USD import and Extract Materials

I’m not sure that’s why I was interested to start experimenting with it.

The first thing that comes to mind is being able to animate some kind of material switcher, which you often seen in various product configurators.  If material can be extracted then why not replaced?

But maybe other more creative uses.  If we can extract materials then I assume there is some mechanism for targeting and altering them?  So beyond simple transforms to animate scale, rotation, and position, maybe this can also lead to one material morphing into another.

I also wonder if being able to target and manipulate materials directly would allow more flexibility in being able to add effects directly to them (as opposed to using the Calculations effect method)?

Being able to target and alter material of an object might give After Effects 3D some kind of Substance Painter type capabilities where minor (or even extreme) changes don’t necessitate having to work  in a separate application and reimporting the asset.   

Beyond all that I imagine being able to extract textures of an object may be useful to those AE users who don’t have access to or knowledge of other 3D tools but still want to manipulate materials in a simple paint program?