mantle placeHow to get a USD site model (USDZ)
A real-world site as USDZ — one self-contained USD file with the terrain, texture, and materials packed in.
To get a real-world site as USD, you want USDZ: the packaged form of Universal Scene Description that zips the geometry, textures, and materials into one self-contained file. Draw your area on Mantle Place and every bundle ships the terrain mesh as USDZ alongside the other formats — imagery baked into the material — ready for Omniverse, usdview, Houdini, Maya, recent Blender releases, and iOS AR Quick Look, where a USDZ handed to a device simply opens. Building the same thing by hand means meshing a DEM, texturing it with aligned orthoimagery, and running a USD export with the right up-axis and units. One honest note: the bundle carries USDZ only, not loose .usda or .usdc — those would be exact duplicates of the same scene.
how to do it
Draw the site
Define the area of interest on the globe; the USDZ covers the same extent as every other format in the bundle.
Download the bundle
The terrain ships as USDZ in the same download as the glTF, OBJ, GeoTIFF, and vector layers — one purchase, the whole catalog.
Open it where USD lives
Load the USDZ in Omniverse or usdview, import it into Houdini, Maya, or a recent Blender, or hand it to an iOS device for AR Quick Look.
Compose, don’t unpack
Reference the USDZ into a larger USD stage as a layer, keeping the site intact while the rest of the scene composes around it.
frequently asked
What is the difference between USD and USDZ?
USD is the scene-description format; USDZ is its zero-compression package — one file carrying the geometry, textures, and materials together, which makes it the practical form to deliver and share.
Why does the bundle ship USDZ and not .usda or .usdc?
Because they would be the identical scene three times. The USDZ contains the same data in its portable, package form, and every USD-capable tool reads it — so the duplicates were dropped deliberately.
Can I view the site in AR?
Yes — USDZ is the AR Quick Look format, so the file opens directly on an iOS device. Keep the area modest if you plan to view it that way; a large site makes for a heavy AR scene.
Get the data for your site.
Draw your area, see the price, and download an owned bundle — terrain, imagery, and basemap ready for Unreal Engine, Blender, and your CAD tools.