USDRECORD(1)

💅 USDRECORD(1) 💅

🌸 NAME 🌸

usdrecord — manual page for usdrecord 26.11.1. Okay bestie, this is the USDRECORD(1) page from User Commands, and it’s literally giving “render my USD file into images” energy. Obsessed. 💖

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

Generates images from a USD file. That’s the whole mission, no cap.

Here’s the usage vibe, copied exactly so you don’t have to squint:

usage: usdrecord [-h] [--mask PRIMPATH[,PRIMPATH...]]
              [--purposes PURPOSE[,PURPOSE...]]  [--sessionLayer SESSIONLAYER]
              [--disableGpu] [--disableDrawMode] [--disableCameraLight]
              [--resolverContext {root,inherit}] [--camera CAMERA]
              [--defaultTime | --frames FRAMESPEC[,FRAMESPEC...]]
              [--complexity {low,medium,high,veryhigh}] [--colorCorrectionMode
              {disabled,sRGB,openColorIO}] [--renderer {Storm,Embree,GL}]
              [--imageWidth IMAGEWIDTH] [--enableDomeLightVisibility]
              [--renderPassPrimPath RPPRIMPATH] [--renderSettingsPrimPath
              RSPRIMPATH] [--traceToFile TRACETOFILE] [--traceFormat
              {chrome,trace}] [--memstats] [--abortOnError] usdFilePath
              outputImagePath

🎀 positional arguments 🎀

• usdFilePath — USD file to record. This is your main character: the file you’re pointing at. 🫶
• outputImagePath — Output image path. For frame ranges, the path must contain exactly one frame number placeholder of the form ### or ###.###. Note that the number of hash marks is variable in each group.

💖 options 💖

• -h, --help — show this help message and exit. Your “wait, what does this do again?” button.
• --mask PRIMPATH[,PRIMPATH...] — Limit stage population to these prims, their descendants and ancestors. To specify multiple paths, either use commas with no spaces or quote the argument and separate paths by commas and/or spaces. Very “curate the guest list” of it all. 🎀
• --purposes PURPOSE[,PURPOSE...] — Specify which UsdGeomImageable purposes should be included in the renders. The "default" purpose is automatically included, so you need specify only the additional purposes. If you want more than one extra purpose, either use commas with no spaces or quote the argument and separate purposes by commas and/or spaces.
• --sessionLayer SESSIONLAYER — If specified, the stage will be opened with the 'sessionLayer' in place of the default anonymous layer.
• --disableGpu — Indicates if the GPU should not be used for rendering. If set this not only restricts renderers to those which only run on the CPU, but additionally it will prevent any tasks that require the GPU from being invoked.
• --disableDrawMode — Disables support for USD draw modes. If set, UsdGeomModelAPI's draw modes will be ignored, and no geometry will be replaced with a draw mode standin. Everything will render as if applyDrawMode = false.
• --disableCameraLight — Indicates if the default camera lights should not be used for rendering. Camera lights are not invited to this party. 😌
• --resolverContext {root,inherit} — Indicates which resolver context to use. Choosing "root" will create a resolver based on the rootLayer. Choosing "inherit" will inherit the incoming resolver from the environment.
• --camera, -cam CAMERA — Which camera to use - may be given as either just the camera's prim name (i.e. just the last element in the prim path), or as a full prim path. Note that if only the prim name is used and more than one camera exists with that name, which one is used will effectively be random (default=None). So yeah, no cap: duplicate prim names = mystery camera roulette. 🎲
• --defaultTime, -d — explicitly operate at the Default time code (the default behavior is to operate at the startTimeCode authored on the UsdStage which defaults to 0.0).
• --frames, -f FRAMESPEC[,FRAMESPEC...] — specify FrameSpec(s) of the time codes to operate on - A FrameSpec consists of up to three floating point values for the start time code, end time code, and stride of a time code range. A single time code can be specified, or a start and end time code can be specified separated by a colon (:). When a start and end time code are specified, the stride may optionally be specified as well, separating it from the start and end time codes with (x). Multiple FrameSpecs can be combined as a comma-separated list. The following are examples of valid FrameSpecs: 123 - 101:105 - 105:101 - 101:109x2 - 101:110x2 - 101:104x0.5
• --complexity, -c {low,medium,high,veryhigh} — level of refinement to use (default=low). Pick your render’s glow-up level. ✨
• --colorCorrectionMode, -color {disabled,sRGB,openColorIO} — the color correction mode to use (default=sRGB).
• --renderer, -r {Storm,Embree,GL} — Hydra renderer plugin to use when generating images. "GL" and "Storm" currently alias to the same renderer, Storm.
• --imageWidth, -w IMAGEWIDTH — Width of the output image. The height will be computed from this value and the camera's aspect ratio (default=960). Note that this only affects the command-line output image; it does not affect any render products in scene description.
• --enableDomeLightVisibility — Show the dome light background in the rendered output. If this option is not included and there is a dome light in the stage, the IBL from it will be used for lighting but not drawn into the background. So it’s lit but lowkey camera-shy. 💡
• --renderPassPrimPath, -rp RPPRIMPATH — Specify the RenderPass prim to use. This overrides any renderSettingsPrimPath specified in stage metadata.
• --renderSettingsPrimPath, -rs RSPRIMPATH — Specify the RenderSettings prim to use. This overrides any renderSettingsPrimPath specified in stage metadata.
• --traceToFile TRACETOFILE — Start tracing at application startup and write --traceFormat specified format output to the specified trace file when the application quits
• --traceFormat {chrome,trace} — Output format for trace file specified by --traceToFile. 'chrome' files can be read in chrome, 'trace' files are simple text reports. (default=chrome)
• --memstats — Use the Pxr MallocTags memory accounting system to profile USD, saving results to a tmp file, with a summary to the console. Will have no effect if MallocTags are not supported in the USD installation.
• --abortOnError — Abort recording and return a non-zero exit code if a Tf error is raised during rendering. No “ignore the red flags” behavior here, bestie. 🚩

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💖 aaaand that’s the USDRECORD(1) manual — usdrecord 26.11.1, October 2026. Slay, render, and read your trace files responsibly. 🎀