Path

Prims and properties are identified by unique paths inside the scene hierarchy. They are a textual representation of a hierarchy - similar to folder paths in most operating systems - where each prim is separated from its parent or child via the / delimiter.

Just like folders, paths can be relative or absolute. Absolute paths always start with /

/ is a special path in USD. This is known as the PseudoRoot

In the example below, the highlighted path /root/remi/head_M_hrc/GEO/head_M_hrc/eyeScrew_L_geo is a path to a prim with the name eyeScrew_L_geo. Constructed from the following hierarchy: / → root → remi → head_M_hrc → GEO → head_M_hrc → eyeScrew_L_geo.

Prim Path Example

As for properties, taking the previous example, inspecting the points attribute yields the path /root/remi/head_M_hrc/GEO/head_M_hrc/eyeScrew_L_geo.points. Property paths are constructed by appending the property name to a prim path, delimited by a . character.

Property Path Example

Paths in USD are name based, and this means you cannot define the same path twice. In practice this means that you cannot have two or more sibling prims with the same name.