from LICENSE-APACHE)
  • ATTRIBUTION.md (written by AutoGineer)
Synced

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