Pixar USD export does not follow API spec for camera units of attributes like focalLength #91177

New Issue

Harvey Fong · 2021-09-04T07:36:44+02:00

Harvey Fong commented

2021-09-04 07:36:44 +02:00

Blender Version
Broken: blender-2.93.5-candidate+v293.ae1a57a05eed-windows.amd64-release

Short description of error
Pixar USD export for camera units does not follow API specification
https://graphics.pixar.com/usd/docs/api/class_usd_geom_camera.html#a911505cf224b975546bc2ea5505a041e

Exact steps for others to reproduce the error
Open blender
File->Export as Universal Scene Description
Save as test.usda
open text.usda in text editor and view camera definition

In Camera prim, note that prim attributes focalLength, horizontalAperture, horizontalApertureOffset, verticalAperture, verticalAperture are written out in mm units. As per the API https://graphics.pixar.com/usd/docs/api/class_usd_geom_camera.html#a911505cf224b975546bc2ea5505a041e the units should 1/10 of the world unit therefore focalLength should be 0.50 (aka decimetre or 0.1m units) when metersPerUnit=1

  def Camera "Camera"
  {
      float2 clippingRange = (0.1, 100)
      float focalLength = 50
      float horizontalAperture = 36
      float horizontalApertureOffset = 0
      token projection = "perspective"
      float verticalAperture = 20.25
      float verticalApertureOffset = 0
  }

Here is an example from Houdini's USD export for a 35mm focal length

  def Camera "camera1"
  {
      float2 clippingRange = (1, 1000000)
      float focalLength = 0.35
      float focusDistance = 4.4
      float fStop = 2.4
      float horizontalAperture = 0.20955
      float horizontalApertureOffset = 0
      token projection = "perspective"
      double shutter:close = 0.25
      double shutter:open = -0.25
      float verticalAperture = 0.1571625
      float verticalApertureOffset = 0
  }

**Blender Version** Broken: blender-2.93.5-candidate+v293.ae1a57a05eed-windows.amd64-release **Short description of error** Pixar USD export for camera units does not follow API specification https://graphics.pixar.com/usd/docs/api/class_usd_geom_camera.html#a911505cf224b975546bc2ea5505a041e **Exact steps for others to reproduce the error** Open blender File->Export as Universal Scene Description Save as test.usda open text.usda in text editor and view camera definition In Camera prim, note that prim attributes focalLength, horizontalAperture, horizontalApertureOffset, verticalAperture, verticalAperture are written out in mm units. As per the API https://graphics.pixar.com/usd/docs/api/class_usd_geom_camera.html#a911505cf224b975546bc2ea5505a041e the units should 1/10 of the world unit therefore focalLength should be 0.50 (aka decimetre or 0.1m units) when metersPerUnit=1 ``` def Camera "Camera" { float2 clippingRange = (0.1, 100) float focalLength = 50 float horizontalAperture = 36 float horizontalApertureOffset = 0 token projection = "perspective" float verticalAperture = 20.25 float verticalApertureOffset = 0 } ``` Here is an example from Houdini's USD export for a 35mm focal length ``` def Camera "camera1" { float2 clippingRange = (1, 1000000) float focalLength = 0.35 float focusDistance = 4.4 float fStop = 2.4 float horizontalAperture = 0.20955 float horizontalApertureOffset = 0 token projection = "perspective" double shutter:close = 0.25 double shutter:open = -0.25 float verticalAperture = 0.1571625 float verticalApertureOffset = 0 }

Harvey Fong commented

2021-09-04 07:36:44 +02:00

Added subscriber: @oomer

Philipp Oeser commented

2021-09-06 08:55:13 +02:00

Added subscribers: @makowalski, @lichtwerk

Philipp Oeser commented

2021-09-06 08:55:13 +02:00

Changed status from 'Needs Triage' to: 'Archived'

Philipp Oeser closed this issue

2021-09-06 08:55:13 +02:00

Philipp Oeser commented

2021-09-06 08:55:13 +02:00

Thx for the report!

@makowalski : since this report is on a feature branch (which we usually dont track on this bugtracker): are you aware?
Just want to raise awareness, due to the policy of this tracker, will have to close though.

(@makowalski: also feel free to reopen in case you want this tracked here)

Thanks for the report. It appears that this is reporting on a feature branch.
Feature branches might include (partially) broken or missing functionality (which most of the time developers are already aware of). For this reason, bugs in feature branches are not handled on the bug tracker.
Please also test this on the master branch and if the issue is present there as well, please submit a new report for this.

Thx for the report! @makowalski : since this report is on a feature branch (which we usually dont track on this bugtracker): are you aware? Just want to raise awareness, due to the policy of this tracker, will have to close though. (@makowalski: also feel free to reopen in case you want this tracked here) ``` Thanks for the report. It appears that this is reporting on a feature branch. Feature branches might include (partially) broken or missing functionality (which most of the time developers are already aware of). For this reason, bugs in feature branches are not handled on the bug tracker. Please also test this on the master branch and if the issue is present there as well, please submit a new report for this. ```

Harvey Fong commented

2021-09-06 16:53:36 +02:00

Sorry my mistake, I got confused after reviewing the bug report video on getting the latest experimental build. I grabbed the latest daily build instead and edited the report to reflect this. Please reopen as I don't have permission to do so. Thanks

Philipp Oeser commented

2021-09-06 17:03:40 +02:00

Changed status from 'Archived' to: 'Needs Triage'

Philipp Oeser reopened this issue

2021-09-06 17:03:40 +02:00

Michael Kowalski commented

2021-09-08 01:50:16 +02:00

@oomer @lichtwerk Thanks for reporting this issue! I'll investigate this further and will report back once I have more information. There are reports that using tenths of world units doesn't always give the expected results, so I'll need to do some additional research. This is an important question to resolve, so thanks for raising it.

Harvey Fong commented

2021-09-08 04:04:46 +02:00

Thank you

If it helps, here is the thread on the usd-interest forum where the Lead Engineer on USD told me that both Blender and Modo are "outputting incorrect data"

https://groups.google.com/u/3/g/usd-interest/c/6EAeg-d53uI

He also goes into some technical details, that I don't understand, that while everybody would be happier if focal length and aperture could be measured in fixed units like Alembic it is problematic for USD.

Thank you If it helps, here is the thread on the usd-interest forum where the Lead Engineer on USD told me that both Blender and Modo are "outputting incorrect data" https://groups.google.com/u/3/g/usd-interest/c/6EAeg-d53uI He also goes into some technical details, that I don't understand, that while everybody would be happier if focal length and aperture could be measured in fixed units like Alembic it is problematic for USD.

Philipp Oeser commented

2021-09-08 10:13:45 +02:00

Changed status from 'Needs Triage' to: 'Confirmed'

Michael Kowalski commented

2021-09-08 21:18:46 +02:00

Thanks, @oomer, the link to the discussion is very helpful.

Robert S commented

2021-09-09 14:24:52 +02:00

Added subscriber: @RobertS

Robert S commented

2021-09-09 14:24:52 +02:00

Not sure if this belongs here (I searched this site for metersPerUnit and this report seemed to fit), but this is what you get when you try to import a USD file from Blender into Unreal Engine 5.0:

Not sure if this belongs here (I searched this site for metersPerUnit and this report seemed to fit), but this is what you get when you try to import a USD file from Blender into Unreal Engine 5.0: ![bild.png](https://archive.blender.org/developer/F10390818/bild.png)

Michael Kowalski commented

2021-09-09 16:26:21 +02:00

In #91177#1217989, @RobertS wrote:
Not sure if this belongs here (I searched this site for metersPerUnit and this report seemed to fit), but this is what you get when you try to import a USD file from Blender into Unreal Engine 5.0:

Thanks for reporting this, @eobet. This issue was previously reported here

https://developer.blender.org/T90519

and has already been fixed in master. The same fix will be released in the universal-scene-description branch experimental build soon.

> In #91177#1217989, @RobertS wrote: > Not sure if this belongs here (I searched this site for metersPerUnit and this report seemed to fit), but this is what you get when you try to import a USD file from Blender into Unreal Engine 5.0: > ![bild.png](https://archive.blender.org/developer/F10390818/bild.png) Thanks for reporting this, @eobet. This issue was previously reported here https://developer.blender.org/T90519 and has already been fixed in master. The same fix will be released in the `universal-scene-description` branch experimental build soon.

Sybren A. Stüvel commented

2021-11-12 16:39:15 +01:00

Added subscriber: @dr.sybren

Sybren A. Stüvel commented

2021-11-12 16:52:58 +01:00

The USD documentation reads:

Perspective focal length in millimeters (or, more general, tenths of a world unit).

Blender implements this: focal length in millimeters. The USD spec is ambiguous when the world units are not cm, as in that case the sentence doesn't make much sense. From the above I assume that what's actually meant would be:

Perspective focal length in tenths of a world unit (so millimeters when the world unit is centimeters).

If this is indeed what is actually meant, then I agree the exporter is currently doing the wrong thing.

In #91177#1217351, @oomer wrote:
If it helps, here is the thread on the usd-interest forum where the Lead Engineer on USD told me that both Blender and Modo are "outputting incorrect data"

https://groups.google.com/u/3/g/usd-interest/c/6EAeg-d53uI

This is not a public discussion group, so it's hard to use it as a reference. Fortunately I'm member of that group, to which I posted something similar to what I just wrote here. I ended with:

To resolve this, I would advice an update to the USD documentation. When this is clarified, it should be fairly straight-forward to adjust Blender's behaviour to match.

The [USD documentation](https://graphics.pixar.com/usd/release/api/class_usd_geom_camera.html#a15709b0274673a367bcac5d4978500aa) reads: > Perspective focal length in millimeters (or, more general, tenths of a world unit). Blender implements this: focal length in millimeters. The USD spec is ambiguous when the world units are not cm, as in that case the sentence doesn't make much sense. From the above I assume that what's actually meant would be: > Perspective focal length in tenths of a world unit (so millimeters when the world unit is centimeters). If this is indeed what is actually meant, then I agree the exporter is currently doing the wrong thing. > In #91177#1217351, @oomer wrote: > If it helps, here is the thread on the usd-interest forum where the Lead Engineer on USD told me that both Blender and Modo are "outputting incorrect data" > > https://groups.google.com/u/3/g/usd-interest/c/6EAeg-d53uI This is not a public discussion group, so it's hard to use it as a reference. Fortunately I'm member of that group, to which I posted something similar to what I just wrote here. I ended with: To resolve this, I would advice an update to the USD documentation. When this is clarified, it should be fairly straight-forward to adjust Blender's behaviour to match.

Sonny Campbell self-assigned this 2022-09-20 16:00:41 +02:00

Kevin Collins commented

2022-11-17 01:27:08 +01:00

Added subscriber: @codeloadgame

Philipp Oeser removed the

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Pixar USD export does not follow API spec for camera units of attributes like focalLength #91177