# Nested variant sets?

**URL:** <https://forum.aousd.org/t/nested-variant-sets/1276>\
**Category:** USD\
**Created:** [February 29, 2024, 5:47am UTC](https://forum.aousd.org/t/nested-variant-sets/1276 "2024-02-29T05:47:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![patricknagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@patricknagle](https://forum.aousd.org/u/patricknagle)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2024, 5:47am UTC](https://forum.aousd.org/t/nested-variant-sets/1276/1 "2024-02-29T05:47:31Z")

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Hi,

Does anyone have a simple python example of how to nest variant sets? The example here: [USD Terms and Concepts — Universal Scene Description 24.03 documentation](https://openusd.org/release/glossary.html#id365) does not seem to work with the version of usd we are using (22.05) - is this a limitation of that version or did something change?

Patrick

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**Author:** ![spiff](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.aousd.org/spiff/32/22_2.png) [@spiff](https://forum.aousd.org/u/spiff)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2024, 6:43am UTC](https://forum.aousd.org/t/nested-variant-sets/1276/2 "2024-02-29T06:43:36Z")

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Sorry, @patricknagle , that example has been outdated since I think 2018, I think. But it is at least easy to fix: replace all four appearances of “Append” with “Add” - that should do it. Would you kindly file a bug about that on OpenUSD?

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**Author:** ![BigRoyNL](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.aousd.org/bigroynl/32/413_2.png) [@BigRoyNL](https://forum.aousd.org/u/BigRoyNL)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2024, 12:31pm UTC](https://forum.aousd.org/t/nested-variant-sets/1276/3 "2024-02-29T12:31:34Z")

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I personally really liked the examples provided in the [VFX-UsdSurvivalGuide for Variants](https://lucascheller.github.io/VFX-UsdSurvivalGuide/core/composition/arcs.html#variants) by @LucaScheller ❤ especially that it shows both high-level Usd API examples as lower-level Sdf API examples for manipulating USD Variant Sets in Python.

Some other areas touching variant sets in his documentation:

- [Efficiently re-writing existing hierarchies as variants](https://lucascheller.github.io/VFX-UsdSurvivalGuide/dcc/houdini/faq/overview.html#efficiently-re-writing-existing-hierarchies-as-variants)
- [LIVRPS Variants Strength Ordering examples](https://lucascheller.github.io/VFX-UsdSurvivalGuide/core/composition/livrps.html#variants) - but I don’t this is what you need as a reference in this case.

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Side note: Could you rephrase your topic title to be slightly more relevant, e.g. “How to create nested variant sets with Python?”
