How to create a USDZ file?

Question

I tried to look at the main documentation at http://graphics.pixar.com/usd/docs/index.html and http://graphics.pixar.com/usd/docs/Usdz-File-Format-Specification.html but cou

Answer 1

For creating USDZ files from OBJs on iOS (no xcode needed)

An engineer on my team figured this out last week! (see his rundown on our blog: https://www.scandy.co/blog/how-to-export-simple-3d-objects-as-usdz-on-ios)

Creating USDZ files is funny right now - currently we can fake it by saving a USDC file and... renaming the extension!

First you'll want to load the .obj file at filePath as an MDLAsset

NSURL *url = [NSURL fileURLWithPath:filePath];
MDLAsset *asset = [[MDLAsset alloc]initWithURL:url];

ensure the MDLAsset can write the desired extensions usdc is supported (USD binary format)

if([MDLAsset canExportFileExtension:@"usdc"]){
  NSLog(@"able to export as usdc");

  // save the usdc file
  [asset exportAssetToURL:usdcUrl];
}

rename the usdc to usdz because that's all it takes

NSError *renameErr;
NSFileManager *fm = [[NSFileManager alloc] init];
BOOL mvResult = [fm moveItemAtPath:usdcPath toPath:usdzPath error:& renameErr];
if(! mvResult){
  NSLog(@"Error renaming usdz file: %@", [renameErr localizedDescription]);
}

Hope this helps until Apple can give us a more thorough how-to.