Technical Preview: Populous - A new USD-native crowd simulation application
https://reddit.com/link/1tb4rew/video/z7n3mq6izr0h1/player
Stormcrowd Factory is opening an Early Access Technical Preview for its proprietary crowd simulation software called Populous.
The objective of this software is to provide a motion-driven behavioural crowd system built on OpenUSD. It eliminates proprietary, version-locked plugins and reduces your dependency on custom pipeline development. You simulate assets in Populous, and take the standardised USD sims directly into Solaris, Maya, Katana or any USD-compliant pipeline.
Tech specs:
- Native USD output (Simulate once, render anywhere)
- Direct Maya and Houdini syncing of assets, cameras & environments
- Skeletal animation based (not particle driven) for optimal performance quality
- Scene specific placement tools. Populate a full stadium in seconds
- Render-agnostic architecture
This is an early access build. We are looking for TDs and crowd artists to stress-test the workflow, find the bottlenecks, and provide critical feedback on the DCC integration.
The attached video shows a brief look at the Preview.
If you want to test the current build, you can apply for the preview here: https://stormcrowdfactory.com/populous
I am the developer and will be monitoring this thread. Let me know if you have any questions about the architecture or features.