Where is localhost?

I’m sure this is a super silly question that everyone knows but me, but hopefully someone will be nice enough to answer. If I add a project to localhost in omniverse, where are the actual files going? I would assume they’re on my computer somewhere, but I can’t locate them. Are files on localhost physically on my computer or are they in the cloud somewhere that is private to me and my computer? Thanks for a more detailed explanation!

  • Neil

@neil48 , the short answer is: it’s there and “not there” 🙂 here’s a quick explanation from one of the devs -

Files and Folders stored within Nucleus are not re-created on the file system (akin to OneDrive or Dropbox). The files are encapsulated and stored within the data path set within Launcher and the folder structure is stored within it’s database with pointers to the files. There is no correlation between folders created within Nucleus to folders on the Windows or Linux filesystem.

you can always access and review the files saved on the localhost on Launcher, OV Drive, OV Navigator, etc.

Ok, so in short, it does exist on my hard drive, it’s just the files don’t replicate the view we see in the launcher. Somewhere on my C drive are a bunch of seemingly randomly named cache files that contain the scenes as data but can only be viewed in their proper structure through an omniverse viewer, not through windows explorer.

Is that correct? And if so, any idea why they chose to do it that way? I’m just curious.

  • Neil

i am, in fact, just another user like you; so, unfortunately, i cannot break things down for you with any level of granularity or tell you what you wanted to know because that would just be a disservice to the minds behind it. that said, there are definitely a lot considerations they’ve taken into account when designing this platform in order to offer features to increase interoperability, security, and scalability in the long run. features like the OV connectors, built-in version control/checkpoints, are good examples. here is a more complete view of the features Nucleus and Nucleus servers bring to the table.

i suppose you don’t have to store files on Nucleus server (localhost or otherwise) if you’d like to see the USD files on your drives and/or windows explorer. a server is there to facilitate collaboration between multiple users (granted, the standard version of OV is limited to 2 will require some creativity to make work); but, if you imagine using OV by yourself, it may not be strictly necessary to save to a Nucleus server.

again, take my opinion as a grain of salt. what’s said here is only based on my limited understanding.

It’s all good, most important is having the correct understanding of where it is, knowing why they chose that is not necessary, just bonus round curiosity :) Thanks for your help!

  • Neil