What is USDA?

USDA is the ASCII (text-based) version of USD files, making it human-readable and Git-friendly for version tracking.

🔍 Why Use USDA?

• ✅ Track changes easily across commits and pull requests using Git
• ✅ View and compare physics-related properties like mass, joints, force, torque
• ✅ Ideal for collaborative development on robotics or simulation projects
• ✅ Readable structure helps debug or review parameters like max velocity, state, etc.

⚠️ When Not to Use USDA

• ❌ Avoid storing raw mesh data like vertices inside USDA
• These become massive and unreadable, making Git diffs useless

✅ Recommended Practice

• Store visuals and collisions in separate USD (binary) files
• Organize into folders like:
• visuals/robot_visual.usd
• collisions/robot_collision.usd
• Reference these in the USDA file using XForms for clean structure

👨‍🎨 Team Workflow Advantage

• Developers edit physics in USDA
• Artists work independently on visual mesh files
• Prevents merge conflicts and enables parallel workflows

📬 Final Notes

• Great for structured collaboration
• Clean separation between logic (USDA) and assets (USD)
• Reach out with questions (response may be delayed due to ongoing projects)