{"id":3079,"date":"2023-07-12T19:16:43","date_gmt":"2023-07-12T19:16:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/salarydistribution.com\/machine-learning\/2023\/07\/12\/sierra-division-presents-three-epic-projects-built-with-nvidia-omniverse\/"},"modified":"2023-07-12T19:16:43","modified_gmt":"2023-07-12T19:16:43","slug":"sierra-division-presents-three-epic-projects-built-with-nvidia-omniverse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salarydistribution.com\/machine-learning\/2023\/07\/12\/sierra-division-presents-three-epic-projects-built-with-nvidia-omniverse\/","title":{"rendered":"Sierra Division Presents Three Epic Projects Built With NVIDIA Omniverse"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Editor\u2019s note: This post is part of our weekly <\/i>In the NVIDIA Studio<\/i><\/a> series, which celebrates featured artists, offers creative tips and tricks, and demonstrates how <\/i>NVIDIA Studio<\/i><\/a> technology improves creative workflows. We\u2019re also deep diving on new <\/i>GeForce RTX 40 Series GPU<\/i><\/a> features, technologies and resources, and how they dramatically accelerate content creation.<\/i><\/p>\n

Jacob Norris is a 3D artist and the president, co-founder and creative director of Sierra Division Studios<\/a> \u2014 an outsource studio specializing in digital 3D content creation. The studio was founded with a single goal in mind: to make groundbreaking artwork at the highest level.<\/p>\n

His team is entirely remote \u2014 giving employees added flexibility to work from anywhere in the world while increasing the pool of prospective artists who have a vast array of experiences and skill sets that the studio can draw from.<\/p>\n

Norris envisions a future where incredible 3D content can be made regardless of location, time or even language, he said. It\u2019s a future in which NVIDIA Omniverse<\/a>, a platform for connecting and building custom 3D tools and metaverse applications, will play a critical role.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Omniverse is also a powerful tool for making SimReady<\/a> assets \u2014 3D objects with accurate physical properties. Combined with synthetic data<\/a>, these assets can help solve real-world problems in simulation, including for AI-powered 3D artists. Learn more about AI and access creative resources to level up your passion projects on the NVIDIA Studio creative side hustle page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Plus, check out the new community challenge, #StartToFinish. Use the hashtag to submit a screenshot of a favorite project featuring both its beginning and ending stages for a chance to be showcased on the @NVIDIAStudio and @NVIDIAOmniverse social channels.<\/p>\n

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Welcome to our new #StartToFinish<\/a> challenge. ????????\ufe0f<\/p>\n

Join by show us a photo\/video of how one of your art projects started and then one of the final result + tag #StartToFinish<\/a>. ????\ufe0f<\/p>\n

Check out these great examples from @rafianimates<\/a> made with #OpenUSD<\/a> in @NVIDIAOmniverse<\/a>. ???? pic.twitter.com\/z9v656oQ2Q<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 NVIDIA Studio (@NVIDIAStudio) July 10, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Tapping Omniverse for Omnipresent Work\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n

\u201cOmniverse is an incredibly powerful tool for our team in the collaboration process,\u201d said Norris. He noted that the Universal Scene Description<\/a> format, aka OpenUSD, is key to achieving efficient content creation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe used OpenUSD to build a massive library of all the assets from our team,\u201d Norris said. \u201cWe accomplished this by adding every mesh and element of a single model into a large, easily viewable overview scene for kitbashing, which is the process of combining elements from several assets into an entirely new model.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The byproduct of kitbashing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cSince everything is shared in OpenUSD, our asset library is easily accessible and reduces the time needed to access materials and make edits on the fly,\u201d Norris added. \u201cThis helps spur inspirational and imaginational forces.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the review phase, the team can compare photorealistic models with incredible visual fidelity side by side in a shared space, ensuring the models are \u201ccreated to the highest set of standards,\u201d said Norris.<\/p>\n

The Last Oil Rig on Earth\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n

Sierra Division\u2019s The Oil Rig<\/i> video is set on Earth\u2019s last operational fossil fuel rig, which is visited by a playful drone named Quark. The piece\u2019s storytelling takes the audience through an impeccably detailed environment.<\/p>\n

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Real or rendered?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A scene as complex as the one above required blockouts in Unreal Engine. The team snapped models together from a set of greybox modular pieces, ensuring the environment bits were easy to work with. Once satisfied with the environment concept and layout, the team added further detail to the models.<\/p>\n

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Building blocks in Unreal Engine.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Norris\u2019 Lenovo ThinkPad P73 NVIDIA Studio laptop<\/a> with NVIDIA RTX A5000 graphics<\/a> powered\u00a0NVIDIA DLSS<\/a> technology to increase the interactivity of the viewport \u2014 by using AI to upscale frames rendered at lower resolution while retaining high-fidelity detail.<\/p>\n

Sierra Division then created tiling textures, trim sheets and materials to apply to near-finalized models. The studio used Adobe Substance 3D Painter to design custom textures with edge wear and grunge, taking advantage of RTX-accelerated light and ambient occlusion<\/a> for baking and optimizing assets in seconds.<\/p>\n

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Oil rig ocean materials refined in Adobe Substance 3D Painter and Designer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Next, lighting scenarios were tested in the Omniverse USD Composer<\/a> app with the Unreal Engine Connector<\/a>, which eliminates the need to upload, download and refile formats, thanks to OpenUSD.<\/p>\n

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Stunning detail.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWith OpenUSD, it\u2019s very easy to open the same file you\u2019re viewing in the engine and quickly make edits without having to re-import,\u201d said Norris.<\/p>\n

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Team-wide review of renders made easier with Omniverse USD Composer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sierra Division analyzed daytime, nighttime, rainy and cloudy scenarios to see how the scene resonated emotionally, helping to decide the mood of the story they wanted to tell with their in-progress assets. They settled on a cloudy environment with well-placed lights to evoke feelings of mystery and intrigue.<\/p>\n

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Don\u2019t underestimate the value of emotion. \u2018Oil Rig\u2019 re-light artwork by Ted Mebratu.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\u201cFrom story-building to asset and scene creation to final renders with RTX, AI and GPU-accelerated features helped us every step of the way.\u201d \u2014 Jacob Norris<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

From here, the team added cameras to the scene to determine compositions for final renders.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we were to try to compose the entire environment without cameras or direction, it would take much longer, and we wouldn\u2019t have perfectly laid-out camera shots nor specifically lit renders,\u201d said Norris. \u201cIt\u2019s just much easier and more fun to do it this way and to pick camera shots earlier on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Final renders were exported lightning fast with Norris\u2019 RTX A5000 GPU into Adobe Photoshop. Over 30 GPU-accelerated features gave Norris plenty of options to play with colors and contrast, and make final image adjustments smoothly and quickly.<\/p>\n

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Pick camera angles before final composition.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Oil Rig <\/i>modular set is available<\/a> for purchase on Epic Games Unreal Marketplace. Sierra Division donates a portion of every sale to Ocean Conservancy<\/a> \u2014 a nonprofit working to reduce trash, create sustainable fisheries and preserve wildlife.<\/p>\n

The Explorer\u2019s Room<\/b><\/h2>\n

For another video, called \u201cThe Explorer\u2019s Room,\u201d Sierra Division collaborated with 3D artist Mostafa Sohbi. An environment originally created by Sohbi was a great starting point to expand on the idea of an \u201cexplorer\u201d that collects artifacts, gets into precarious situations and uses tools to help him out.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Norris and Sierra Division\u2019s creative workflow for this piece closely mirrored the team\u2019s work on The Oil Rig<\/i>.<\/p>\n

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The Explorer\u2019s Room.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe all know Nathan Drake, Lara Croft, Indiana Jones and other adventurous characters,\u201d said Norris. \u201cThey were big inspirations for us to create a living environment that tells our version of the story, while also allowing others to take the same assets and work on their own versions of the story, adding or changing elements in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Don\u2019t lose your way.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Norris stressed the importance of GPU technology in his creative workflow. \u201cHaving the fastest-performing GPU allowed us to focus more on the creative process and telling our story, instead of trying to work around slow technology or accommodating for poor performance with lower-quality artwork,\u201d said Norris.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s the little details that make this render extraordinary.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe simply made what we thought was awesome, looked awesome and felt great to share with others,\u201d Norris said. \u201cSo it was a no-brainer for us to use NVIDIA RTX GPUs.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Traveling soon?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Money Heist\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n

Norris said much of the content Sierra Division creates offers the opportunity for others to use the studio\u2019s assets to tell their own stories. \u201cWe don\u2019t always want to over impose our own ideas into a scene or an environment, but we do want to show what is possible,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

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Don\u2019t get any ideas.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sierra Division created the Heist Essentials and Tools Collection<\/i> set of props to share with game developers, content creators and virtual production teams.<\/p>\n

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Photorealistic detail.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always a thrill to recreate props inspired by movies like Ocean\u2019s Eleven<\/i> and Mission Impossible<\/i>, and create assets someone might use during these types of missions and sequences,\u201d said Norris.<\/p>\n

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How much money is that?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Try to spot all of the hidden treasures.<\/p>\n

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Jacob Norris, president, co-founder and creative director of Sierra Division Studios.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Check out Sierra Division on the studio\u2019s website<\/a>, ArtStation<\/a>, Twitter<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Follow NVIDIA Studio on <\/i>Instagram<\/i><\/a>, <\/i>Twitter<\/i><\/a> and <\/i>Facebook<\/i><\/a>. Access tutorials on the <\/i>Studio YouTube channel<\/i><\/a> and get updates directly in your inbox by subscribing to the <\/i>Studio newsletter<\/i><\/a>.<\/i>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Get started with NVIDIA Omniverse by downloading the standard license <\/i>free<\/i><\/a>, or learn how <\/i>Omniverse Enterprise<\/i> can connect your team<\/i><\/a>. Developers can <\/i>get started with Omniverse<\/i><\/a> resources. Stay up to date on the platform by subscribing to the <\/i>newsletter<\/i><\/a>, and follow NVIDIA Omniverse on <\/i>Instagram<\/i><\/a>, <\/i>Medium<\/i><\/a> and <\/i>Twitter<\/i><\/a>.\u00a0<\/i>For more, join the <\/i>Omniverse community<\/i><\/a> and check out the Omniverse <\/i>forums<\/i><\/a>, <\/i>Discord server<\/i><\/a>, <\/i>Twitch<\/i><\/a> and <\/i>YouTube<\/i><\/a> channels.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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