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Omniverse Realtime Viewer

NVIDIAOfficialCreated by NVIDIA Omniverse

  • Skill
  • Tool integration
  • Software development
  • Apache-2.0
  • Medium risk
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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/electron-shm-viewer/protocol-interaction-lifecycle.md

Electron SHM Protocol, Interaction, And Lifecycle

JSON App Protocol

Use the envelope from streaming-messages:

{"event_type":"<MessageType>","payload":{}}

Common flows:

FlowReact sendsPython sends
Open stageopenStageRequest {url}openStageResult {url,result,error?,root_prim_path?}
HierarchygetChildrenRequest {prim_path,filters?}getChildrenResult {prim_path,children}
PropertiesgetPropertiesRequest {prim_path,max_bytes?}getPropertiesResponse {prim_path,properties,truncated?}
SelectionselectPrimsRequest {paths}stageSelectionChanged {prims}
PickingpickRequest {request_id,x,y}pickResult {request_id,path?}
Loading stateloadingStateQuery {}loadingStateResponse {url,loading_state}
AOV querygetAvailableAOVs {}availableAOVsResult {aovs,available}
AOV changechangeAOVRequest {aov}activeAOVState {active,available,result?}
SettingssetRenderSettingRequest {key,value} / getRenderSettingsRequest {}renderSettingsChanged {settings,capabilities,result?,applied?,applies_at?,requires_reload?,message?}
Runtime transformruntimeTransformRequest {request_id?,paths,...}runtimeTransformResult {request_id?,result,error?,applied?}
Pick effectpickEffectRequest {request_id?,paths,effect,value?}pickEffectResult {request_id?,result,error?,applied?}
Physics impulsephysicsImpulseRequest {request_id?,path,impulse,angular_impulse?,steps?,dt?}physicsImpulseResult {request_id?,result,error?,samples?,summary?}
ErrornoneviewerError {code,message,detail?}

SHM lifecycle messages:

EventDirectionPayload
shmReadyPython to Electron main{name,width,height,protocol}
shmConnectedElectron/React internal{name,width,height}
shmDisconnectedEither side{reason?}
frameStatsPython or React{fps?,sequence?,dropped?}

Protocol rules:

  • JSON messages are UTF-8 strings on the control channel.

  • Decode and validate before dispatch.

  • Include request ids for async operations that may complete out of order.

  • Keep backward-compatible aliases only when required by existing UI.

  • Cap large property payloads and return truncated: true when needed.

  • Never include frame bytes in JSON.

  • Render setting changes must reject keys outside the backend-advertised capability list. Success means active viewer state changed, or an explicit non-live action was accepted.

  • Optional feature messages must also be capability-gated. Runtime transform, pick-effect, and physics impulse controls are app features, not required parts of every Electron SHM viewer.

Input, Camera, And Picking

React captures local pointer events and sends semantic input to Python. Python owns camera math and selection side effects.

Expected controls:

  • left drag: orbit

  • middle drag: pan

  • right drag: dolly or context menu depending on drag threshold

  • wheel: zoom

  • click under drag threshold: native ovrtx pick query

Pointer mapping:

  1. Measure the canvas CSS pixel size.

  2. Compute the visible image rectangle from render width/height.

  3. Reject clicks outside the image rectangle unless a drag should clamp.

  4. Convert to render-product pixel coordinates.

  5. Send camera or native pick messages.

Example messages:

{"event_type":"cameraMouseButton","payload":{"button":0,"down":true,"x":320,"y":240,"modifiers":{}}}
{"event_type":"cameraMouseMove","payload":{"x":340,"y":260}}
{"event_type":"cameraWheel","payload":{"delta":-120,"x":340,"y":260}}

Use viewer-input-routing for gesture semantics, camera-controls for camera math, and object-selection for native pick query behavior. Use native selection outlines for renderer-visible selection feedback: enable outlines at renderer creation, configure group styles, assign non-zero groups with the native selection-group helper, and clear with group 0. Do not add legacy segmentation-based picker or outline compositor modules for new generated Electron apps.

Scene Loading, Queries, And Settings

Scene switching is server-owned:

  1. React sends openStageRequest {url}.

  2. Python resolves the path or asset id.

  3. Python pauses stepping and resets/reloads the ovrtx stage.

  4. Python rebuilds viewer camera, render product, render vars, and settings.

  5. Python clears stale selection, hover, pending pick, selection outline, AOV, and load error state.

  6. Python resets or restores camera according to stage-management settings.

  7. Python emits openStageResult, root children, settings state, and selection.

  8. Frame publishing resumes after the new render product produces a valid frame.

Hierarchy and property query rules:

  • Use stage-hierarchy for traversal, variants, bounds, and properties.

  • Keep slow USD queries out of the render loop and transport callbacks.

  • Cache the root prim path after load; do not assume /World.

  • Include root prim path in openStageResult.

  • Keep tree/property payloads bounded.

Render settings are server state. React sends commands; Python validates and applies them on the render loop thread. Persist cross-scene viewer settings under a user-configurable path such as data/viewer-settings.json.

Runtime transform and pick-effect commands should follow the same server-owned state model. If physics impulses are requested, Python should start a bounded OVPhysX worker and apply returned pose samples through the parent runtime OVStage/session path. Do not use parent-process OVPhysX population as a fallback for a failed or unverified PhysX.attach_ovstage(stage, read_ordinal=...).

Do not add lights in inline session layers unless the user requested viewer-controlled lighting. Preserve authored scene lighting by default.

Lifecycle

Development startup:

python server/app.py --transport shm --width 1920 --height 1080
npm run electron:dev

Packaged startup:

Electron main starts Python sidecar
Python prints shmReady JSON
Electron connects native SHM client
React backend starts frame pump
Python loads initial stage or waits idle

Shutdown:

React unsubscribes frame listeners
preload disconnects
Electron main cancels WaitFrame workers
native addon closes SHM client
Python render loop stops stepping
Python closes SHM server and unlinks owned resources
Python calls ovstream shutdown exactly once
Electron terminates sidecar if it started it

Failure handling:

  • If Python exits, stop the frame pump and emit disconnected state.

  • If Electron exits, Python should detect client detach and either idle or exit according to app config.

  • If the SHM name is stale, fail fast with a reconnectable error.

  • If protocol versions differ, refuse to connect.

  • If frame header validation fails, drop the frame and reconnect.

Build And Dev Workflow

Python setup:

python3 -m venv .venv
. .venv/bin/activate
python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip setuptools wheel
python3 -m pip install -r requirements.txt
export OVRTX_SKIP_USD_CHECK=1

Use references/dependencies for exact ovrtx, ovstream, USD, NumPy, and Warp setup. Do not invent alternate acquisition paths.

Electron setup:

npm install
npm run build:native
npm run electron:dev

Native addon notes:

  • Link against the ovstream SHM client library shipped with the app dependency set.

  • Package libovstream_shm_client.so beside the addon or configure a stable runtime library path before loading it.

  • Rebuild the addon when Electron version changes.

  • Prefer the host repo's existing node-gyp-build, prebuildify, or cmake-js convention.

  • Do not rely on globally installed native libraries.

Useful scripts:

{
  "scripts": {
    "server:shm": "OVRTX_SKIP_USD_CHECK=1 python -m server.app --transport shm",
    "build:native": "npm --prefix electron/native run build",
    "frontend:dev": "vite --host 127.0.0.1",
    "electron:dev": "electron ."
  }
}

Keep server, frontend, and native addon steps individually runnable.

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

AutoGineer is not affiliated with or endorsed by NVIDIA Omniverse or NVIDIA.

Download ZIP

The ZIP holds the skill’s files, its licence files and an ATTRIBUTION.md. Download omniverse-realtime-viewer.zip