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.