NVIDIA Makes Its Omniverse Free to Creators

Chipmaker NVIDIA announced Tuesday (Jan. 4) that its a free version of its Omniverse is available to millions of NVIDIA Studio creators using GeForce RTX and NVIDIA RTX graphics processing units (GPUs).

“With Omniverse, NVIDIA’s real-time 3D design collaboration and virtual world simulation platform, artists, designers and creators can use leading design applications to create 3D assets and scenes from their laptop or workstation,” the company said on its blog.

Launched in beta last year, Omniverse has been downloaded by nearly 100,000 creators, the company said, who are accelerating workflows with its core rendering, physics and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies — building what NVIDIA describes as “interconnected 3D virtual worlds for commerce, entertainment, creativity and industry.”

These worlds will be filled with stores, homes, people and more, with all of it adding up to a challenging amount of content that often needs incompatible tools to produce.

“With this technology, content creators get more than just a fast renderer,” Zhelong Xu, a digital artist and Omniverse Creator, said in the blog post. “NVIDIA Omniverse and RTX give artists a powerful platform with infinite possibilities.”

NVIDIA calls Omniverse the culmination of 20 years of work, saying it allows GeForce RTX Studio creators to connect their favorite 3D design tools to a single scene while simultaneously creating and editing between the apps.

The company launched Omniverse Enterprise, a paid subscription for professional teams, in November. Tuesday’s announcement brings the platforms capabilities into the hands of individual creators, NVIDIA said.

Read more: Tech Giants Moving to Vastly Expand and Monetize the Metaverse

PYMNTS mentioned NVIDIA last year in a look at companies that were tapping into the commercial potential of the metaverse.

Commerce in that space is already bustling, but experts say this spending — as well as the opportunity to spend — will only expand as different platforms begin to connect.

“Commerce will take place in the metaverse,” John Egan, chief executive of Paris-based forecasting firm L’Atelier BNP Paribas said last year.

Egan predicted a metaverse where people buy and sell virtual pets, and also pay for services like pet walking and grooming, with people living with virtual companions that needed the same level of care as their real-life counterparts.