3D USD Masterclass Scene Assembly and Rendering.Note

Placing elements into a scene to build an arrangement of lights, cameras, geometry, materials, etc.

A translated set of code describing a scene assembly to a particular render engine.
.IFD, .blend, etc.

A framework developed by Pixar for a universally understood scene description that allow interchangeability between software packages.

Any element in you USD scene. Each primitive can perform a different function, but fundamentally they are the most basic building blocks of USD.

The type of the primitive defined by its function in the scene. Cameras, lights, meshes and materials are all types of primitives.

Xform
A parent primitive which can be moved around. Any primitive which is a child of an xform will inherit its transform

Scope
A parent primitive which cannot be moved around. This is useful for organizing your scene and nesting primitives within other primitives.

A tagged function of USD for defining the use of a primitive within the scene.

Component
A single asset which is not made up of other assets. A door, a leaf, etc.

Assembly
An important compiled asset made up of various other assets. A house made up of windows, walls, doors, etc.

Groups
Arbitrary groupings of other primitives. This can be parent to any set of familiar or similar components/assemblies