AssetPreviewsAPI

AssetPreviewsAPI supports providing thumbnail previews for assets.

One use for AssetPreviewsAPI is to provide “preview render” thumbnails for a given asset. These thumbnails can then be used in asset icons or other UX in a DCC tool’s asset browser, or in a system asset browser.

Observe the example below to see how to link thumbnails to an asset.

#usda 1.0
(
    defaultPrim = "World"
    metersPerUnit = 0.01
    upAxis = "Y"
)

def Xform "World" (
    prepend apiSchemas = ["AssetPreviewsAPI"]
    assetInfo = {
        dictionary previews = {
            dictionary thumbnails = {
                dictionary default = {
                    asset defaultImage = @defaultThumbnail.jpg@
                }
                dictionary highResolution = {
                    asset defaultImage = @highResolution.jpg@
                }
                dictionary wireFrame = {
                    asset defaultImage = @wireFrame.jpg@
                }
            }
        }
    }
)
{
    def Cube "Cube"
    {
    }
}

Note that the AssetPreviewsAPI schema must be applied, and consider the structure of how thumbnails are assigned. Multiple thumbnails can be assigned to an asset, with one designated as the default. This allows applications to support different qualities or styles of thumbnails if desired.