Connect with us

Technology

Alliance for OpenUSD Announces Advancements in OpenUSD, Core Specification, and Industry Collaboration

Published

on

New Members and Interest Groups Expand Industry Contribution to the Alliance, New OpenUSD Release and Core Specification Development Simplifies OpenUSD Adoption and Implementation

SAN FRANCISCO, July 25, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — The Alliance for OpenUSD (AOUSD) today announced DigitalFish, Hunan Mango Innocreative Technology, Microsoft Corp., Shutterstock, Sony Group, and Sunvega Information Technology as new members, the launch of new Interest Groups, a new release of OpenUSD, and momentum in core specification definition.

New OpenUSD Release and Core Specification Development Simplifies OpenUSD Adoption and Implementation.

Formed in 2023, AOUSD is an organization dedicated to fostering the standardization, development, evolution, and growth of Universal Scene Description (OpenUSD), an extensible framework for describing, composing, simulating, and collaboratively navigating and constructing 3D scenes.

New Members

AOUSD is proud to welcome six new general members whose participation will expand the use, evolution, and expansion of OpenUSD applications across industries such as Architecture, Engineering, and Construction, Industrial Manufacturing, and Media and Entertainment. View Quotes from New Members.

Learn more about becoming a member of AOUSD today.

New Interest Groups Drive Innovation and Inclusivity

AOUSD also announced a new level of Alliance collaboration and participation as contributors in newly formed Interest Groups. Interest Groups provide industry experts the ability to incubate new ideas that can drive OpenUSD development across industries and applications. Each Interest Group operates under a specific charter that outlines clear scopes and objectives, ultimately providing recommendations to official AOUSD Working Groups, which drive normative specifications.

The first of these Interest Groups are:

Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Operations (AECO)Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI)Emerging Geometry

“The formation of these Interest Groups represents a significant step forward in our mission to expand the reach and capabilities of OpenUSD,” said Steve May, Chairperson at AOUSD. “By focusing on crucial areas such as diversity and inclusion, emerging geometries, and industry-specific applications, we’re ensuring that OpenUSD continues to evolve as a versatile and inclusive standard for 3D content creation and interchange.”

AECO (Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Operations) Interest Group

The AECO Interest Group will examine the potential for USD in the AECO sector and provide recommendations on its adoption. Chaired by Angel Velez of Autodesk and Sean Snyders of Trimble, the group will assess the role of USD in AECO and its relationship with existing standards such as IFC.

Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) Interest Group

The DEI Interest Group is committed to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion across AOUSD’s organization and its activities. Chaired by Lori Smallwood of Apple, the group will explore concrete actions AOUSD can take to accomplish these goals, leveraging OpenUSD’s potential.

Emerging Geometry Interest Group

The Emerging Geometry Interest Group will focus on learning and sharing experiences from the latest graphics research in 3D asset representation — such as Gaussian splats or Neural Radiance Fields (NeRFs). Chaired by Raymond Fei of Adobe and Gavriel State, senior director of system software at NVIDIA, the group’s initial focus will be on assets generated via neural reconstruction and Signed Distance Field primitives and operators.

New Release of OpenUSD

OpenUSD v24.08 is now available, bringing more flexibility and accessibility to OpenUSD developers and workflows. This release is a result of major collaboration across the OpenUSD ecosystem including the liaison agreements between AOUSD, ASWF, and Khronos.

A new OpenUSD Validation Framework is now available, making it easier for content owners to identify and address issues in their OpenUSD scenes.

The new release also aligns with the VFX Reference Platform to support OneTBB for more recent developments in data parallelism, and Python 3.12 for newer scripting features.

OpenUSD also now supports a Vulkan-backed Storm renderer, improving performance across platforms by leveraging modern graphics APIs.

Advancing OpenUSD Core Specification

The Alliance for OpenUSD Core Specification Working Group made major progress since its inception in 2023. The Working Group produced drafts now available for AOUSD members to review, including drafts for attribute data types, document data model, and core file formats (USDA, USDC, USDZ). The group continues to drive development of sample implementations for USDA and USDC parsers and compliance testing, editorial activities including a conceptual glossary, and composition and stage population specifications. 

See AOUSD at SIGGRAPH

Those attending SIGGRAPH 2024 are invited to explore the numerous OpenUSD-related sessions and network with AOUSD members. This year, several AOUSD members, including Adobe, Ansys, Apple, Autodesk, Cesium, Epic Games, Meta, NVIDIA, Pixar, SideFX, Sony Group, and WPP, will be presenting on a wide range of topics related to AOUSD, OpenUSD, and its applications in the industry.

Connect with AOUSD members and the broader OpenUSD community at the Alliance for OpenUSD and Academy Software Foundation USD Working Group and the OpenUSD Developer Meetup.

For a detailed list of highlighted sessions and more information about AOUSD’s presence at SIGGRAPH 2024, please visit our blog here.

About the Alliance for OpenUSD

The Alliance for OpenUSD (AOUSD) is an open organization dedicated to fostering the interoperability of 3D content through OpenUSD to enable developers and content creators to more easily describe, compose, and simulate large-scale 3D projects. The Alliance brings together a diverse and inclusive community to provide an open forum for collaborative development and discussion around the standardization, development, and growth of OpenUSD.

Media Contact
pr@aousd.org

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/alliance-for-openusd-announces-advancements-in-openusd-core-specification-and-industry-collaboration-302206937.html

SOURCE The Linux Foundation

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Technology

Sustainable Infrastructure Holding Company (“SISCO”) Q3FY24 revenue (excluding accounting construction revenue) increases by 23.8% to 341.8 million

Published

on

By

Revenue grew by 23.8% compared to previous yearGross profit of SAR 179.8 million, a 21.7% increase compared to Q3FY23Adjusted EBITDA rose 29.5% to SAR 210.2 million

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, Nov. 16, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Sustainable Infrastructure Holding Company (“SISCO”, “TADAWUL: 2190”), Saudi Arabia’s leading strategic investor in Ports & Logistics and Water Solutions has announced its financial results for the quarter ended 30 September 2024.

Revenues for the third quarter of 2024, excluding accounting construction revenue, grew by 23.8% compared to Q3FY23 to reach SAR 341.8 million. On a quarter-to-quarter basis, revenues grew by 13.0% compared to Q2FY24.

The third-quarter gross profit of SAR 179.8 million represents 14.7% quarter-on-quarter growth and 21.7% growth compared to Q3FY23. The gross profit margin for Q3FY24 was down 0.9% year-on-year, due to increased depreciation and direct costs, but was up 0.8% quarter-on-quarter, in line with expectations. Year-to-date saw gross profits increase by 13.8% to SAR 469.5 million.

Adjusted EBITDA growth rose 29.5% to SAR 210.2 million compared to Q3FY23, aligning SISCO with strategic goals. Quarter-on-quarter growth was 20.8%, with a year-to-date increase of 17.7% to SAR 543.8 million.

SISCO reports a strong recovery in the Red Sea Gateway Terminal from subdued Q3FY23 Port segment results due to the Red Sea situation. Port volume reached 828,868 TEUs in Q3FY24, returning to levels similar to Q4FY23.

Commenting on the results: Eng. Khalid Suleimani, Group CEO, SISCO said:

“I am pleased to report that SISCO has continued to demonstrate strong growth and operational performance in Q3FY24, with revenues improving by 23.8% compared to Q3FY23. Our Ports segment, which remains a key growth driver, saw a significant increase, leading to robust results despite the Red Sea challenges.

Net income remains strong, despite the one-off payment of SAR 25 million to Zakat. Another highlight of the quarter is the impressive recovery in the Red Sea Gateway Terminal, highlighting it’s resilience.

We are also excited to announce the Multi-Purpose Terminals (MPT) concession, which will allow us to expand operations across all non-containerised port facilities in the Red Sea Gateway Terminal. This strategic initiative positions SISCO to capture further growth opportunities domestically and internationally.

Looking ahead, we remain committed to executing our five-year strategy to double revenues by 2026 and continue delivering long-term value to our shareholders.”

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/sustainable-infrastructure-holding-company-sisco-q3fy24-revenue-excluding-accounting-construction-revenue-increases-by-23-8-to-341-8-million-302307352.html

Continue Reading

Technology

Carbon Mapper Achieves First Tanager-1 Methane Mitigation Success

Published

on

By

BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov. 16, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Carbon Mapper released over 300 methane and CO2 plume detections today— its first tranche of emissions data based on observations from the Tanager-1 satellite which was launched in August. Tanager-1 is built and operated by Planet Labs PBC and made possible by the Carbon Mapper Coalition, a philanthropically backed public-private partnership including Planet Labs and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory among others. This data offers granularity on sources of super-emitters around the world, driving direct actions to cut methane and carbon dioxide as proven by an early mitigation success story.

Tackling methane is a global priority. This mitigation success shows how remote sensing tech can be a game changer.

On Oct. 9, Tanager-1 detected a large plume of methane which Carbon Mapper determined was stemming from a gathering pipeline in the Texas Permian Basin. The team reported the leak to a state agency and the U.S. government, who subsequently notified the facility operator. The operator quickly responded and voluntarily conducted repairs, leading to meaningful emissions reduction. Follow up observations from Tanager-1 detected no plume, confirming the leak was successfully fixed.

Carbon Mapper’s preliminary emissions estimate of this leak is approximately 7,000 kilograms of methane per hour. Each hour it was emitting equaled the same CO2 emissions as driving 47 gas-powered cars for a year.

This first verified methane mitigation action adds to existing evidence that when decision makers are empowered with data on the exact sources of emissions, they can effectively prioritize actions that cut waste and eliminate methane. This mitigation is consistent with pilot airborne surveys Carbon Mapper has conducted in several U.S. states including California and Colorado. Through these pilots, Carbon Mapper has found that nearly half of super-emitting events flagged for state agencies and operators were previously unknown, and once identified, were voluntarily mitigated.

“Tackling methane quickly is a crucial global priority. This early mitigation success story shows that remote sensing technologies with unique capabilities like Tanager-1 can be a gamechanger in driving down emissions in the near-term,” said Carbon Mapper CEO Riley Duren.

To scale these local mitigation successes globally, Carbon Mapper is making new data from Tanager-1 publicly available on its data portal. These include detections of methane and CO2 in 34 countries across the oil and gas, waste, and agriculture sectors. This work is supported by the High Tide Foundation, Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, AKO Foundation, and Zegar Family Foundation, among others.

In the coming months, Carbon Mapper will continue to scale up observations and make methane and CO2 data routinely accessible to help decision makers fill gaps in their understanding of the exact sources of emissions and empower mitigation action at the source. These routine detections will be made publicly available for non-commercial use 30 days after collection. Together, with complementary satellite programs, like the Environmental Defense Fund’s MethaneSAT, Carbon Mapper will provide transparent data at different levels of granularity and ensure that the information gets into the right hands to catalyze faster and more effective emissions reductions.

Special Note to Reporters:
More information, including plume images and key data from Tanager-1, can be found in our press package here

About Carbon Mapper
Carbon Mapper is a nonprofit organization based in Pasadena, CA, with the mission to drive greenhouse gas emissions reductions by making methane and carbon dioxide data accessible and actionable. It focuses on filling gaps in the emerging ecosystem of methane and CO2 monitoring systems by delivering data at facility scale that is precise, timely, and accessible to empower decision making and direct mitigation action. The organization leads a public-private coalition that is developing and deploying a constellation of satellites capable of detecting, quantifying, and verifying methane emissions worldwide. Data from these satellites will offer the next major step in scaling up the organization’s robust data portal featuring thousands of direct observations of global methane and CO2 super-emitters. Learn more at carbonmapper.org, view data at data.carbonmapper.org, and follow us on X @carbonmapper.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/carbon-mapper-achieves-first-tanager-1-methane-mitigation-success-302307601.html

SOURCE Carbon Mapper Inc.

Continue Reading

Technology

The Centennial Celebration of Sun Yat-sen University Held in Guangzhou

Published

on

By

GUANGZHOU, China, Nov. 16, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — The Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) held the Celebration Conference for the 100th Anniversary of SYSU and Innovation-Driven Development Forum  in the university on the morning of November 12. Over 5,500 people from governments, universities, institutions and organizations across the country as well as the SYSU alumni, faculty and student representatives attended the event.

 

In his opening remarks, Gao Song, president of Sun Yat-sen University and a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, mentioned the glorious century-long history of the university.

Sun Yat-sen University was established in a time of national crisis and went through the periods from revolution to building of the People’s Republic of China. Based in Guangdong Province, the frontline of China’s reform and opening-up, SYSU has achieved a remarkable development in the new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics,” Gao said.

SYSU will expand opening up at a high level to deepen international exchange and cooperation, and build a global partnership network of universities. The university will continue to contribute its efforts to promoting mutual learning between civilizations, tackling global challenges, advancing science and technology, reaching sustainable socio-economic development, as well as improving the wellbeing of humanity, Gao added.

Lynn Pasquerella, president of the Association of American Colleges and Universities, extended congratulations to Sun Yat-sen University and spoke highly of the achievements the university has made over the past century. She said the university’s innovative research is impressive, in particular with the frontier research in bioinformatics and cancer treatment. SYSU also takes a leading position in social science research in China. She pointed out that these accomplishments can be attributed to the unremitting efforts of the university to benefit China and the rest of the world with knowledge.

The centennial celebration conference was followed by the Innovation-Driven Development Forum. Professor Jean-Marie Lehn, the Nobel Laureate in Chemistry in 1987 and also known as the “father of supramolecular chemistry”, who is now a member of the French Academy of Sciences and an international member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, together with other distinguished experts in sectors of image and video AI and search, cloud computing, and distributed systems as well as outstanding representatives of SYSU alumni attended the forum. They discussed the role of education, science and technology, and talents in Chinese modernization.

https://youtu.be/7y2hMQpT_kE?si=MxGOIxpSkfYn2f00

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-centennial-celebration-of-sun-yat-sen-university-held-in-guangzhou-302307603.html

SOURCE Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU)

Continue Reading

Trending