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# USD in Katana

Katana 7 and above has seen further enhancements to support the industry adoption of USD. Artists can take advantage of USD's fast and efficient scene management capabilities while still utilizing Katana's interactive rendering, flexible shading system, and advanced lighting techniques.

# Katana’s USD Support

Katana started its USD integration journey by incorporating Pixar's UsdIn suite, which allows artists to import USD into Katana. We introduced the UsdMaterialBake node, offering a versatile framework for exporting materials and lights.

As this has progressed, we have introduced more Native USD nodes while ensuring that Katana’s new USD-native framework can live alongside Katana's pre-existing architecture. This avoids having to uproot entire workflows and provide a safety net as users progressively adopt USD.

Depending on how you integrate USD into your workflow, there are three sections of the user guide to refer to:

1. Using Native USD Workflows - this section is useful for USD Native workflows in Katana that is based on the new framework built specifically for USD data.

2. Bridging between Katana Geolib and USD - this section is useful for partial or progressive usage of USD alongside Katana Geolib data and assets.

3. Pre-existing UsdIn Workflows - this section is useful for workflow examples using pre-existing solutions such as UsdIn, which uses Katana’s proprietary data (Geolib).

See further explanations about these different workflows at USD Workflows - Choose your route.

# USD User Guide pages:

### USD in Katana What is USD? USD Workflows - Choose your route |
### Using Native USD Workflows Building USD Scenes Composition Arcs - Understanding LIVRPS Importing USD Data Native USD Prims Creating Native USD Cameras Lighting USD Scenes Using UsdGaffer Lighting Setups with UsdGaffer Light Linking and Shadow Linking Transforming Lights Customizing UsdGaffer Using UsdLight Materials in USD Scenes Using UsdMaterial UsdMaterialAssign Workflows |
UsdSuperLayer Framework Using UsdSuperLayer Creating Mesh Lights Customizing UsdSuperLayer Debugging with UsdSuperLayer
Inspecting USD Properties Using the Attributes Tab Manipulating USD Data Natively Native USD Transformations Bounding Boxes in USD Scenes Pattern-Based Collections with USD Native USD Layer Export USD Debugging USD Text View Launching Usdview in Katana USD Error Handling
### Using the Scene Explorer Payloads in the Scene Explorer Activating and Deactivating Prims Collections in the Scene Explorer
### Bridging between Katana Geolib and USD Conversion Nodes - KatanaToUsd/ UsdToKatana
### Pre-existing UsdIn Workflows Loading in USD Assets with UsdIn Setting up USD Lights Setting up UsdPreviewSurface Materials Loading USD Plug-ins into Katana