# OpenUSD in Flux: Move Your Device into Digital Twins and Physical AI Simulation Flux exports a complete device as OpenUSD with part names, colors, placement and exact solids, and imports USD parts that the Flux agent can edit. Written by [Matthias Wagner](https://flux.seobdtools.com/natarius) Published Oct 2026 - 4 min read ![OpenUSD in Flux: Move Your Device into Digital Twins and Physical AI Simulation](https://flux.seobdtools.com/p/assets/blogs/openusd-in-flux/main.webp) Download a complete Flux device as OpenUSD, with its part names, colors, placement, and exact solids. Import a USD part, and let the Flux agent edit it. ## A device that a robot must learn to handle Lena leads hardware at a company that makes a handheld audio device. Her team uses Flux to design the complete device: the board, the enclosure, the buttons, and the battery. Her customer's robotics team trains a robot to pick and pack the device on an assembly line. They train it in simulation first, in a digital twin of the line that is built on OpenUSD. Before, each new revision cost the robotics team days of rework. They converted a STEP file to a mesh. The part names were lost, and all the parts merged into one object. The units changed from millimeters to centimeters, and the model lay on its side. Now Lena downloads the assembly from Flux as an OpenUSD file. Each part keeps its name, its color, and its position. The robotics team puts the file into their scene. A revision that took days now takes a few hours. ## Why OpenUSD Pixar developed Universal Scene Description (USD) for its films, and made it open source in 2016. In 2023, Pixar, Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, and NVIDIA started the [Alliance for OpenUSD](https://www.linuxfoundation.org/press/announcing-alliance-for-open-usd-aousd) to make OpenUSD an open standard. In December 2025, the Alliance released the [OpenUSD Core Specification 1.0](https://aousd.org/news/core-spec-announcement/), an open standard for 3D content and data interchange across simulation, digital twins, and world building. NVIDIA uses OpenUSD as the base of its Omniverse libraries. NVIDIA describes [OpenUSD](https://developer.nvidia.com/usd) as "an open, extensible framework for describing, composing, and simulating 3D worlds." In October 2026, NVIDIA released the [SimReady Central](https://huggingface.co/blog/nvidia/simready-central-assets-robotics-ai-factories) library on Hugging Face. It has more than 2,000 simulation-ready OpenUSD assets for robotics simulation and digital twins of AI factories. NVIDIA says that a detailed CAD model is a good starting point for a simulation-ready asset. Flux supports this push for one interchange format. A device that you design in Flux must go into these pipelines as it is, with nothing lost. ## Download your device as OpenUSD In the Export menu, open **Full 3D assembly**. Flux exports the board and every mechanical part as one assembly. ![The Flux Export menu, Full 3D assembly, with USD text (.usda), USD (.usd), and USDZ (.usdz)](https://flux.seobdtools.com/p/assets/blogs/openusd-in-flux/export-menu.webp) | Format | What the file contains | Use it for | | --- | --- | --- | | **USD text (`.usda`)** | Each part as an exact solid and a mesh, with its name, color, and position. Z up, in millimeters. | Digital twins, simulation scenes, and review of the file as text | | **USD (`.usd`)** | The same content as `.usda`, in the compact binary form | Large assemblies and pipelines that read binary USD | | **USDZ (`.usdz`)** | One named object for each part, Y up | Apple Quick Look on iPhone, iPad, and Apple Vision Pro | The exact solid is the same geometry that Flux designed, not only an approximation with triangles. The mesh is in the file too, so each USD viewer can show the device. ![The exported Mini Muse .usda in usdview, with named parts, exact solids, upAxis Z and metersPerUnit 0.001](https://flux.seobdtools.com/p/assets/blogs/openusd-in-flux/usda-viewer.webp) Send the `.usdz` file to a phone. Your customer opens it and puts the device on their desk in augmented reality. They do not need to install an app. ![The exported Mini Muse .usdz in F3D and in usdview, with one named object for each part](https://flux.seobdtools.com/p/assets/blogs/openusd-in-flux/usdz-viewer.webp) ## Import a USD part and edit it A supplier sends you a USD file. In the Import menu, select **3D part or assembly…** and pick a `.usd`, `.usda`, `.usdc`, or `.usdz` file with exact solids. Flux makes a new mechanical part. Each body keeps its name and its color. You can then edit the imported part, not only place it. Ask the Flux agent for a change. The agent makes the imported model into editable CAD and changes it. Then you place the part next to your board and check the fit. ![An imported USD connector in the Flux 3D View, before and after an edit by the Flux agent](https://flux.seobdtools.com/p/assets/blogs/openusd-in-flux/usd-import-edit.webp) ## Exact geometry with NVIDIA SMLib Flux is kernel agnostic. The agent selects the geometry kernel for each part. NVIDIA SMLib is one of these kernels. Flux uses SMLib to write and read the exact solids in USD files. Thus, the solid in the file is the solid that Flux designed. [Read more about NVIDIA SMLib in Flux](https://flux.seobdtools.com/p/blog/smooth-surfaces-nvidia-smlib). ## Before and with Flux | Step | Before | With Flux | | --- | --- | --- | | **Get the device into a USD scene** | Export STEP, convert to a mesh, repair it | Download `.usda` or `.usd` | | **Part names and colors** | Lost, and set again by hand | Kept for each part | | **Units and up direction** | Fixed by hand for each revision | Millimeters and Z up (USDZ: Y up) | | **Show the device on a phone** | A separate conversion tool | Download `.usdz` | | **Use a supplier's USD part** | Rebuild it from drawings | Import it, then edit it with the agent | | **Time for each revision** | Days | A few hours | ## Prompts to try - "Put the board in the imported enclosure, and check the clearance at the USB-C connector." - "Make the imported button 1 mm taller, and add a 0.5 mm fillet on its top edge." - "Add a status LED to the board and a light pipe in the enclosure, then route the board." - "Add two M2 screw bosses to the imported bracket, 30 mm apart." ## Start now Open a project in [Flux](https://flux.seobdtools.com/), design your device, and download it as OpenUSD. Your device is ready for the next simulation. ## About the author [Matthias Wagner](https://flux.seobdtools.com/natarius) Founder & CEO at Flux Matthias is the Founder and CEO of Flux, a hardware design platform that's revolutionizing how teams create and iterate on circuits. Find him on Flux [@natarius](https://flux.seobdtools.com/natarius). Let’s start building Build your big idea together with Flux. All you need to do is describe what you want to make, or what problem you want to solve. Flux will work with you to make it a reality. ![Close-up photo of a PCB made with Flux, with an ESP32 module, buttons, and a microSD slot.](https://flux.seobdtools.com/p/assets/blogs/miscellaneous/sidebar-cta-pcb.webp) [Try it Free](https://flux.seobdtools.com/signup) ## Related Content [ ![Teal technical illustration of a circuit board and enclosure with hand-drawn circles and arrows](https://flux.seobdtools.com/p/assets/blogs/markup-mode/main.webp) ### Circle it. Ask Flux. 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All you need to do is describe what you want to make, or what problem you want to solve. Flux will work with you to make it a reality. [Try it Free](https://flux.seobdtools.com/signup) ![Close-up of a Flux-designed printed circuit board](https://flux.seobdtools.com/p/assets/homepage-v2/mission-visual.webp)