Where It All Started#

Before I began my journey at NVIDIA, I found myself diving into a small but fascinating project that sparked my curiosity about the power of the Omniverse platform. I decided to create a camera reticle Kit extension, purely out of a desire to experiment with the omni.ui.scene API. If you’re unfamiliar, this nifty extension provides an API within Omniverse Kit that simplifies the creation of manipulator handles and other viewport graphics.

As a challenge to myself, I used the camera reticle from Unreal Engine as my benchmark. Could I replicate something similar using Kit? The short answer: Yes, and I was blown away by how intuitive and fast the process was. The omni.ui and omni.ui.scene APIs made the task not only achievable but even enjoyable. What started as a fun experiment quickly turned into a polished extension. And let me tell you, there’s a certain satisfaction in seeing a project come together just as you envisioned it.

Want to see how it turned out? Check out the final result here:

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Growth in Popularity#

My little experiment quickly gained traction. When Omniverse opened up support for community plugins, I published it as one of the first community plugins and open-sourced the camera reticle extension on GitHub, making it accessible for anyone to use, tweak, or build upon.

To my surprise, this humble extension became quite popular. What started as a learning experiment turned out to be indispensable for some artists. It’s always rewarding to see something you’ve created become a valuable tool for others.

Making It Easy for Others#

Later that year, some of my talented colleagues saw the potential for this extension to serve as a learning tool. Together, we transformed it into a step-by-step tutorial, guiding others through the basics of omni.ui.scene using my camera reticle as a hands-on example. This tutorial became a gateway for many developers to get their feet wet with Omniverse Kit.

If you’re interested in digging into the nuts and bolts of omni.ui.scene, I highly recommend checking out the tutorial: https://github.com/NVIDIA-Omniverse/kit-extension-sample-reticle. It’s a great way to get a feel for the power and flexibility that Omniverse Kit offers.

Conclusion#

Looking back, what started as a simple experiment evolved into something much more significant—-both for me and for the community. If you haven’t yet explored the possibilities of developing with Omniverse, I encourage you to dive in. Whether you’re looking to create tools for yourself or contribute to the community, Omniverse provides a robust, intuitive platform that can turn your ideas into reality faster than you might expect. And who knows? Your next side project might just become an indispensable tool for someone else.

Happy developing!