To make only the sphere visible given the following scene, which prims need their visibility...

The visibility opinions that must be updated are on World , Scope , and Cube . In OpenUSD, visibility is hierarchical and pruning. UsdGeomImageable defines the visibility attribute with allowed values inherited and invisible; effective visibility is computed from the most ancestral authored invisible opinion. The OpenUSD API further states that MakeVisible() may need to override ancestor visibility and hide sibling branches to preserve the intended result. ( openusd.org )

In the given scene, /World is explicitly invisible, so the entire subtree is invisible regardless of descendants. /World must therefore be changed to visible behavior, typically visibility = "inherited". /World/Xform/Scope is also explicitly invisible, so Scope must also be changed to inherited to allow its children to be evaluated as visible. Once those ancestor invisibility opinions are removed, both Sphere and Cube would become visible by inheritance. To make only the sphere visible, the Cube must receive an explicit visibility = "invisible" opinion. The sphere does not require an authored visibility opinion because it becomes visible through inheritance. This aligns with Visualization → UsdGeomImageable, Visibility, Hierarchical Pruning, and Effective Visibility Computation .