01. Model Creation Tool

The Model Creation Tool provides a comprehensive set of utilities for 3D model manipulation and optimization within NVIDIA Omniverse. It enables object duplication, scene flattening, symmetry generation, material management, geometry merging, object alignment, and geometry isolation.

Getting Started

Open the Model Creation Tool from the main menu: Overtools > Model Creation Tools.

[! note] A valid Overtools license is required. The tool window will not open if the License Manager extension is not enabled or the license is invalid.

Main Window

The Model Creation Tools window displays all available tools organized into collapsible categories. Each tool is presented as a row with:

• Tool Name — Description of the operation.
• Execute — Runs the tool on the current selection.
• Revert — Undoes the operation (available for some tools, such as Isolate Geometry).

The categories are: Object Duplication, Object Flattening, Symmetry Creation, Materials, Merge by Materials, Alignment Tool, and Isolate Geometry.

Object Duplication

Duplicate

Creates a full deep copy of the selected objects, including the entire hierarchy structure. The selection automatically updates to the newly created duplicates.

Requirements: At least one prim must be selected.

Duplicate as Reference

Creates a lightweight reference-based copy of the selected objects. Instead of duplicating all data, an internal reference is added that points to the original prim. This is more efficient for large assets where you want multiple instances sharing the same source data.

Requirements: - At least one prim must be selected. - Only works on Xform prims. Attempting to duplicate a Mesh directly as a reference will fail — wrap it in an Xform first.

Object Flattening

Flattening converts external asset references and payloads into local copies and collapses nested hierarchies. This is useful when you need to break references for independent editing.

Flatten Scene

Flattens all objects in the entire scene, starting from the root prim. Every reference and payload in the hierarchy is resolved and replaced with local data.

Flatten Object

Flattens only the selected objects. Each selected prim is processed individually, resolving its references and payloads while leaving the rest of the scene untouched.

Requirements: At least one prim must be selected (for Flatten Object).

Symmetry Creation

Create mirror copies of selected objects along the X, Y, or Z axis. Two modes are available:

How it works: 1. The selected object is duplicated (either as a full copy or as a reference). 2. The duplicate's scale is inverted on the chosen axis (e.g., X symmetry applies a scale of [-1, 1, 1]). 3. The selection moves to the newly created symmetrical copy.

Requirements: - At least one prim must be selected. - Reference-based symmetry only works on Xform prims.

Material Management

List Unused Materials

Scans the scene for materials that are not bound to any geometry (including materials used only within variant sets). Opens the Unused Materials window, which displays:

• The total number of unused materials found.
• A paginated list (10 materials per page) with navigation controls.
• Ok — Deletes all listed unused materials.
• Cancel — Closes the window without changes.

A notification confirms the result: either "No unused materials found" or "Deleted N unused materials".

Menu: Overtools > Unused Materials

Unify All Materials

Identifies duplicate materials in the scene (materials with the same shader properties and similar names) and consolidates them. The tool keeps the version with the shortest name and rebinds all geometry — including geometry within variant sets — to the unified material. Duplicate materials are then removed.

Menu: Overtools > Material Unification

Material Mapping

Opens the Material Mapping window for mapping scene materials to an external material library stored on Nucleus or locally.

Window layout: - Left panel — Lists all scene materials with their current mapping status. Mapped materials are shown in green; unmapped materials in blue. - Right panel — Displays materials from the configured external source (Nucleus folder).

Controls: - Edit Sources... — Configure the material library folder(s) to browse. - Refresh — Reload available materials from the source. - Auto Map — Automatically match scene materials to library materials by name. - Map — Manually map the selected scene material to the selected library material.

Advanced Manual Options (collapsible section): - Set as Mapped — Manually mark a material as mapped. - Set as Unmapped — Clear a material's mapping.

When a material is mapped, the old scene material is replaced by the library material. The behavior can optionally rename the imported material (configurable in preferences).

Menu: Overtools > Material Mapping

Merge by Material

Combines multiple selected objects by grouping them based on shared materials. The resulting geometry is organized by material assignment.

Two modes are available:

• Merge Selected — Merges the selected objects and removes the originals. The merged result is placed in a container at the original location.
• Duplicate as Merged — Same as Merge Selected, but keeps the original objects intact.

Requirements: Multiple prims must be selected, sharing a common parent.

Alignment Tool

Opens the Alignment Tool window for precisely aligning objects to surfaces in the viewport.

Workflow

1. Select a single prim in the viewport or stage tree.
2. Click Pick to activate surface picking mode.
3. Click on a target surface in the viewport. The tool captures the hit position and surface normal.
4. The selected prim is aligned to the target surface.

Options

Axis Alignment

Use the Align along... buttons to specify which object axis should align with the surface normal:

• X (red) — Align along the X axis.
• Y (green) — Align along the Y axis.
• Z (blue) — Align along the Z axis.

The Inverse Alignment Direction button flips the alignment by 180°.

Requirements: Exactly one prim must be selected.

Isolate Geometry

Temporarily hides all geometry in the scene except for the current selection, allowing you to focus on specific objects.

• Execute (or press I) — Hides all unselected visible geometry.
• Revert (or press I again) — Restores the original visibility of all objects.

The isolation state is reset when a new stage is opened.

Notifications: "Isolate geometry: Done" / "Revert isolate geometry: Done"

Transform Column

A visual indicator column in the Stage hierarchy panel that shows which prims have non-default transform values. An icon (offset indicator) appears next to any prim that has a modified translate, rotate, scale, or transform matrix. Hovering over the icon displays the tooltip "Transformation applied".

Tracked properties: - xformOp:translate (default: [0, 0, 0]) - xformOp:rotate in any order (default: [0, 0, 0]) - xformOp:scale (default: [1, 1, 1]) - xformOp:transform (matrix)

Keyboard Shortcuts

Contextual Menu

Right-clicking on a prim in the stage tree provides quick access to Model Creation tools. The following context menu items are available (configurable via Preferences):

• Duplicate
• Duplicate as Reference (enabled by default)
• Flatten Selection (enabled by default)
• Symmetry X / Y / Z
• Symmetry as Reference X / Y / Z
• Merge Selection (enabled by default)
• Duplicate as Merged
• Isolate Geometry / Revert Isolate Geometry

Related Documentation