If there is such a thing that is. To give an example of what I mean: I have, for example, three models on disk in .abc format - tree1, tree2 and tree3. Each of the models use the same PBR textures in the same materials. I want to prepare the tree models as variants for future use, mainly randomly instancing on points, in Solaris/USD.

What is the intended workflow here? It's been a very confusing experience so far trying to figure it out. Every single forum thread or discussion I'm seeing on the topic is filled with confusion, completely different ways of accomplishing the same task, and quite often custom python tools to get the job done. Tutorials on the topic run sometimes over an hour in length, at least the ones I've found.

Surely such a basic task isn't intended to be so complicated? Is there something seemingly everyone is missing here, maybe something new in Houdini 20 that can make the task easier or more artist friendly? Or maybe I've misunderstood something and variants isn't at all what I should be looking at?

Any clarification or help would be greatly appreciated!