# Support Unicode primvar name in usdview

**URL:** <https://forum.aousd.org/t/support-unicode-primvar-name-in-usdview/1438>\
**Category:** USD\
**Tags:** cpp\
**Created:** [April 12, 2024, 8:58am UTC](https://forum.aousd.org/t/support-unicode-primvar-name-in-usdview/1438 "2024-04-12T08:58:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![GreatWhite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bbe5ce/32.png) [@GreatWhite](https://forum.aousd.org/u/GreatWhite)\
**Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 8:58am UTC](https://forum.aousd.org/t/support-unicode-primvar-name-in-usdview/1438/1 "2024-04-12T08:58:04Z")

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Hi experts,

Since USD 24.03 supports Unicode identifiers, materials using primvar with Unicode name can be generated by USD toolkit. For example:

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/aousd/original/1X/9cee16f99f9429b54bace505a52070d05fb58237.png)

But when I use usdview to open these materials, usdview reports errors:

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/aousd/original/1X/a125ea90d80abc84d6cce7513ff753d4123c7c52.jpeg)

Is this a bug of usdview or as design?

Thanks.

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**Author:** ![nvmkuruc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/76d3ee/32.png) [@nvmkuruc](https://forum.aousd.org/u/nvmkuruc)\
**Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 1:51pm UTC](https://forum.aousd.org/t/support-unicode-primvar-name-in-usdview/1438/2 "2024-04-12T13:51:58Z")

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Hi GreatWhite, it looks like the situation is–

- GLSL doesn’t currently allow non-ASCII identifiers
- HdSt tries to generate a valid identifier by replacing any invalid characters (bytes) with `_` while still preserving that identifiers don’t start with `_`. Because your UTF-8 string has no ASCII characters, it ends up producing an empty string which cannot be an identifier

We’re proposing a “transcoding” algorithm that can convert any UTF-8 string to an ASCII or XID identifier be added to OpenUSD. This might be a valid use case to better support non-ASCII primvar names. [OpenUSD-proposals/proposals/transcoding\_invalid\_identifiers/README.md at 4b2a201b03cb121ce767e9e7f32573f02c882bdf · PixarAnimationStudios/OpenUSD-proposals (github.com)](https://github.com/PixarAnimationStudios/OpenUSD-proposals/blob/4b2a201b03cb121ce767e9e7f32573f02c882bdf/proposals/transcoding_invalid_identifiers/README.md)