[Backport release/3.0.0] Newton startup, cloner, and rendering fixes

[ooctipus]

Summary

Backports the following merged changes to release/3.0.0 as separate provenance-preserving cherry-picks:

• [Cloner] Scope Newton global imports with clone plans #7292 — scope Newton global imports with clone plans
• Fix flakey video recording test #7285 — stabilize the sensor/PhysX video recording test
• [Newton] Streamline contact and raycast sensor startup #7269 — streamline Newton contact and raycast sensor startup
• Fix non-finite depth display normalization #7119 — normalize non-finite depth display values safely
• [Newton] Avoid repeated model startup work #7295 — avoid repeated Newton model and articulation startup work

Each source squash commit was cherry-picked with -x and applied without conflicts.

Validation

• Stable patch IDs match all five source squash commits exactly.
• File-by-file manifests match each source squash commit.
• git diff --check upstream/release/3.0.0..HEAD
• uv run --frozen python tools/changelog/cli.py check backport-7285-7292-base
• SKIP=check-changelog-fragments uv run --frozen isaaclab -f
• Cloner/Newton focused tests: 98 passed
• Scene global-ownership tests: 2 passed
• Simulator clone-plan tests: 4 passed
• Video recording regression test: 1 passed
• Newton BVH lifecycle tests: 2 passed
• Newton contact-selector tests: 7 passed
• Newton raycast BVH test: 4 passed
• Non-finite depth display tests: 4 passed
• [Newton] Avoid repeated model startup work #7295 physics lifecycle, cloner, manager, and coupling tests: 248 passed
• [Newton] Avoid repeated model startup work #7295 Newton joint-wrench sensor tests: 11 passed
• [Newton] Avoid repeated model startup work #7295 PhysX joint-wrench sensor tests: 16 passed

PR #7121 remains open and is intentionally excluded; it will be backported from its final merge commit after merging.

[isaaclab-review-bot]

Isaac Lab Review Bot

The explicit global_paths ownership model is coherent and consistently threaded through clone plans and backend contexts, but the backport narrows two public extension contracts without migration guidance and drops metadata from Newton global-root imports.

• Design and architecture: Separating shared assets from replication rows appropriately scopes Newton imports. However, the per-root Newton import loop retains only the physics-scene import result, discarding metadata produced for declared global roots; the results should be combined before returning stage_info.
• API: make_clone_plan no longer tolerates global or spawn-less cfgs as its prior documented behavior did, instead failing with incidental attribute errors. Replication contexts must also now accept global_paths and define replicate_priority, breaking custom classes supplied through AssetBaseCfg.cloning_contexts. These narrowed contracts need descriptive validation and explicit migration guidance.
• Implementation: Backend dispatch and migrated direct-scene callers consistently propagate global_paths, and the Newton test verifies global colliders remain in world -1. The remaining implementation defect is that stage_info = import_results[0] excludes metadata from all subsequently imported global roots.

Minor fixes needed. Posted 3 actionable findings inline.

Automated review; human maintainers own approval decisions.

[isaaclab-review-bot]

🟡 Warning · Api — make_clone_plan crashes on previously skipped cfgs

The guard that skipped cfgs without prim_path/spawn or outside the env root was removed. A global cfg now yields matched=None and line 281 raises a bare AttributeError; a spawn-less cfg fails on cfg.spawn. make_clone_plan/ReplicateSession are documented for scenes assembled outside InteractiveScene, where such cfgs were previously tolerated. Raise a descriptive error naming the offending path and record the narrowed input contract with migration guidance in the changelog fragment.

[isaaclab-review-bot]

🟡 Warning · Api — Replication-context protocol tightened without migration note

Contexts are now constructed as BackendCtxCls(stage, global_paths=...), ctx.replicate_priority is read without the previous default, and cfg.spawn is dereferenced directly. Both PhysX and OvPhysX contexts needed replicate_priority = 0 added here, confirming the old fallbacks were load-bearing. Classes supplied through the public AssetBaseCfg.cloning_contexts extension point that follow the prior protocol now fail with TypeError/AttributeError; document this protocol change and migration guidance.

[isaaclab-review-bot]

🔵 Suggestion · Design Architecture — Global-root import metadata dropped from stage_info

stage_info = import_results[0] keeps only the physics-scene import, so path_shape_map and other metadata for every declared global_paths root are discarded. Previously one add_usd covered all non-env prims, so the metadata returned by NewtonReplicateContext.replicate and newton_physics_replicate silently narrows for shared assets such as the ground plane. Merge the per-root import results before returning.

[greptile-apps]

Greptile Summary

The PR makes shared scene roots explicit in clone plans so Newton imports only declared global assets, propagates the new metadata through scene and backend replication, and updates direct environments and documentation accordingly. It also stabilizes the video regression test by recording a longer clip with deterministic nonzero camera-environment actions.

• Adds ClonePlan.global_paths and forwards it through replication contexts.
• Separates env-scoped clone configurations from shared global roots in InteractiveScene.
• Scopes Newton USD and terrain-heightfield imports to the physics scene and declared global assets.
• Updates direct task, tutorial, demo, template, and regression-test clone plans.
• Stabilizes the sensor/PhysX video recording test.

Confidence Score: 5/5

The PR appears safe to merge, with no concrete correctness or security defects identified in the changed paths.

The explicit global-root metadata is consistently propagated through plan construction, scene composition, built-in backend contexts, direct-environment callers, and focused tests, while the video-test adjustment remains isolated to test stabilization.

Important Files Changed

Filename	Overview
source/isaaclab/isaaclab/cloner/clone_plan.py	Adds explicit shared-root metadata to clone plans and both plan construction entry points.
source/isaaclab/isaaclab/cloner/replicate_session.py	Propagates declared global roots to backend contexts and formalizes their replication interface.
source/isaaclab/isaaclab/scene/interactive_scene.py	Separates cloneable env-scoped configs from global scene roots before creating the replication session.
source/isaaclab_newton/isaaclab_newton/cloner/replicate.py	Replaces broad stage traversal with scoped imports of the physics scene and explicitly declared global roots.
source/isaaclab_newton/isaaclab_newton/physics/newton_manager.py	Supports root-scoped terrain heightfield discovery for the new Newton import flow.
source/isaaclab_tasks/test/core/test_video_recording.py	Uses longer clips and deterministic nonzero actions to make motion validation less timing-sensitive.

Flowchart

%%{init: {'theme': 'neutral'}}%%
flowchart LR
    Scene[InteractiveScene or direct environment] --> Plan[ClonePlan]
    Scene -->|env-scoped configs| Plan
    Scene -->|declared shared roots| Globals[global_paths]
    Globals --> Plan
    Plan --> Dispatch[replicate]
    Dispatch --> USD[USD context]
    Dispatch --> PhysX[PhysX or OvPhysX context]
    Dispatch --> Newton[Newton context]
    Newton --> PhysicsScene[Import physics scene]
    Newton --> Shared[Import declared global roots once]
    Newton --> Worlds[Replicate env-scoped sources into worlds]

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_{Reviews (1): Last reviewed commit: "Fix flakey video recording test (#7285)" | Re-trigger Greptile}