Adds method to set the visibility of the Asset's prims (#1752)

# Description

This MR adds a function to set the visibility of prims corresponding to
an Asset. This is useful for randomization of distractors for visual
effects.

Note: Currently, this is not implemented for RigidObjectCollection as it
seems unclear how to "index" the prims in there.

## Type of change

- New feature (non-breaking change which adds functionality)

## Screenshots

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## Checklist

- [ ] I have run the [`pre-commit` checks](https://pre-commit.com/) with
`./isaaclab.sh --format`
- [ ] I have made corresponding changes to the documentation
- [ ] My changes generate no new warnings
- [ ] I have added tests that prove my fix is effective or that my
feature works
- [ ] I have updated the changelog and the corresponding version in the
extension's `config/extension.toml` file
- [ ] I have added my name to the `CONTRIBUTORS.md` or my name already
exists there

---------
Signed-off-by: Kelly Guo <kellyg@nvidia.com>
Co-authored-by: Kelly Guo <kellyguo123@hotmail.com>
Co-authored-by: Kelly Guo <kellyg@nvidia.com>

source/isaaclab/config/extension.toml

 [package]
 
 # Note: Semantic Versioning is used: https://semver.org/
-version = "0.39.5"
+version = "0.39.6"
 
 # Description
 title = "Isaac Lab framework for Robot Learning"

source/isaaclab/docs/CHANGELOG.rst

 Changelog
 ---------
 
+0.39.6 (2025-01-30)
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Added
+^^^^^
+
+* Added method :meth:`omni.isaac.lab.assets.AssetBase.set_visibility` to set the visibility of the asset
+  in the simulation.
+
+
 0.39.5 (2025-05-16)
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 

source/isaaclab/isaaclab/assets/asset_base.py

@@ -7,11 +7,13 @@ from __future__ import annotations
 
 import inspect
 import re
+import torch
 import weakref
 from abc import ABC, abstractmethod
 from collections.abc import Sequence
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any
 
+import isaacsim.core.utils.prims as prim_utils
 import omni.kit.app
 import omni.timeline
 from isaacsim.core.simulation_manager import SimulationManager
@@ -162,6 +164,36 @@ class AssetBase(ABC):
     Operations.
     """
 
+    def set_visibility(self, visible: bool, env_ids: Sequence[int] | None = None):
+        """Set the visibility of the prims corresponding to the asset.
+
+        This operation affects the visibility of the prims corresponding to the asset in the USD stage.
+        It is useful for toggling the visibility of the asset in the simulator. For instance, one can
+        hide the asset when it is not being used to reduce the rendering overhead.
+
+        Note:
+            This operation uses the PXR API to set the visibility of the prims. Thus, the operation
+            may have an overhead if the number of prims is large.
+
+        Args:
+            visible: Whether to make the prims visible or not.
+            env_ids: The indices of the object to set visibility. Defaults to None (all instances).
+        """
+        # resolve the environment ids
+        if env_ids is None:
+            env_ids = range(len(self._prims))
+        elif isinstance(env_ids, torch.Tensor):
+            env_ids = env_ids.detach().cpu().tolist()
+
+        # obtain the prims corresponding to the asset
+        # note: we only want to find the prims once since this is a costly operation
+        if not hasattr(self, "_prims"):
+            self._prims = sim_utils.find_matching_prims(self.cfg.prim_path)
+
+        # iterate over the environment ids
+        for env_id in env_ids:
+            prim_utils.set_prim_visibility(self._prims[env_id], visible)
+
     def set_debug_vis(self, debug_vis: bool) -> bool:
         """Sets whether to visualize the asset data.