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NVIDIA OpenUSD Development certification exam — Information & Free Practice

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About NVIDIA OpenUSD Development certification exam

NVIDIA OpenUSD Development certification exam · US

Key exam facts

Provider
Certiverse
Format
English; online and remotely proctored, answer-based pass/fail examination.
Exam questions
Total questions: 60–70.
Time limit
120 minutes
Passing score
Pass/fail; NVIDIA does not provide a score.
Exam fee
$200; any applicable regional taxes are additional.

Topics covered

  • Composition (23%)

    • Change the strength of an opinion.
    • Choose an appropriate instancing style for data at different scales.
    • Compare between referencing, payloads, and sublayers, and identify their use cases.
    • Create a scene with multiple elements referencing the same animation at different time-offset.
    • Design potential scene layering strategies to facilitate multi-user workflows.
    • Explain LIVERPS in simple terms.
    • Identify situations where variants are/are not appropriate for structuring assets.
    • Identify why opinions from one layer do not take effect in a composed stage.
    • Prepare an internal asset to be delivered to external parties.
    • Remove properties from instanced component prims in an assembly stage.
    • Split a monolithic asset to model multiple collaborative workstreams.

  • Content Aggregation (10%)

    • Add a new prototype to a pointInstancer.
    • Edit the color of an instanceProxy mesh without changing its instancing status.
    • Hide instances of a pointInstancer efficiently.
    • Implement and manage USD instances for efficient asset reuse in large-scale scenes.
    • Remove properties from instanced component prims in an assembly stage.

  • Customizing USD (6%)

    • Build a USD plug-in against a given version of USD.
    • Build USD from scratch with custom dependencies.
    • Create custom model kinds when appropriate.
    • Create custom schemas for proprietary data models.
    • Integrate a custom resolver to manage asset paths dynamically.
    • Use USD schemas to support nonstandard attributes/structures during import/export.
    • Write a SceneIndex plug-in to generate renderable geometry directly as Hydra prims.
    • Write an AssetResolver that generates in-memory renderable primitives.

  • Data Exchange (15%)

    • Convert OpenUSD assets to common 3D formats (such as glTF), and ensure fidelity.
    • Document conceptual mappings between USD and another data model (e.g., materialX).
    • Explain the trade-offs between USDC and USDA formats (performance, readability, archival, etc.).
    • Implement a "round-trip" pipeline in a DCC to and from USD.
    • Use USD schemas to support nonstandard attributes/structures during import/export.
    • Write a validator for ensuring integrity of an OpenUSD asset exported from a DCC.
    • Write an exporter or converter to USD.
    • Write or extend a USD importer in a DCC.

  • Data Modeling (13%)

    • Add a primvar to a mesh.
    • Choose the appropriate value types to store attribute data.
    • Represent custom metadata.
    • Retrieve properties of a prim.
    • Understand what causes unexpected visual results.
    • Update the extent attribute of a mesh after having updated its points.

  • Debugging and Troubleshooting (11%)

    • Identify when using SdfChangeBlocks can alleviate performance bottlenecks.
    • Identify why opinions from one layer do not take effect in a composed stage.
    • Resolve issues related to asset management.
    • Understand what causes unexpected visual results.
    • Work with diagnostics for debugging and profiling (TfDebug, diagnostic delegates, Trace, TfMallocTag, ...).

  • Pipeline Development (14%)

    • Convert OpenUSD assets to common 3D formats (such as glTF), and ensure fidelity.
    • Document asset structure guidelines.
    • Explain trade-offs between USDC and USDA formats (performance, readability, archival, etc.).
    • Implement "round-trip" pipelines between a DCC and USD.
    • Integrate custom resolvers to manage asset paths dynamically.
    • Represent custom metadata.
    • Validate asset paths are formatted correctly.
    • Write or extend a USD importer in a DCC.

  • Visualization (8%)

    • Add a primvar to a mesh.
    • Assign UsdPreviewSurface materials for asset visualization.
    • Bind materials to a mesh.
    • Create a UsdPreviewSurface shading network to read diffuse colors from a primvar.

How to prepare

Work through the topics, read the explanation after each answer, and revisit the areas where you miss questions. Use the official outline and reference materials below to guide your study.

These independent practice questions are not actual exam items and do not guarantee a passing result.

Frequently asked questions

What is the exam format?

English; online and remotely proctored, answer-based pass/fail examination.

How many questions are on the exam?

Total questions: 60–70.

How long is the exam?

120 minutes

What is the passing score?

Pass/fail; NVIDIA does not provide a score.

How much does the exam cost?

$200; any applicable regional taxes are additional.

Official sources and references

Confirm current exam arrangements with the exam provider.