USDZ format example and how to make this actually?

I am very interested to use USDZ with AR. So far I am still not 100% how this would work. Is there actually an example USD or USDZ file format out there? I am curious to test this file format using Apple example "Scanner Point Cloud" app.
People in general probably would expect Apple to use GLB or GLTF format. Anyhow, if USDZ can do a good job such as how it handles MEMOJI, then I am okey.
Ideally, Apple would release some kind of open source authoring to manage USDZ, some kind of Blender 3D for USDZ.
As 3D artist, I like how Sketchfab 3D online service allowing all kind of 3D formats, including BLEND files. Upload BLEND and it simply works as 3D objects.
Anyhow, back to real world, so:
- Is there example USDZ file out there?
- How to create USDZ from application like Blender or Maya or Houdini? Would there be some kind of Pythonic tool to do this or perhaps Swift Playground tool to convert FBX or BLEND to USDZ?
Thanks!

Accepted Reply

The mention about path is correct. You have to switch to new beta command line tools.

I do this on command-line to easily switch between the released version and beta.

sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode-beta.app/


Be sure to switch it back when using released version of the app.

sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode.app/

Replies

Thank you for the detailed explanation, trasayer! The command

xcrun usdz_converter apple.obj apple.usdz -l -d -g objapple -color_map appleD.jpg -normal_map appleN.jpg

that you provided worked great. I'm trying to understand what -l, -d, etc. mean and trying to see if there are any other commands that could be useful for me as I play around with converting more files into USDZ format. Do you have any resources that explain the meaning behind the different terminal commands?

Sure. You can see additional options using:


xcrun usdz_converter -h

It gives a nice explaination.

In addition, if you have multiple groups (g) in your obj file, you can set multiple textures for each by repeating the -g with additional -color_map -normal_map etc for each group. I havn't tried it, but it would be helpful


for example: if your lamp.obj had two groups lamp_base and lamp_head, you could have different color maps for them.

xcrun usdz_converter lamp.obj lamp.usdz -g lamp_base -color_map lamp_base_color.jpg -g lamp_head -color_map lamp_head_color.jpg

Thank you so much! You are a genius! @trayser

The usdz_converter seems to be very sensitive with naming. I remember using name like torus.001, exported out as OBJ and it refuses to converter into USDZ!

Perhaps in the XCode Beta itself, under preferences, there is Command Line setting that needs to be corrected.