Use Built-in CraftBench Scenes

Use Built-in CraftBench Scenes#

CraftBench is a curated benchmark of high-quality, artist-designed 3D urban scenes created by professional environment artists. These scenes complement UrbanVerse-160 by providing clean, controllable, visually refined simulation environments—ideal for benchmarking, policy evaluation, and qualitative inspection.

Each CraftBench scene includes:

  • a fully assembled USD environment (scene.usd)

  • a flythrough video (preview.mp4) for quick browsing

  • high-quality PBR materials, HDRI lighting, and consistent native scale

This page explains how to:

  • load CraftBench scenes,

  • inspect scene metadata,

  • open scenes in Isaac Sim UI for interactive exploration.

Prerequisite#

Before using CraftBench, ensure you have set:

export URBANVERSE_CRAFTBENCH_ROOT="/path/to/UrbanVerse-CraftBench"

The directory structure is:

UrbanVerse-CraftBench/
├── CraftBench_0001/
│    ├── scene.usd
│    └── preview.mp4
├── CraftBench_0002/
│    ├── scene.usd
│    └── preview.mp4
└── ...

Loading CraftBench Scenes#

UrbanVerse provides a simple, unified API for loading all CraftBench scene paths.

API#

uv.scenes.load_craftbench_scenes(
    scene_root: str | None = None,
) -> list[str]

If scene_root is not given, the value of $URBANVERSE_CRAFTBENCH_ROOT is used.

Example#

import urbanverse as uv

craft_scenes = uv.scenes.load_craftbench_scenes()
print("Total CraftBench scenes:", len(craft_scenes))
print("Example:", craft_scenes[0])

Typical console output:

Total CraftBench scenes: 10
Example: /data/UrbanVerse-CraftBench/CraftBench_0001/scene.usd

Previewing Scenes (Optional)#

Each CraftBench scene includes a short 10–20 second flythrough video, allowing you to quickly browse the artistic environment.

API#

uv.scenes.get_preview_video(scene_path: str) -> str

Example#

preview = uv.scenes.get_preview_video(craft_scenes[0])
print(preview)

Outputs something like:

/data/UrbanVerse-CraftBench/CraftBench_0001/preview.mp4

Spawning CraftBench Scenes in IsaacSim UI#

CraftBench scenes are ready-to-run USD environments compatible with Isaac Sim. UrbanVerse provides a direct helper to open these scenes in the Isaac Sim UI.

API#

uv.scenes.launch_in_isaacsim(
    scene_usd_path: str,
    headless: bool = False,
)

Example#

To inspect CraftBench_0001 in Isaac Sim:

import urbanverse as uv

craft_scenes = uv.scenes.load_craftbench_scenes()

uv.scenes.launch_in_isaacsim(
    scene_usd_path=craft_scenes[0],
    headless=False
)

This opens Isaac Sim UI and loads the selected CraftBench environment, allowing you to:

  • orbit the camera around the environment,

  • inspect object geometry, materials, and lighting,

  • place robots manually,

  • debug navigation behavior,

  • test simulation stability.

CraftBench scenes offer consistent, high-quality lighting and geometry, making them ideal for evaluation, ablation studies, or policy demonstrations.

Filtering CraftBench Scenes by Attributes (Optional)#

CraftBench metadata includes fields such as:

  • scene type (CBD, bar street, residential block, etc.)

  • number of objects

  • complexity level

  • lighting type (sunny, overcast, sunset)

  • material richness

API#

uv.scenes.filter_craftbench(
    scenes: list[str],
    type: str | None = None,
    min_objects: int | None = None,
    complexity: str | None = None,
) -> list[str]

Example#

Select all high-complexity street scenes:

filtered = uv.scenes.filter_craftbench(
    scenes=craft_scenes,
    type="bar street",
    complexity="high",
)

print("Filtered:", len(filtered))

Summary#

This quickstart page shows how to:

  • load the artist-designed CraftBench scenes,

  • preview them using included videos,

  • and launch them in Isaac Sim UI for inspection and debugging.

CraftBench provides high-quality, aesthetically consistent environments that are perfect for testing your trained UrbanVerse RL policies, running benchmarks, or creating demonstration videos.