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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://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/camera-picker/README.md

Camera Picker

Purpose

Stages with multiple authored cameras (e.g., a warehouse with top-down, perspective, dock-level, and aisle views) should expose those cameras to the user via a simple dropdown. This skill implements the full round-trip: server enumerates cameras → frontend renders dropdown → user selects → server switches active camera → stream updates.

Triggers

Use when:

  • The stage contains two or more UsdGeom.Camera prims.

  • A user asks for a camera selector, camera picker, view switcher, or viewport dropdown.

  • Building a viewer that must support multiple viewpoints.

  • The camera-auto-select skill detected multiple cameras and the app should let users explore them.

Message Protocol

Server → Client: camera_list

Sent once after stage load (or stage switch) alongside or after push_initial_state:

{
  "event_type": "camera_list",
  "payload": {
    "cameras": [
      {
        "path": "/World/Cameras/Cam_Persp",
        "name": "Cam_Persp",
        "focalLength": 35.0
      },
      {
        "path": "/World/Cameras/Cam_TopDown",
        "name": "Cam_TopDown",
        "focalLength": 50.0
      },
      {
        "path": "/World/Cameras/Cam_DockLevel",
        "name": "Cam_DockLevel",
        "focalLength": 35.0
      },
      {
        "path": "/World/Cameras/Cam_Aisle",
        "name": "Cam_Aisle",
        "focalLength": 28.0
      }
    ],
    "activeCamera": "/World/Cameras/Cam_Persp"
  }
}
Client → Server: set_camera

User selects a different camera:

{
  "event_type": "set_camera",
  "payload": {
    "path": "/World/Cameras/Cam_TopDown"
  }
}
Server → Client: camera_changed

Confirms the switch (allows UI to sync if multiple clients are connected):

{
  "event_type": "camera_changed",
  "payload": {
    "activeCamera": "/World/Cameras/Cam_TopDown"
  }
}

Server Implementation

Attached OVStage Runtime Contract

For an attached OVStage viewer, camera enumeration and selection belong to the application-owned runtime adapter. It returns copied camera DTOs to the transport layer and owns all live reads, transforms, lens updates, ordinal publication, and stage-generation checks. Do not open another Usd.Stage or read/write camera state through standalone renderer APIs in this path.

The pxr example below is suitable only for a separate offline/preflight tool. It must not be called from the live attached viewer.

Offline / Preflight Enumeration
from pxr import Usd, UsdGeom


def get_camera_list(stage: Usd.Stage) -> list[dict]:
    """Return all authored cameras suitable for the picker."""
    cameras = []
    for prim in stage.Traverse():
        if prim.IsA(UsdGeom.Camera):
            cam = UsdGeom.Camera(prim)
            cameras.append({
                "path": str(prim.GetPath()),
                "name": prim.GetName(),
                "focalLength": cam.GetFocalLengthAttr().Get() or 50.0,
            })
    return cameras
Handling set_camera in an Attached Viewer

When the server receives set_camera:

def handle_set_camera(self, payload: dict) -> None:
    camera_path = payload.get("path", "")
    camera = self.runtime.camera_queries.get_camera(camera_path)
    if camera is None:
        self.send_error(f"Invalid camera path: {camera_path}")
        return

    # The adapter validates the active generation, copies the authored camera
    # into the session/orbit camera, waits, and publishes the resulting ordinal.
    committed = self.runtime.camera_commands.use_authored_camera(camera_path)
    self.active_camera = camera_path
    self.broadcast({
        "event_type": "camera_changed",
        "payload": {
            "activeCamera": camera_path,
            "stageGeneration": committed.stage_generation,
        },
    })

camera_queries and camera_commands are application adapter boundaries, not literal OVStage API names. Build them from the current OVStage query/data-plane guidance. The command must publish before the renderer consumes the returned ordinal.

Sending Camera List on Stage Load

In the stage load handler, after push_initial_state:

def on_stage_loaded(self) -> None:
    # ... existing push_initial_state logic ...

    camera_state = self.runtime.camera_queries.list_authored_cameras()
    cameras = camera_state.cameras
    if cameras:
        active = camera_state.default_camera_path or cameras[0]["path"]
        self.active_camera = active
        self.broadcast({
            "event_type": "camera_list",
            "payload": {
                "cameras": cameras,
                "activeCamera": active,
                "stageGeneration": camera_state.stage_generation,
            },
        })

Frontend Implementation (React)

CameraPicker Component
import React from "react";

interface CameraInfo {
  path: string;
  name: string;
  focalLength: number;
}

interface CameraPickerProps {
  cameras: CameraInfo[];
  activeCamera: string;
  onSelect: (path: string) => void;
}

export function CameraPicker({ cameras, activeCamera, onSelect }: CameraPickerProps) {
  if (cameras.length < 2) return null; // No picker needed for 0-1 cameras

  return (
    <div className="camera-picker">
      <label htmlFor="camera-select">Camera</label>
      <select
        id="camera-select"
        value={activeCamera}
        onChange={(e) => onSelect(e.target.value)}
      >
        {cameras.map((cam) => (
          <option key={cam.path} value={cam.path}>
            {formatCameraName(cam.name)} ({cam.focalLength}mm)
          </option>
        ))}
      </select>
    </div>
  );
}

function formatCameraName(name: string): string {
  // "Cam_TopDown" -> "Top Down", "Cam_Persp" -> "Persp"
  return name
    .replace(/^Cam_?/i, "")
    .replace(/([a-z])([A-Z])/g, "$1 $2")
    .replace(/_/g, " ")
    .trim() || name;
}
Wiring Into the App
function ViewerApp() {
  const [cameras, setCameras] = useState<CameraInfo[]>([]);
  const [activeCamera, setActiveCamera] = useState("");

  useEffect(() => {
    // Listen for camera_list from server
    stream.on("camera_list", (payload) => {
      setCameras(payload.cameras);
      setActiveCamera(payload.activeCamera);
    });

    stream.on("camera_changed", (payload) => {
      setActiveCamera(payload.activeCamera);
    });
  }, []);

  const handleCameraSelect = (path: string) => {
    stream.send({ event_type: "set_camera", payload: { path } });
  };

  return (
    <div className="viewer">
      <header className="toolbar">
        <CameraPicker
          cameras={cameras}
          activeCamera={activeCamera}
          onSelect={handleCameraSelect}
        />
      </header>
      <VideoViewport />
    </div>
  );
}
Styling

Place the picker in the toolbar/header bar alongside other controls (render settings, scene tree toggle, etc.). Keep it compact:

.camera-picker {
  display: flex;
  align-items: center;
  gap: 8px;
}

.camera-picker select {
  padding: 4px 8px;
  border-radius: 4px;
  background: var(--surface-2);
  color: var(--text-primary);
  border: 1px solid var(--border);
  font-size: 13px;
}

.camera-picker label {
  font-size: 12px;
  color: var(--text-secondary);
  text-transform: uppercase;
  letter-spacing: 0.5px;
}

Behavior Rules

  1. Hide the picker when ≤1 camera exists. If the stage has zero or one camera, the dropdown adds no value. The camera-auto-select skill handles the default; no UI needed.

  2. Show the picker when ≥2 cameras exist. Even if auto-select picked a good default, the user should be able to explore other views.

  3. Include an "Orbit (free)" entry when the viewer supports free orbit mode. Selecting it returns to the user-controlled orbit camera without snapping to any authored camera:

    <option value="__orbit__">Free Orbit</option>

  4. Preserve orbit state on switch. When the user selects an authored camera, apply its transform to the orbit controller. The user can then orbit from that starting point. Switching cameras does not lock the viewport.

  5. Re-emit camera_list on stage switch. If the user loads a different stage, the old camera list is stale. Treat it like a fresh load.

  6. SHM/Electron path. Same message protocol over the SHM JSON channel. The Electron renderer handles camera_list and camera_changed identically to WebRTC.

Keyboard Shortcuts (Optional)

For power users, bind number keys to cameras:

KeyAction
1 – 9Switch to camera at that index in the list
0Free orbit mode

Only activate when the viewport has focus (not when typing in a text field).

Gotchas

  • Authored cameras may have different aspect ratios or clipping planes. When switching, update the render product resolution or adjust vertical aperture to match the stream aspect (see camera-controls skill).

  • Some stages nest cameras inside referenced assets (props). Filter to cameras that are direct children of a Cameras Xform or at the scene root to avoid showing internal asset cameras.

  • The runtime camera adapter must preserve both Y-up and Z-up orientation when it converts an authored camera into orbit state.

  • Drop delayed selection commands and camera-list messages when their stageGeneration no longer matches the active runtime.

See Also

  • camera-auto-select — picks the initial camera; picker shows the alternatives.

  • camera-controls — orbit, pan, zoom after a camera is chosen.

  • streaming-messages — message protocol patterns.

  • stage-loading — stage open lifecycle.

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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Download ZIP

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