Creating Extensions/Applications

[icaroleles1]

I have heard in some videos about omniverse that we can create applications and extensions. So far I really can’t tell the difference between those two. Is there a worflow to follow to build a clean new omniverse application (Like View) with a very clean launch, only the UI I implemented and etc?. I mean is there an entry point follow along?

[mati-nvidia]

Hi @icaroleles1. I like this video from Damien Fagnou explaining Kit, Extensions, and Apps: Developing Custom Tools and Applications in Omniverse - YouTube

You can think of Extensions as plugins, modules, or components. They are the building blocks of Apps. An App is just a collection of extensions that you’ve chosen to configure together into a user experience.

Any Omniverse App can be dissected to learn how it was built. My recommendation is to start with the apps in the Kit installation as those are pared down and easier to digest than our flagship Apps. You can find these in the kit folder of any Omniverse App that you’ve installed:

# e.g.
C:\Users\bob\AppData\Local\ov\pkg\code-2022.1.3-rc.2\kit\apps

# These in particular are a good place to start:
C:\Users\bob\AppData\Local\ov\pkg\code-2022.1.3-rc.2\kit\apps\omni.app.mini.kit
C:\Users\bob\AppData\Local\ov\pkg\code-2022.1.3-rc.2\kit\apps\omni.app.uidoc.kit

# You'll find the .kit files for the OV Apps in a similar `apps` folder:
C:\Users\bob\AppData\Local\ov\pkg\code-2022.1.3-rc.2\apps

The .kit files are the App configuration files and you use kit.exe to execute your App:

# e.g.
kit.exe apps/omni.app.uidoc.kit
# The batch files for our Apps just do exactly this.

Soon, we will also be providing an App template that will provide additional examples and serve as a simpler starting point for creating Apps.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

[dfagnou]

Also for the next big release Kit 104 we have planned to have some new Kit Template Repo for Apps that really help seeing how they should be done and setup that are great starting points