EMSUSD-1785

Updates to the readme.md to align with 3dsmax-usd
Updated the layout wih links to features
Added a header image

Changes to be committed:
	modified:   README.md
	new file:   doc/images/header.jpg
	new file:   doc/images/header.png
	new file:   doc/images/maya-usd.png

README.md

@@ -1,31 +1,71 @@
-# What is USD for Maya?
+![Maya USD](doc/images/header.png "Placeholder Image")
+# Maya USD Plugin
+**maya-usd** is a feature-rich plugin for Maya that provides support for [OpenUSD](http://openusd.org/) as part of [AOUSD](https://aousd.org/).  Evolving from two powerful plugins, MayaUSD benefited from many contributions from Pixar and Animal Logic.  While the plugin provides traditional methods for import and export, the most important and exciting capability it provides is to load USD stages directly in the viewport for interactive editing without import/export.  The plugin provides advanced integration into Maya for example, Outliner and the Attribute Editor.
 
-USD for Maya is a project to create a Maya plugin, as well as reusable libraries, that provide translation and editing capabilities for Pixar Animation Studios Universal Scene Description (USD).
+![Maya USD](doc/images/maya-usd.png )
 
-Read more about Pixar's USD [here](http://openusd.org)
 
+The USD plugin for Maya extension lets you create, edit, work in, work with and collaborate on USD data, while enabling data to move between products (ie. Maya and 3ds Max). By enabling USD data to flow in and out of Maya, you can take advantage of the following key benefits of USD: supporting DCC-agnostic pipelines/workflows and enabling non-linear collaboration. The USD features can be used as a modern cross-DCC referencing pipeline that can enhance, and in many use-cases, replace existing referencing setups.
 
-## Motivation
-*Why yet another Maya plugin?*
+The plugin comes with a powerful API to allow extending the default import and export process and also to manipulate USD data directly via *C++ and Python*.
 
-As USD gains in popularity many studios have been wondering what plugin they should deploy within their pipelines.  Two popular choices, used individually as well as together, have been the Pixar USDMaya plugin that has been part of USD itself, and Animal Logic's, which was separately released as Open Source.  Both plugins have a strong community of users, but some have questioned when Autodesk would eventually release an officially supported plugin themselves.  The goal of this project is to work directly with Pixar and Animal Logic, as well as other key contributors, in order to merge the best of both into a single supported plugin.  
 
-Pixar maintains a list of contributors to USD in their documentation [here](https://openusd.org/release/contributors.html), and as we start working together to merge the two existing plugins it is also important to acknowledge the amount of work that individuals put in on the Animal Logic plugin as well.  The list of those contributors is kept [here](doc/AL_CONTRIBUTORS.md).
+## Features
+- Import and Export text and Binary USD formats
+- Open a USD Stage directly for editing
+- Edit USD data as Maya
+- [Maya Reference for animation and cache workflows](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XW9Pu2ep-kM)
+- [Layer Editor](https://help.autodesk.com/view/MAYAUL/2025/ENU/?guid=GUID-4FAD73CA-E775-4009-9DCB-3BC6792C465E)
+- USD Cameras
+- USD Lights
+- Custom Schemas
+- [Edit Routing](doc/EditRouting.md) that provides a powerful authoring environment
+- Connection to [BifrostUSD](https://help.autodesk.com/view/MAYAUL/2025/ENU/?guid=Bifrost_MayaPlugin_bifrost_usd_in_maya_html) providing a procedural environment for USD authoring and editing.
+- Material editing via [LookdevX](https://help.autodesk.com/view/MAYAUL/2025/ENU/?guid=LookdevX_LookdevX_for_Maya_Working_with_USD_for_Material_Authoring_html)
+- Rendering support provided by [Arnold](https://github.com/Autodesk/arnold-usd) and [Maya-Hydra](https://github.com/Autodesk/maya-hydra)
 
 ## Install MayaUSD
-Installers for MayaUSD can be found [here](https://github.com/Autodesk/maya-usd/releases)
+Installers for MayaUSD can be found [here](https://github.com/Autodesk/maya-usd/releases).  Currently the plugins supports the following version of Maya
+- 2022
+- 2023
+- 2024
+- 2025
 
-## Getting Help
-Both Animal Logic and Pixar have forums which will remain great places to go with questions.
 
-Pixar forum is [here](https://forum.aousd.org/)  
-Animal Logic forum is [here](https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/al_usdmaya-discussion)
+## Plugin Documentation
++ [Getting Started with USD in Maya 2022](https://help.autodesk.com/view/MAYAUL/2022/ENU/?guid=GUID-36CFE2C3-766F-4B00-8464-E94F95E7AF4B)
++ [Getting Started with USD in Maya 2023](https://help.autodesk.com/view/MAYAUL/2023/ENU/?guid=GUID-36CFE2C3-766F-4B00-8464-E94F95E7AF4B)
++ [Getting Started with USD in Maya 2024](https://help.autodesk.com/view/MAYAUL/2024/ENU/?guid=GUID-36CFE2C3-766F-4B00-8464-E94F95E7AF4B)
++ [Getting Started with USD in Maya 2025](https://help.autodesk.com/view/MAYAUL/2025/ENU/?guid=GUID-36CFE2C3-766F-4B00-8464-E94F95E7AF4B)
 
+## Building
+Everything needed to build maya-usd is provided in the form of source and a devkit that needs to be installed.  Unit tests are provided for all projects and can be optionally built and executed using google tests. Full details on how to build and test maya-usd can be found in [BUILD.md](doc/build.md)
 
-## Detailed Documentation
+## Contributions
+We welcome your contributions to enhance and extend the toolset.  Please visit [CONTRIBUTING.md](doc/CONTRIBUTING.md) for further information and please make yourself familiar with the [code guidelines](doc/codingGuidelines.md) for maya-usd.
+
+## Security
+We take security serious at Autodesk and the same goes for our open source contributions.  Our guidelines are documented [here](SECURITY.md)
+
+## Developer Documentation
+### Core Modules
++ [Common Plug-in Base Commands](lib/mayaUsd/commands/Readme.md)
++ [Managing Translation (Import/Export) Options](lib/mayaUsd/fileio/doc/Managing_export_options_via_JobContext_in_Python.md)
++ [Example Import and Export Plugin in Python](tutorials/import-export-plugin/README.md)
++ [Example Import and Export Plugin in C++](tutorials/import-export-plugin-c++/README.md)
++ [Adding new import or export option](lib/mayaUsd/fileio/doc/How-to-add-new-option.md)
++ [SchemaAPI Translators](lib/mayaUsd/fileio/doc/SchemaAPI_Import_Export_in_Python.md)
++ [UFE Transform](lib/usdUfe/ufe/trf/UsdTransform3d.md)
++ [Undo/Redo Support](lib/mayaUsd/undo/README.md)
++ [MaterialX](doc/MaterialX.md)
++ [MaterialX Code Gen](lib/mayaUsd/render/MaterialXGenOgsXml/README.md)
++ [Layer Saving](lib/mayaUsd/nodes/Layer_Saving_Docs.md)
++ [Edit Routing](doc/EditRouting.md)
++ [Maya Reference Edit Router](lib/usd/translators/mayaReferenceEditRouter.md)
++ [Layer Locking](doc/LayerLocking.md)
++ [Attribute Editor (AE) Template](lib/mayaUsd/resources/ae/usdschemabase/Attribute-Editor-Template-Doc.md)
++ [Hydra For Maya](https://github.com/Autodesk/maya-usd/blob/release/maya-hydra/lib/mayaHydra/README.md)
+
+## Additional Information
 
-+ [Contributing](doc/CONTRIBUTING.md)
-+ [Building](doc/build.md)
-+ [Coding guidelines](doc/codingGuidelines.md)
 + [License](doc/LICENSE.md)
-+ [Plugins documentation](README_DOC.md)