cae-capture

Capture render-only PNG, EXR, and MP4 output from Kit-CAE visualization scenes.

62|22|Updated Aug 19, 2025
One-click install
npx skills add https://github.com/NVIDIA-Omniverse/kit-cae --skill cae-capture-nvidia-omniverse
Or copy as Structured Prompt for Agent
Please help me install this Agent Skill.
Skill: cae-capture
Source: https://github.com/NVIDIA-Omniverse/kit-cae/tree/main/skills/cae-capture
Command: npx skills add https://github.com/NVIDIA-Omniverse/kit-cae --skill cae-capture-nvidia-omniverse

SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION & REQUIREMENTS

What problem does it solve? Getting clean, presentation-ready images and videos out of a Kit-CAE scene is tricky: default captures include UI overlays, renderer settings changed mid-session crash with ERROR_DEVICE_LOST, and time-varying data produces flickering colors or dropped frames. This Skill provides the correct launch configuration, camera setup, and capture workflow to produce UI-free rendered output. ## Core Features & Use Cases - High-Resolution Screenshots: Capture single-frame PNG or EXR renders of the viewport without application UI using capture_viewport_to_file. - MP4 Video with NVENC: Record turntable animations and time-varying simulation playback as H.264 MP4 video using hardware encoding via the CaptureExtension. - Animated Camera Orbits: Create looping camera orbit animations in the Z-up coordinate system with proper keyframe handling for seamless loops. - Use Case: An engineer finishes a CFD visualization in Kit-CAE and needs a 1080p MP4 flyaround of the dataset plus a high-res EXR still for a report — this Skill walks through the farm-style launch, camera framing, pre-caching of time steps, and final capture. ## Quick Start Ask the AI to capture a high-resolution screenshot or record an MP4 orbit animation of the current Kit-CAE scene, and it will handle the launch arguments, camera setup, and capture calls.

Frequently Asked Questions about cae-capture

High-intent search queries and answers about installing and using this skill.

FAQPage Schema
How do I capture a screenshot from a Kit-CAE scene without UI elements?

Use the capture_viewport_to_file API after launching Kit with farm-style render arguments. This captures only the rendered scene content, excluding gizmos, viewport overlays, and other application UI from the output image.

How do I record an MP4 video of a Kit-CAE animation?

Use the CaptureExtension with NVENC hardware encoding to record MP4 video of turntables or time-varying data. Pre-cache all time steps first and lock the scalar color range to prevent flickering and per-frame rescaling artifacts.

Why does Kit-CAE crash with ERROR_DEVICE_LOST during capture?

ERROR_DEVICE_LOST occurs when renderer settings are changed mid-session via carb.settings. All renderer-affecting settings must be passed as launch arguments before Kit starts, never modified during an active render session.

Does MP4 capture in Kit-CAE require an NVIDIA GPU?

Yes, NVENC hardware encoding requires a supported NVIDIA GPU. Headless capture additionally requires a virtual display, and the fillViewport setting must be disabled for custom resolutions to take effect.

Why does my captured MP4 show double duration on macOS?

Kit's NVENC encoder writes fragmented MP4 that macOS AVFoundation interprets as twice the actual duration. Remux the file with ffmpeg using -c copy and -movflags +faststart to fix playback duration before delivery.

Why won't my camera animate during Kit-CAE capture?

The default /OmniverseKit_Persp camera ignores keyframes. Create a new camera prim, apply transforms with AddTransformOp using a full matrix, and orbit in the X-Y plane with elevation along Z for the Z-up coordinate system.