NVIDIA Omniverse Cloud Gives Creators Tools To Build The Metaverse On A GeForce NOW Backbone
NVIDIA didn't hold back on the first day of its GTC 2022 event, announcing a bevy of products and platforms including Hopper H100, the world's largest AI and compute accelerator, and a 144-core Grace CPU Superchip. It also unveiled some developments in robotics, and as is the topic here, Ominverse Cloud for easier and more flexible 3D design collaboration.
Not to be confused with the metaverse, Omniverse is an extensible and open platform for virtual collaboration and real-time accurate simulation. It gives creators and researchers a virtual space and design tools to form metaverse experiences, among other things. And with Omniverse Cloud, teams without access to NVIDIA RTX systems or other robust hardware resources can still leverage the Omniverse platform. Think lower-end laptops and even smartphones, as opposed to beefy workstations.
NVIDIA makes this possible by bringing Omniverse into the cloud using the same GeForce NOW platform that enables games to stream games on lower end hardware. It also includes Ominverse Create, an app for designers to interactively collaborate on building 3D worlds in real time, powered by NVIDIA RTX GPUs in the cloud. Likewise, there's a View app for non-technical users to view streaming Ominverse scenes.
"Using Omniverse Cloud, creators can iterate, share and collaborate on models stored in Nucleus Cloud from anywhere, and instantly invite other collaborators to join a session by sending a link," NVIDIA explains. "Users or teams without high-end GeForce or NVIDIA RTX systems—or the desire to stand up IT infrastructure—can take advantage of the full powers of Omniverse Create and View simply by subscribing to the Omniverse Cloud program."
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang offered a peek at how this works during his GTC 2022 keynote. During the demo, there were three human designers and a specialist Omniverse avatar AI designer collaborating virtually in Omniverse Cloud, as seen in the image above. One of the participants ran the Omniverse View app on an RTX-powered workstation, while the two others ran View from GeForce NOW to their laptop and tablet. And all three were able to converse using a standard web conferencing tool.
Therein lies the beauty of tapping into cloud-based resources—Ominverse Cloud runs on practically any device since the heavy lifting is performed remotely, and then streamed to lower end gear.
In short, Omniverse Cloud is an exciting and promising service that could help mold experiences that will comprise whatever the metaverse becomes.
