Audio Showcase Tutorial Chapter 4: Dynamic Ambience
Overview
Since our Chinese Garden is a relatively small level, it doesn't make sense to create multiple global ambiences between which the level would switch as the player moves through it. Rather, it seems best to create a single global ambience containing different layers corresponding to:
- Water sounds within the level,
- Forest sounds that surround the level,
- Sounds for the marketplace area situated on one end of the level.
These layers would grow louder as the player drew close, and fade as they moved farther away. The sounds for each of these are included in the chapter_04 → loop folder of your chosen middleware implementation, located within the Audio Showcase assets' installation directory, as:
| FMOD | Wwise | SDLMixer | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| l_cg_amb_water_a_01 - 03.wav | l_cg_amb_water_a_01 - 03.wav | Play_l_cg_amb_water_a.ogg | First water body. |
| l_cg_amb_water_b_01 - 03.wav | l_cg_amb_water_b_01 - 03.wav | Play_l_cg_amb_water_b.ogg | Second water body. |
l_cg_amb_forest_01 - 03.wav | l_cg_amb_forest_01 - 03.wav | Play_l_cg_amb_forest.ogg | Forest area. |
| l_cg_amb_marketplace_01 - 03.wav | l_cg_amb_marketplace_01 - 03.wav | Play_l_cg_amb_marketplace.ogg | Marketplace. |
| l_cg_amb_global_base_01 - 03.wav | l_cg_amb_global_base_01 - 03.wav | Play_l_cg_amb_global_base.ogg | Global ambience. |
l_cg_amb_global_day_01 - 03.wav | l_cg_amb_global_day_01 - 03.wav | Play_l_cg_amb_loop_day.ogg | Day sounds for global ambience. |
l_cg_amb_global_night_01 - 03.wav | l_cg_amb_global_night_01 - 03.wav | Play_l_cg_amb_loop_night.ogg | Night sounds for global ambience. |
We begin by defining a global area box, before creating area shapes for each of the required layers.
Dynamic ambience overview
FMOD Video Tutorial
The FMOD workflow of this chapter is also covered in the following video:
Defining a Global Area Box
With our Chinese Garden level loaded on CRYENGINE's Sandbox, create a new folder called audio within the Level Explorer (located at the bottom left-corner of the Editor, by default) by right-clicking a blank space, and selecting the New Folder option from the context menu. Within it, create a new layer called area shape and double click it to make it the active layer.
This means that all entities created henceforth will be added to this layer by default.
Located above the Level Explorer is the Create Object tool, which is used to create/add entities and objects to a scene. Select the Area → Box option within it to begin creating our Area Box. At this point, you should be able to see the Area Box's properties listed within the Properties panel situated on the right of your Editor window.
Area box properties
You may set the width, length and height of the Area Box to the values used in the image above, or your own values, provided the Area Box is big enough to fully surround the entire level. Once its size has been set, click within the Viewport to place the Area Box in the level. Also:
- Give the Area Box a custom name using the Name field, located under the General tab of the Properties panel. We've named our Area Box AB_Global_Exterior for the sake of this tutorial.
- Set the Area Box's Group Id and Priority to 1 and 5 respectively, under the Area box tab of the Properties panel. The significance of these values will be made clear further on.
Creating the Global Ambience
The idea behind creating the global ambience in this section is to have a static background layer that isn't triggered from a specific position, and a set of one shots that are positioned around the player as part of the 3D environment. Both are combined to create a rich ambience with a relatively simple setup.
FMOD
Switch back to your FMOD project, and create a new sub-folder called loop within the Ambience folder of your FMOD Events tab and Audio Bin.
- Drag l_cg_amb_global_base_01.wav, l_cg_amb_global_base_02.wav and l_cg_amb_global_base_03.wav from the _Audio_Assets/FMod Studio/chapter_04/loop folder of your project into the loop folder of the Audio Bin.
- Next, drag and drop the three files from the Audio Bin into the Events tab of your project to create a new Event; the Event should be 2D, with one multi-instrument. Name it Play_l_cg_amb_global.
This Event requires two more audio tracks, for day and night variations of the global ambience.
FMOD global ambience
- In the Timeline view of the l_cg_amb_global Event, right-click the Base track and select the Add Audio Track option from the menu; then, drag and drop the l_cg_amb_global_day_01.wav, l_cg_amb_global_day_02.wav and l_cg_amb_global_day_03.wav files from the Audio Bin onto the audio track to create a multi-instrument for the global ambience's daytime sounds.
- Repeat the above step for the l_cg_amb_global_night_01.wav, l_cg_amb_global_night_02.wav and l_cg_amb_global_night_03.wav files as well, creating a multi-instrument for nighttime sounds, as shown in the GIF above.
Once the three multi-instruments have been created, add a loop region for the entire Play_l_cg_amb_global Event, as described in the previous chapter. Also,
- Activate the Async and Loop Playlist
- Add a loop region for the Event.
Finally, add the Play_l_cg_amb_global Event to your Ambience Soundbank. Rebuild all Soundbanks and save the FMOD project.
Wwise
Rather than import every audio file from the _Audio_Assets/Wwise/chapter_04/loop folder into the Ambience Actor-Mixer we created in Chapter 01, it's better to use Wwise's Import Folder function.
- Right-click the Ambience Actor-Mixer and select the Import Audio Files option from the menu.
- Click the Add Folders... button in Audio File Importer window, navigate to the _Audio_Assets/Wwise/chapter_04/ directory and select the Loop folder. The Audio/File Folder column shows the structure of the Loop folder as it appears on disk, while the Object column shows the folder structure that will be created in Wwise. The folder Loop at the top of this structure will serve as our Actor-Mixer.
- In the Object Type/Action column, select the dropdown corresponding to this Loop folder, and change its values from Virtual Folder to Actor-Mixer.
- Similarly, set the Object Type/Action values of the l_cg_amb_global and the l_cg_amb_global_timeofday folders to Blend Container, and the remaining folders to Random Container as shown.
Import audio files
A Blend Container has two purposes:
- To blend (fade) two or more sub-containers based on the value of a Real-Time Parameter Control (RTPC).
- To group all sub-containers and play them at the same exact moment. This works only if the Blend Container has no Blend Track assigned to it.
Recall that the global ambience that we're creating must contain three different layers that play simultaneously; the Base layer which contains background cricket noise, the Day layer with bird calls, and a Night layer with more cricket and frog sounds.
Our l_cg_amb_global Blend Container contains two sub-containers: the l_cg_amb_global_base Random Container which corresponds to the base layer, and the l_cg_amb_global_timeofday Blend Container which contains the day/night layers as Random Containers.
Set the l_cg_amb_global_base, l_cg_amb_global_day and l_cg_amb_global_night Random Containers to loop, as we did to the fire particle in the previous chapter, and set their Transition Type values to Xfade (power). Use the GIF below for reference.
Transition Type
Finally, create a new Play Event for the l_cg_amb_global Blend Container, create a new folder called Loop within the Ambience folder in the Events tab, and add the Play_l_cg_amb_global event to it. Also remember to Generate All SoundBanks and save your project.
SDL Mixer
Copy the Play_l_cg_amb_loop_base.ogg file from _Audio_Assets/SDL Mixer/chapter_04/ folder of your Audio Showcase Level installation into the Assets/Audio/SDL_Mixer/assets directory of your project.
Connecting The Global Ambience To The Area Box
Switch back to the ACE on CRYENGINE and create the folder loop within the library Ambience that we created in Chapter 01.
Drag and drop Play_l_cg_amb_global from the Middleware Data panel into the loop folder in the Audio System Controls panel, creating a trigger of the same name.
If using SDL Mixer, activate Infinite Loop and deactivate the Enable Attenuation and Enable Panning properties of the Play_l_cg_amb_global audio trigger in the Properties panel. Also, create a parameter for the Play_l_cg_amb_global audio Trigger in the Ambience folder of the Audio System Controls panel:
- Right-click within the Ambience folder and select the Add → Parameter option. Name it Param_Play_l_cg_amb_global.
- Connect the corresponding sound file to the parameter, by selecting the Parameter, dragging and dropping the Play_l_cg_amb_loop_base.ogg file from the Middleware Data panel into the Connections section of the ACE's Properties panel.
The created parameter is used in a custom FlowGraph script included within the Audio Showcase Level that changes the volume of ambience sounds based on the time of day.
- Save the library and reload the audio engine.
On CRYENGINE, Audio Area Ambience is an Entity that permits the implementation of a simple ambience within a level, without having to define its functionality in Flow Graph. It needs to be linked to an Area Shape, Area Box, Area Sphere or Area Solid to function.
In the Level Explorer, create a new layer called audio_area_ambience within the audio folder we created at the beginning of this chapter; double-click the audio_area_ambience layer to make it the active layer. Since we need to create an Audio Area Ambience Entity to implement our Play_l_cg_amb_global ambience:
- In the Create Object tool, select the Audio → Audio Area Ambience option.
- Click anywhere within the Viewport to place the Audio Area Ambience Entity. We'll call it AAA_Global_Exterior for the rest of this tutorial.
- Attach the Play_l_cg_amb_global trigger to the AAA_Global_Exterior Entity via its PlayTrigger property field in the Properties panel.
Recall that the Audio Area Ambience Entity now needs to be connected to the AB_Global_Exterior Area Box we created at the beginning of this section.
- Select the AB_Global_Exterior Area Box to display its properties in the Properties panel.
- Under the Area tab of the Properties panel, click the Pick button, then select the AAA_Global_Exterior Entity from the Viewport.
You should now be able to hear the global ambience, however only when the default camera of the Perspective Viewport is situated inside the Area Box. On FMOD and Wwise, the global ambience can be made to fade as the Viewport camera draws farther away, by creating a Parameter.
If you're unable to hear the global ambience within the Area Box, move the Viewport camera outside the Area Box and reenter it again to trigger the sound.
Fading The Global Ambience
SDL Mixer users can skip this section of the tutorial.
FMOD
Open the Preset Browser in FMOD Studio and create a User: Continuous parameter with the name area_fade_distance. Let its range be between 0 and 1.
- In the Events tab of your project, select the Play_l_cg_amb_global Event.
- Click the + symbol besides the Event's Timeline tab, above its timeline, and add the area_fade_distance tab.
Area fade distance
To now add an automation to the Event, as shown in the GIF above, such that the Play_l_cg_amb_global ambience is fully audible when the area_fade_distance Parameter reaches 1, and inaudible when 0:
- Right-click on the Master track's volume dial and select the Add Automation option from the menu.
- Adjust the curve as shown in the GIF above. The small dot that is on the center of the line between the two points can also be moved to change the sound's fade.
Save the FMOD project and remember to rebuild all Soundbanks. Back in the ACE, the area_fade_distance parameter should be listed under the Parameters folder of the Middleware Data panel. Drag and drop it into the Ambience folder in the Audio System Controls panel to create a parameter in the Audio System of the same name.
- In the Viewport, select the AAA_Global_Exterior Entity to display its properties in the Properties panel.
- Add the area_fade_distance parameter to the Rtpc property field by clicking the
- Under the AudioAreaAmbience Properties tab is a property called RtpcDistance. Let's set its value to 20.
The distance output of the Audio Area Ambience Entity is always scaled in the range of 0 to 1 with respect to the maximum range specified by its RtpcDistance property, such that the RtpcDistance parameter increases and moves to 1 as the listener draws closer to the Area shape the Entity is linked to.
It is for this reason that the range of the area_fade_distance parameter created in our FMOD project was also normalized to 0 to 1.
Wwise
Navigate to the Game Syncs tab in the Project Explorer and create a parameter with the name area_fade_distance as follows:
- Select the Default Work Unit under Game Parameters, and then click the
- In the Property Editor panel, set the Min, Max and Default values of the Range to 0, 1 and 1 respectively; Default corresponds to the value assigned to the parameter when no value is sent by the game Engine, for example, while previewing an audio trigger in the ACE.
area_fade_distance
We now need to link this parameter to the l_cg_amb_global Blend Container.
- Select the l_cg_amb_global Container from the Audio tab of the Project Explorer.
- In the Property Editor, open the RTPC tab, click on the
- Now, click the
l_cg_amb_global Property Editor
The default curve that is now displayed in the Property Editor indicates that the Play_l_cg_amb_global's Event will be muted when the area_fade_distance parameter reaches to 0, and will be fully audible when the game Engine sets the parameter to 1.
Save your Wwise project after generating all SoundBanks. Back in the ACE, the area_fade_distance parameter should be listed under the Game Parameters folder of the Middleware Data panel. Drag and drop this parameter into a new library called Parameter in the Audio System Controls panel, to create a parameter in the Audio System of the same name.
- Back in the Viewport, select the AAA_Global_Exterior Entity to display its properties in the Properties panel.
- Add the area_fade_distance parameter to the Rtpc property field by clicking the
- Under the AudioAreaAmbience Properties tab is a property called RtpcDistance. Let's set its value to 20.
If set up correctly, you'll find that the global ambience sound now fades out as the Viewport camera moves away from the global ambience box.
Setting Up The Remaining Ambience Layers
Now that we have our global ambience working, it's time to add the remaining layers of ambience for the forest, marketplace area and water bodies as shown in the following image.
Showcase Audio Ambience
FMOD
Create 2D events for all remaining sounds contained in the _Audio_Assets/FMod Studio/chapter_04/loop folder of your project as follows:
Event | Files | Type | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Play_l_cg_amb_forest | l_cg_amb_forest_01.wav, l_cg_amb_forest_02.wav and l_cg_amb_forest_03.wav. | 2D Event with one multi-instrument |
| 2 | Play_l_cg_amb_marketplace | l_cg_amb_marketplace_01.wav, l_cg_amb_marketplace_02.wav and l_cg_amb_marketplace_03.wav. | 2D Event with one multi-instrument |
| 3 | Play_l_cg_amb_water_a | l_cg_amb_water_a_01.wav, l_cg_amb_water_a_02.wav and l_cg_amb_water_a_03.wav, | 2D Event with one multi-instrument |
| 4 | Play_l_cg_amb_water_b | l_cg_amb_water_b_01.wav, l_cg_amb_water_b_02.wav and l_cg_amb_water_b_03.wav. | 2D Event with one multi-instrument |
Make sure to activate the Async and Loop Playlist
Save the project, rebuild Soundbanks, and create triggers for each of the Events in the ACE.
Wwise
Since we've already imported the audio files corresponding to the remaining ambience layers in the Creating The Global Ambience section of this chapter, all we need to do is make the l_cg_amb_forest, l_cg_amb_marketplace, l_cg_amb_water_a and l_cg_amb_water_b Random Containers loop.
- Select these Random Containers, right-click and select the Show in Multi-Editor option from the menu. The options we need are located under Audio → General Settings → Random Sequence Container → Play Mode in the Multi-Editor.
- Under Play Mode, set the value of the Step or Continuous field to Continuous. Also activate the Loop and Transition checkboxes, and set the Transition Type to Xfade (power); these changes will automatically apply to all selected Containers.
Multi-editor
Finally, we need to add the area_fade_distance parameter curve to each of the Random Containers.
- Select the l_cg_amb_global Blend Container, navigate to its RTPC tab in the Property Editor, right-click the entry on the bottom panel of the Property Editor, and select the Copy option from the menu.
- Paste this entry onto the RTPC tabs of the l_cg_amb_forest, l_cg_amb_marketplace, l_cg_amb_water_a and l_cg_amb_water_b Random Containers.
Now create a new Event for each of the Random Containers, and add them to the Ambience → Loop Event folder. Save your project, generate all SoundBanks, and create Triggers for each of the Events in the ACE.
SDL Mixer
Copy the following files from the _Audio_Assets/SDL Mixer/chapter_04/ folder of your Audio Showcase Level installation, into the Assets/Audio/SDL_Mixer/assets directory of your project.
- Play_l_cg_amb_forest.ogg
- Play_l_cg_amb_marketplace.ogg
- Play_l_cg_amb_water_01.ogg
- Play_l_cg_amb_water_02.ogg
Create audio Triggers for each of the files in the ACE; also activate their Infinite Loop properties, and deactivate the Enable Panning and Enable Attenuation properties for each.
Create parameters for each of the imported audio files, similar to how we did for the Play_l_cg_amb_global.ogg audio file previously, for the custom Flow Graph script that changes the volume of sounds according to the time of day. Name each parameter as Param_<filename>.
Adding Area Shapes To The Level
Recall that the Audio Area Ambience Entity is used to implement simple ambiences within a level, which in turn must be linked to an Area Shape to function. We begin then by creating Area Shapes for each of the Events created in the previous section.
- Create a new layer area_shape in the Level Explorer.
- In the Create Object tool, select the Area → Shape option to create an Area Shape.
Although we'd previously used the Area Box in creating the global ambience, the area shapes of the forest, marketplace and water bodies need to be more precise, for which reason we're creating Area Shapes for each.
Click on the edges of one of the two water surfaces, being as accurate as possible, to start creating its Area Shape. Whenever you choose to stop/finish creating the Shape, double-click while placing a point; finally, name the created Shape according to the Showcase_Audio ambience image above (AS_Water_a or AS_Water_b, for example).
Make sure the Closed property is activated in the Properties panel when creating the Area Shape, to ensure that a closed Shape is created.
- Set the value of the Height property of the created Shape to any easy-to-read value between 10 and 50 in the Properties panel.
- Similarly, create Area Shapes for the remaining water bodies, the marketplace, forest, and the two pagodas (House_a and House_b), respectively.
- To improve the visibility of your Area Shapes in the Viewport, activate the Display Filled property from the Properties panel; this fills the created areas with color in the Viewport.
- To move a created Area Shape, use the
- To move only a specific point of a created Area Shape, click the Edit Shape button under the Operators tab of the Properties panel.
We now need to set the Group ID and Priority values for each of the Area Shapes, as we did for the Global Area Box earlier on in this section. Group ID's along with Priority help define how the ambient sounds of Area Shapes are processed, such that when two or more Shapes share the same Group ID, the Shape with the highest Priority is processed first.
This is useful when Area Shapes are nested within each other; an Audio Area Ambience that is attached to an Area Shape will stop playing when the listener enters an inner Area Shape, if the priority of the inner Shape is higher than the outer. If the Group ID and the Priority values of two or more Shapes are equal, the Shapes have no influence over each other.
Use the following Group ID and Priority setup for the Area Shapes created.
| AS / AB Properties | Global | AS_Water_a | AS_Water_b | Forest | Marketplace | House_a | House_b |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group ID | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Priority | 2 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 10 |
| Inner Fade Distance | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.5 | 4 |
The Inner Fade Distance property determines how far the ambience of an Area Shape blends into another Shape of higher priority. You'll notice that both pagodas have a higher priority in comparison to the other shapes; the goal is to have the global ambience fade out as the listener enters into one of the pagodas.
It is for this reason that the Inner Fade Distance property values for House_01 and House_02 have been set to 7.5 and 4 respectively
Activating the Display Sound Info checkbox in the Property panels of the House_01 and House_02 Area Shapes reveals Sound Obstruction options for the Shapes' sides. Ticking a checkbox flags that side for obstruction; the distance of the player from an Area Shape is not calculated from the obstructed sides.
Since we don't require the ambience to fade with respect to player distance at the floor/roof of the pagodas, the sides corresponding to the floors/roofs can be deactivated. The obstructed sides of an Area Shape are marked in red.
Creating AAA Entities for all Area Shapes
With the Area Shapes created for the forest, marketplace, two water bodies and two pagodas in the previous section, we now need to create Audio Area Ambience Entities for each of the Area Shapes, except for those of the pagodas (House_a and House_b). When doing so, make sure to set the audio_area_ambience layer as the active layer.
After creating the Audio Ambience Entities, set the values of their Play Trigger, Rtpc and Rtpc Distance fields to the following values.
| AAA Properties | Global | AS_Water_a | AS_Water_b | Forest | Marketplace | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Play Trigger | Play_l_cg_amb_global | Play_l_cg_amb_water_a | Play_l_cg_amb_water_b | Play_l_cg_amb_forest | Play_l_cg_amb_marketplace | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rtpc |
|
|
|
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rtpc Distance | 20 | 5 | 5 | 30 | 7 |
Feel free to experiment with your own Rtpc Distance values; recall that the Rtpc Distance property defines the distance over which parameter fades from 1 to 0.
Finally, remember to attach the Audio Area Ambience Entities to their corresponding Area Shapes using the Pick button, located under the Operators tab of the Area Shapes' Properties panel. You can then go ahead and listen to the outcome in Game Mode. If you'd like, you could even design custom ambiences for each of the pagodas, although the absence of sound often has a greater impact on the listener.
One Shots For Bird Calls
What we've created at this stage, is a dynamic ambience with five different layers. To further improve its realism, let's add in a few random one shots to the global ambience using Audio Trigger Spot (ATS) Entities.
FMOD
Located in the _Audio_Assets/FMod Studio/chapter_04/Oneshot folder of your project directory are 11 different bird calls, named Play_l_cg_amb_one_shot_bird_a/b/c/d/e_0X.wav. Drag these into your Audio Bin to create five Events as follows:
Event | Files | Type | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Play_l_cg_amb_one_shot_bird_a | l_cg_amb_one_shot_bird_a_01.wav, l_cg_amb_one_shot_bird_a_02.wav, and l_cg_amb_one_shot_bird_a_03.wav | 3D Event with one multi-instrument |
| 2 | Play_l_cg_amb_one_shot_bird_b | l_cg_amb_one_shot_bird_b_01.wav and l_cg_amb_one_shot_bird_b_02.wav | 3D Event with one multi-instrument |
| 3 | Play_l_cg_amb_one_shot_bird_c | l_cg_amb_one_shot_bird_c_01.wav and l_cg_amb_one_shot_bird_c_02.wav | 3D Event with one multi-instrument |
| 4 | Play_l_cg_amb_one_shot_bird_d | l_cg_amb_one_shot_bird_d_01.wav and l_cg_amb_one_shot_bird_d_02.wav | 3D Event with one multi-instrument |
| 5 | Play_l_cg_amb_one_shot_bird_e | l_cg_amb_one_shot_bird_e_01.wav and l_cg_amb_one_shot_bird_e_02.wav | 3D Event with one multi-instrument |
Since we'd like to hear the bird calls across the entire level, we'll set the Max attenuation distance of each event to 100 meters within the Spatializer plugin. Add the Events to the Ambience Soundbank, rebuild all Soundbanks, and switch back to the ACE to create audio triggers for each of them.
Wwise
Using the Import Folder function like we did while creating the Global Ambience, add the Oneshots folder included in the _Audio_Assets/Wwise/chapter_04/ directory of your project, to the Ambience Actor Mixer. Remember to set the Object Type/Action of the Oneshots folder to Actor-Mixer.
Included in the Oneshots folder are 11 different bird calls, named l_cg_amb_one_shot_bird_a/b/c/d/e_0X.wav. Create five Random Containers for these bird calls as follows:
Random Container | Audio Files | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | l_cg_amb_one_shot_bird_a | l_cg_amb_one_shot_bird_a_01.wav, l_cg_amb_one_shot_bird_a_02.wav, and l_cg_amb_one_shot_bird_a_03.wav |
| 2 | l_cg_amb_one_shot_bird_b | l_cg_amb_one_shot_bird_b_01.wav and l_cg_amb_one_shot_bird_b_02.wav |
| 3 | l_cg_amb_one_shot_bird_c | l_cg_amb_one_shot_bird_c_01.wav and l_cg_amb_one_shot_bird_c_02.wav |
| 4 | l_cg_amb_one_shot_bird_d | l_cg_amb_one_shot_bird_d_01.wav and l_cg_amb_one_shot_bird_d_02.wav |
| 5 | l_cg_amb_one_shot_bird_e | l_cg_amb_one_shot_bird_e_01.wav and l_cg_amb_one_shot_bird_e_02.wav |
Create a new Attenuation Share-Set on the Oneshots Actor-Mixer similar to the one used on the campfire particle audio. However since we'd like to hear the bird calls across the entire level, set the Max distance of the Attenuation Share-Set to 100m. Name it Attenuation_100m.
Attenuation Share Sets are hereditary, meaning all of the Oneshots Actor-Mixer's children will use the same attenuation settings.
Finally, create Events for each of the bird-call Random Containers, add them to a new Oneshots Events folder, and generate all SoundBanks. Save your project, before switching back to the ACE to create audio triggers for each of them.
SDL Mixer
The bird call one shots are included within the _Audio_Assets/SDL Mixer/chapter_04/ folder of your Audio Showcase Level as Play_l_cg_amb_one_shot_bird_a.ogg, Play_l_cg_amb_one_shot_bird_b.ogg, Play_l_cg_amb_one_shot_bird_c.ogg and Play_l_cg_amb_one_shot_bird_d.ogg. Copy these into the Assets/Audio/sdlmixer/assets directory of your project and create audio Triggers for each.
Also create parameters with the name Param_<filename> for each created audio Trigger.
Activate the Enable Panning and Enable Attenuation properties for each of the bird call one shot Triggers.
After the bird call Events have been created using your choice of middleware, create a new layer called one_shots within the Level Explorer, and double-click it to make it the active layer.
- Create five Audio Trigger Spots, corresponding to each of the bird call events Play_l_cg_amb_one_shot_bird a/b/c.d.
- Place these in four different positions above the Garden wall.
- Shift-click the first and last of the five Audio Trigger Spots to activate the multi-update option; activate the DrawRandomizationArea Debug property from the Properties panel, which displays a box around the area where randomization of the ATS Entity is applied.
Now tweak the values of the RandomizationArea property, which determines the dimensions of the area boxes made visible in the previous step. The sound of the trigger linked to an Audio Trigger Spot is randomly positioned within its area box.
Even though SDL Mixer doesn't provide any form of audio randomization, its sound attenuation feature can be used as a means to randomize sound volume. This can be done by giving the RandomizationArea of an area box a high depth value, such that sounds will appear high in volume when they're triggered close to the player, and lower in volume when triggered farther away.
Bird call area boxes
Finally, connect the bird call audio triggers created at the beginning of this section to the Audio Trigger Spots, using the Play Trigger property from the ATS Entities' Properties panel. We'll also set the Behavior property of each ATS to Trigger Rate and its Max Delay value to 100,000; this causes the audio triggers to execute every 'x' seconds after the previous trigger instance is done, where 'x' is a random value between their Min Delay and Max Delay values.
Forest One Shots
To wrap up, we'll add a few one shots to the forest ambience through FMOD/Wwise.
The implementation of forest one shots requires the use of a Scatterer Instrument (FMOD) or Random Container (Wwise); since SDL Mixer lacks a system to achieve similar effects, the implementation of forest one shots via SDL Mixer has been omitted in this tutorial. Users can still create a setup similar to the bird one shots for the forest one shots; however, this would be tedious to implement.
FMOD
Go back to your FMOD project, and open the Play_l_cg_amb_forest ambience we created earlier in this section.
- Add a new Audio track in the Timeline tab of the Play_l_cg_amb_forest Event.
- To this Audio Track, add a Scatterer Instrument by right-clicking its timeline and selecting the Add Scatterer Instrument option from the menu.
- Click on the Scatterer Instrument and open the Audio Bin; drag the l_cg_amb_forest_oneshot_crack_01 - 06 .wav files from the _Audio_Assets/FMod Studio/chapter_04/Oneshot folder of your project directory, and drop them into the Ambience → Oneshot folder of your Audio Bin.
- Then, drag and drop l_cg_amb_forest_oneshot_crack_01 - 05.wav into the Scatterer Instrument's playlist as shown in the GIF below.
A Scatterer Instrument allows the trigger rate and positioning of a sound to be randomized, which is ideal for the forest one shots we'd like to add.
Scatterer Instrument playlist
The playlist of a Scatterer Instrument displays all audio assets that can be triggered by it; make sure to enlarge the Scatterer Instrument to the exact length of the defined loop region.
With the Scatterer Instrument selected, you can change the trigger rate of the files in the Scatterer Instrument's playlist using the panel at the bottom of your FMOD window. For the forest crack one shots, we've set the Spawn interval to 2.50s - 6.50s and the Min/Max Scatter Distance to 0.10 - 1.00. Since the original assets already sound subtle and distant, we don't need too big of a distance value.
Repeat the above steps to create another audio track using the l_cg_amb_forest_oneshot_creak_01 - 05 .wav files from your project's _Audio_Assets/FMod Studio/chapter_04/Oneshot folder.
- Set its Spawn interval to a bigger range of 8.00s - 22.00s, and its Min and Max Scatter Distance to 2.00 and 30.0 respectively.
- Name both audio tracks so that they can be distinguished later on.
Wwise
In the Audio tab of Wwise's Project Explorer, create a parent Blend Container for the l_cg_amb_forest Random Container; name the Blend Container l_cg_amb_forest as well.
- Add a new Random Container to the l_cg_amb_forest Blend Container and name it l_cg_amb_forest_oneshot_crack. Drag and drop files l_cg_amb_forest_oneshot_crack_01 - 06 from the Oneshot Actor-Mixer into the l_cg_amb_forest_oneshot_crack Random Container.
- In the Property Editor, set Play Mode to Loop, activate the Transitions toggle, and set the Transition Type to Trigger Rate.
Set the Duration value to 4.5 seconds and double-click the
The Trigger Rate duration specifies how often the l_cg_amb_forest_oneshot_crack Random Container is triggered and a new sound selected to play; the Randomizer helps apply an additional randomization to the trigger rate, allowing for a bit of variation in timing between each sound.
It'd also be appropriate for the one shot to play at random positions, rather than in a 2D space around the player.
- Switch to the Positioning tab in the Property Editor, tick the Override Parent checkbox, and set the value of the 3D Spatialziation dropdown to Position + Orientation.
- Assign the Attenuation_100m Share Set created in the previous section to the Attenuation field.
- Change the value of the 3D Position field to Emitter with Automation from the dropdown to set a user-defined position automation of the sound around the listener.
Click the Automation... button to open the 3D Automation window. Create a new automation path and set the Random Range to the values used in the image below; also activate the Pick new Path when sound starts toggle to force a new automation path to be used every time the sound is triggered.
l_cg_amb_forest_oneshot_crack automation
Repeat the above setup for the l_cg_amb_forest_oneshot_creak_01 - 05 audio files, to create a l_cg_amb_forest_oneshot_creak Random Container within the l_cg_amb_forest Blend Container.
- Set the Trigger Rate Duration to 3 seconds.
Set the Min Offset/Max Offset to -1 and 1 respectively in the Randomizer.
The above Duration and Min Offset/Max Offset values have been set for a more natural sounding ambience.
Before generating all SoundBanks, make sure to update the Play_l_cg_amb_forest Event.
- Select the Play_l_cg_amb_forest Event in the Events tab of the Property Editor to open the Event Editor on the right panel.
- Switch to the Audio tab in the Property Editor, drag and drop the l_cg_amb_forest Blend Container Blend Container into the Event Editor.
Save the project, generate all SoundBanks and try all your changes in Sandbox.
Changing the Global Ambience With Time of Day
Now that we have finished setting up our ambience, we'd like to have it change based on the level's time of day. This is relatively easy to do, as most of the information is automatically given to the ACE by default..
SDL Mixer handles parameters in a way that is unsuitable for a time of day based implementation of the ambience. A time of day setup similar to FMOD and Wwise can be achieved in combination with Flow Graph scripts, which is beyond the scope of this tutorial; it has hence been omitted for the SDL Mixer implementation of this tutorial.
FMOD
- Create a new Parameter called time-of-day with a range of 0-24 within your FMOD project, and add it to the ACE.
- In your FMOD project, select the Play_l_cg_amb_global Event, and add the time_of_day Parameter to it using the + icon besides its Timeline and area_fade_distance parameters in the center panel.
- Next, add a Volume Automation for your Night and Day Audio tracks by right-clicking the volume dial on each of the tracks, and selecting the Add Automation option from the menu.
- Add points of automation to the Volume curves of both tracks by clicking on the dotted line; the day ambience should be audible between 10 a.m - 6 p.m, fading in/out over 4 hours. The night ambience meanwhile should be audible during the remaining hours. The curves should resemble those in the image below.
Volume automation
You can now save your project, rebuild Soundbanks and switch back to CRYENGINE.
Wwise
In the Game Syncs tab of Wwise, create a new parameter called time_of_day with a range of 0 - 24, and set its default value to 12 via the Property Editor.
We now have to add a blend track to the l_cg_amb_global_timeofday Blend Container.
- Select the Blend Container and click the Edit... button in the Blend Tracks section of the Property Editor.
- In the Blend Track Editor that opens, activate the Crossfade toggle and click the
The created Blend Track is displayed under the Blend Tracks section of the Content Editor.
- Drag the l_cg_amb_global_night Random Container from the left panel of the Content Editor, and drop it into the Blend Tracks section. Repeat the same for the l_cg_amb_global_day Container, and for l_cg_amb_global_night. This determines the behavior of the Containers in the Blend Track Editor, such that the day Container is in between two night Containers.
- Click on any other Random Container and then back on l_cg_amb_global_timeofday; if you open the Blend Track Editor again, you should now be able to see three distinct areas corresponding to the night, day and night Containers respectively.
- The edges of each track can be moved; set the first l_cg_amb_global_night track to a time_of_day parameter range of 0-10, the middle l_cg_amb_global_day track to a range of 6-22, and the second l_cg_amb_global_night track to a range of 18-24. This results in a fade of 6-10 and 18-22 between the day and night tracks.
Compare the outcome to the GIF below; changes can be previewed by pressing the spacebar, and moving the time_of_day cursor over the Blend Track in the Blend Track Editor.
time_of_day Blend Track
If you can't preview sounds, perhaps your area_fade_distance parameter is set to 0. This can be changed by clicking on the RTPCs button in the Transport Control panel at the bottom of your project's Designer Layout.
Save your project, generate all SoundBanks and switch back to CRYENGINE. Reload the audio engine, drag and drop the time_of_day parameter from the Middleware Data panel into the Parameter Library in the Audio Systems Control panel.
Reload the audio engine, and open the Environment Editor tool using the Tools → Environment Editor option from the Sandbox's Main Menu.
- First, create a new Environment preset by selecting the New option from the Environment Editor's
- From this window, you can now customize different properties of the level's day-night cycle. Set the speed of the day-night cycle to 1, using the Speed field at the bottom of the window.
- Jump into Game Mode to try out your changes.
Environment Editor
If the global ambience fails to play, exit Game Mode and move the Viewport camera far outside the global ambience area box before bringing it back in again to re-trigger the ambience.
Conclusion
Congratulations, you've made it to the end of the Audio Showcase Tutorial using CRYENGINE V. We've put together a few suggestions at the bottom of this section, to ensure you're getting the most out of your middleware implementation on CRYENGINE.
- Make sure to always save your FMOD/Wwise Project to see newly created Events, Parameters or Soundbanks within the ACE.
- After rebuilding Soundbanks, CRYENGINE's audio engine must always be refreshed so that cached Soundbanks are refreshed.
- Pay attention to the naming of Tracks, Parameters, Events, Banks, Folders etc. As projects grow in size, it can quickly become difficult to keep track of all variables.
- If for some reason you can't hear an Event in FMOD/Wwise, make sure that no Parameter is set to a value that makes the Event inaudible.