Shade 9 Chapter 23 3D Sound

Two channel stereo sound can be output along with animation in Shade. By placing multiple sound sources in 3D space, movies can be given a sense of realism and depth. Shade's Motion Settings can be applied individually to sounds placed in a scene for further control. The audio alone can also be output to a file.

3D Sound

By using information on sounds' position in 3D space, attenuation, Doppler effects, propagation delay, and even the small difference between the left and right ears can be calculated, producing very realistic sounds.

Supported Formats

The following file formats can be imported and exported by Shade.

Important: Compressed versions of the above file formats are not supported.

Placing Sounds

Shade uses sound objects to represent sounds in a 3D scene. By placing sound objects inside a joint and applying motion to the joint, sounds can be animated in a scene. The position information of sounds is calculated based on the position of the sound object relative to the camera position. It is easier to arrange sounds in a scene properly by first creating a new camera object, which is visible in the Figure window, and then moving the sound objects and camera object appropriately to achieve the desired sound effect. Using sound objects is described below.

1. First set up the scene to which you wish to add sound.

2. From the Create tool in the Toolbox choose Sound.

3. Click on the point in the Figure window where you wish to position the sound object. A sound object is created in the scene, and an Open dialog appears prompting you to select an audio file.

4. Browse to the audio file you wish to use, keeping in mind the supported file formats listed above. A sound object appears in the Browser appended with the audio file name.

Important: Sound files used in a Shade scene are not saved in the Shade file (.shd). Shade references the actual sound file when it is executed. Changing the relative directory path of the sound file, changing the file name, or deleting the file will cause the sound to not load with the Shade scene Also Important: Do not place sound objects inside a PoserFusion object. Doing so may cause some PoserFusion functionality loss.

5. With the sound object selected in the Browser, open the Object Info window by choosing Object Info from the View menu.

The sound object's volume, repeat settings and other information can be viewed or modified here. Note: For detailed information on the sound object settings in the Object Info window, see 3D Sound Reference later in this chapter.

6. Now open the Motion window by choosing Motion from the View menu. If the sound object is selected in the Browser the sound's waveform is displayed in the motion box.

Modify the start frame of the sound, fade in or fade out the volume, or do other sound editing here. A sequence key point is created for the start frame and can be moved to a different frame. The start frame can also be moved by dragging the left edge of the waveform.

Moving the sequence key point

Moving the left edge of the waveform

By moving the motion points the volume can be made louder or softer.

The leftmost motion point in the motion box indicates the start frame of the sound. If a new motion point is added farther to the left in the motion box the start frame is updated automatically.

Clicking the Play button with the Sound Preview checkbox checked will play a preview of the sound with the applied motion settings. If the 3D Sound checkbox is checked, the preview will include the 3D effects.

Note: For more information on the Motion window, see Chapter 18, Motion Settings in the User Guide.

To hear an example of a scene with 3D sound, open "3D_Sound_Sample.shd" found in the Documentation - Sample tab in ShadeExplorer. Sound files are not embedded in Shade scene files, so an audio file must be loaded before hearing the sound. Click the sound object "Sound (train.wav)" and from the Object Info window click "Load." Navigate to the Sound folder and choose the "train.wav" file. Now you can preview the 3D sound by clicking the Play button in the Motion window or render an animation of the scene by choosing Create Animation.

Exporting 3D Sound

Scenes with sound objects can be exported as movies with audio tracks. The 3D sound in a Shade scene can also be exported by itself as a separate audio file.

Exporting Movies with Audio

If animation rendering is done for a scene with sound objects the resulting movie will automatically include the audio. The 3D Sound checkbox in the Animation Settings must be checked to enable 3D sound effects. Animation rendering is done by clicking the Create Animation button in the Animation Settings.

Note: The 3D Sound checkbox in both the Animation Settings and the Object Info window must be checked for 3D sound effects to be ennabled. Note: Audio tracks are recorded as 44,100 Hz 16 bit Stereo. Note: For more information on animation rendering, see Chapter 19, Animation Rendering in the User Guide.

Exporting Only Audio

To export the 3D sound as a separate audio file in a Shade scene with sound objects, click the Output Sound button in the Animation Settings. Note: Audio tracks are recorded as 44,100 Hz 16 bit Stereo.

3D Sound Reference

Object Info Window

File The file name of the sound file.

Load Click this button to display an Open dialog allowing you to replace the current sound with a different file or load a new sound.

Save Click this button to open a Save As dialog allowing you to save the sound file in a different file format.

Play Plays back the loaded sound file.

Stop Stops playback of the loaded sound file.

File Type The file format of the loaded sound file.

Format The sound quality of the loaded file.

Duration The length of the sound file in number of frames.If the frame rate is changed for a scene this number will also be changed.

3D Sound Checkbox When checked, 3D information for the sound object is enabled. This makes attenuation, Doppler effects, propagation delay and other realistic effects possible.

Repeat Pull-down Menu The number of times the sound file repeats after it plays once. The Auto setting repeats the sound continually.

Volume Slider The audio volume during playback. Holding Ctrl (Win) or Cmd (Mac) while clicking the slider will display a dialog with the slider and limiter settings.

Range Checkbox When checked, restricts the sound volume to the range set by the limiter.

Center Textbox The coordinates of the center of the sound object.

Distance from Microphone The straight-line distance between the sound object and the active camera (the 'microphone').

Minimum Distance Textbox Enabled when the 3D Sound checkbox is checked, this value specifies the distance at which the sound begins to attenuate.

Animation Settings

The following animation settings apply to 3D sound.

Sound Preview Checkbox When checked, clicking the Play button in the Motion window will play a preview of the selected sound object, including any Motion settings that have been applied. 3D sound effects can also be heard in the preview.

3D Sound Checkbox When checked, 3D information for the sound object is enabled. This makes attenuation, Doppler effects, propagation delay and other realistic effects possible.

Output Sound Outputs only the audio track. Note: For more information on the Motion window and animation in Shade, see Chapter 15, Motion Window in the Reference Manual. |