Setting Obstruction/Occlusion Parameters in Wwise
In Wwise you can setup two separate behaviors for Volume Attenuation and Low Pass Filtering, which are executed on the Sound source whenever it's connected Game Object becomes obstructed or occluded.
In the screenshot above the X axis with values from 0 to 100 is referencing the Obstruction/Occlusion value in Wwise, which is going from 0 to 1.
In Wwise the VolumeAttenuation and LowPass Filtering curves can be set differently per platform, this gives you more flexibility in being able to adjust the final Sound output of your game and according to any particular platform challenges that may exist.
You can access the Obstruction/Occlusion settings for your project by opening the Project Settings and then switching to the Obstruction/Occlusion tab.
In Wwise you can test different Obstruction/Occlusion settings while connected to the Editor and without having to rebuild your Soundbanks.
Just save the project after making changes and reconnect to the running ENGINE.
Setup Examples When Using Raycast in CryEngine
Optimize Performance when Randomizing Oneshot Sounds
When adding an AudioTriggerSpot that is triggering OneShots in timed intervals, you could define a random container in Wwise and have it retrigger in a specified random time range.
However, when setting up the Sound like this the AudioTriggerSpot is going to continue raycasting, even if no audio is playing at that moment in Wwise. This is because the Wwise PlayEvent on the GameObject is not stopped during parts where no audio is playing.Therefore, it's much better practice to enable Randomization directly in the properties of the AudioTriggerSpot and not in Wwise. This will only add the Raycast whenever the actual event is playing and stop the Raycasting during the breaks in between when no active event is playing.
Randomization of Positioning
You can create Sounds with manual user positioning in Wwise, though these won't be able to take into account of any Obstruction/Occlusion that is happening in the Game World.
The AudioTriggerSpot allows you to randomize it's position independently on the X, Y and Z Axes.
With the PlayOnX,PlayOnY,PlayOnZ properties of the AudioTriggerSpot you can randomize the SoundSource position in the Game Environment and have it affected by the Game Entities according to the Occlusion/Obstruction properties that you have defined.
References of this setup can be found in the CRYENGINE Sandbox Editor showcase Levels.