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[RELEASED] SECTR AUDIO: Immersive, Spatial Audio

Discussion in 'Assets and Asset Store' started by MakeCodeNow, Feb 21, 2014.

  1. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    $AUDIO_Banner_Small.png

    We're very excited to announce the release of SECTR AUDIO on the Unity Asset Store. SECTR AUDIO brings the latest, cutting edge audio production tools and technologies to Unity, including an unparalleled suite of editor extensions and runtime components that let you create rich, complex, efficient soundscapes with ease.

    • Easy to use, powerful audio authoring GUI.
    • Built in randomization, fading, and templates.
    • Hierarchical and adaptive, HDR mixing.
    • Point and volumetric sound sources.
    • Efficient, realtime audio occlusion.
    • Dynamic environmental audio propagation.
    • Nestable, stackable, 3D audio environments.
    • Optimized for maximum quality and performance.

    If you want more info, check out the short video below, post a question here, check out our online demos, or email info@makecodenow.com

    [video=youtube_share;BjNuKlCeFDg]http://youtu.be/BjNuKlCeFDg
     
  2. Hikiko66

    Hikiko66

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    Hi

    Can I place audio dynamically at runtime in 3D space with 2D blend or occlusion using this system?

    ED::typos
     
    Last edited: Feb 21, 2014
  3. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    SECTR Audio is totally dynamic. You can create anything you like at runtime, including SECTR Audio Sources. The built in 2D/3D blend is based on distance, and the occlusion culling is based on distance, the Sector/Portal graph, and/or regular raycasts, all of which work totally fine with dynamically created sounds. In fact, all of the the event based audio in our online audio demos is created dynamically.

    If you have more questions, please ask away!
     
  4. SteveB

    SteveB

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    Assuming I'm fully grasping this, this is very cool.

    If I make one small suggestion; while I appreciate why your demo's are 'rich' with sound, it gets a tiny bit distracting. The first thing that came to mind when I read that there is sound propagation/occlusion, is the system implement in the Dark Engine (Thief Series and SystemShock 2). If I were to be so bold to request it, a practical demo that showcases an NPC walking around the hallways could go a long way to demonstrating the more powerful aspects of this tool. You wouldn't necessarily need a full animated character mind you, just the sound circumnavigating your current demo level.

    One thing that wasn't as apparent was the occlusion. I wasn't able to discern if the sound was indeed being occluded when doors opened/closed.

    But yea otherwise good stuff man!

    -Steven
     
  5. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    You have sharp ears! I definitely debated a lot about how much sound to add to those demos. I wanted it to be really rich and interesting, but you're right that more subtle effects get lost. I think a walking footsteps demo would be a perfect way to demonstrate propagation. I'll make that the next Audio demo that I do and will post here when it's up.

    Regarding the occlusion, it is affected by doors as long as raycast and/or graph based occlusion is enabled. The sound is definitely less obvious because of how much is going on in the mix. For performance, I also don't compute occlusion every frame for every sound, which means that there can be a slight delay before the occlusion kicks in or turns off. This delay is tunable, but for the demos I didn't want to "cheat" by setting it to zero. Maybe an occlusion specific demo would be good, too.
     
  6. Thomas-Pasieka

    Thomas-Pasieka

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    I would totally like to test this with the Oculus Rift and a good set of headphones/earbuds. Will have to try this soon.
     
  7. SteveB

    SteveB

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    @Thomas (and OffTopic) - I really wish I had more reasons to pull out my Oculus, gah!! (I've burned through any demo worth playing and believe or not nothing has come close the sense-of-place the Tuscany demo gave me). That said (OnTopic) I concur!!

    @Mr.MakeCodeNOW!!! :D - I think I may actually have wax in my right ear I need to go clean out, but thank you! Hehe...

    ...honestly yes, it'd serve you well to show each important feature, full fidelity in it's own demo. More work for you but you know potential customers are going to cherry pick what they want or expect to utilize, so in the end you're doing yourself a favor. Just right now, the NodeCanvas feller updated his asset and showcased a couple of new features that gave me the 'Ah-Ha!' I needed to fully appreciate what he was creating. More demo's and info work! (plus it encourages people to your enthusiasm and support of your own asset).

    I'm looking forward to your next demo's then! It's a date!!

    -Steven
     
  8. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    Oh, man. SECTR Audio HDR mixing and audio propagation would be *killer* with Occlulus! Good idea!! Now I have to go steal one from a friend... ;)
     
  9. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    Great advice. Thanks for taking the time to talk SECTR Audio! If there are other demos or general audio features you're interested in seeing, please post them here. I'm in the process of building my task-list for the next release of SECTR.
     
  10. Parallaxe

    Parallaxe

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    Hi MakeCodeNow

    I really like SECTR Audio for its simplicity. However, there's one thing I don't understand. It's the logic of "Min Distance" and "Max Distance". Let's have a SECTR Point Source as an example. The tooltip for "Max distance" says: "Cue will be a(t) max volume/loudness within this range". I read the tooltip as "Distance where you have Max volume/loudness".

    To my understanding, the Max Distance (Red in the following picture) would be the position in the proximity to the SECTR Point Source where the cue can be heard at max volume. And the Min Distance (Blue in the following picture) would be the farthest position compared to the SECTR Point Source from where the cue is only audible very faintly. If you step beyond that "Min Distance" the cue cannot be heard anymore. Like that:


    However, it seems to work the other way round: I have tried to put "MAX" 5 units away from the SECTR Point Source and "MIN" 10 units away. My assumption was that as I approach the SECTR point source from a far distance, as soon as I reach "MIN" (10 units away) I begin to faintly hear the cue. As I walk closer to SECTR Point Source the cue gets louder and louder. As soon as I reach "MAX" (5 units away) the cue has reached it's maximum volume. I can still step closer to the SECTR Point Source (until I'm exactly at that spot) but this won't affect the volume any further, since it has already reached its maximum volume.

    But this didn't work. SECTR showed a warning saying that the value for "Min" was bigger than the one for "Max". I tried to switch the semantics of Max and Min but then the tooltip for Max doesn't make sense. Because if the semantics of "Max" was "max distance where you still can hear the cue", the tooltip says exactly the opposite.

    Now I'm confused (-;

    I just use Min and Max the other way round and then it works. I don't have a functional issue. But it still confuses me. Could you shed some light on the semantics of Min and Max?
     
  11. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    Hi, Parallaxe. I am *so* sorry for the confusion. Your understanding is perfectly accurate. In this case, the error is in my tooltips for MinDistance and MaxDistance. They are swapped, which kind of defeats the point of tooltips :( I also agree that Min and Max are not the best names in this case, Inner and Outer radius would be better, but I wanted to keep my names consitent with the names in Unity AudioSource (and FMOD), as I assumed most people were familiar with them already.

    Anyway, I'm going to fix the tooltips in my next point release, and re-write both of them to be just clearer overall. In the mean time, you can just swap the SECTR_ToolTip lines for Min and Max Distance in SECTR_AudioCue.cs.

    Also, I'm glad to hear that you like the simplicity of SECTR Audio. I tried really hard to make things as simple and easy to understand as possible, yet have a feature set that allows folks to make really amazing audio. If you have additional suggestions or feature requests, please post them here or email support@makecodenow.com.
     
  12. SmashedAvocado

    SmashedAvocado

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    I'm really excited about finally having 3D audio in Unity! This package sounds incredible. I think I might have to pickup the SECTR COMPLETE package soon.

    While the demos sound good I think, as others have mentioned, that they might not be showing off the potential. I think it would be better to have a demo with sound emitting objects moving around, as it's hard to get a feel for the positional audio when it's room based with multiple sounds playing at once. It's also hard to tell what's emitting sounds when everything is cubes!

    Anyway, keep up the awesome work. I'm looking forward to giving this a go.
     
  13. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    Yeah, a few other people have made that same observation. I'm going to do a simple, dedicated implementation of propagation and of occlusion so that people can hear them without distraction. I'll post here when they are online and will include them in the next point release.
     
  14. Oliver-Eberlei

    Oliver-Eberlei

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    Hi MakeCodeNow,

    I see in your quickstart video that you are using the Unity AudioListener component, but you are not using the default AudioSources. Are those just hidden away, or are the different sources you have your own? If so, would it be possible to have multiple AudioListeners? Unity does not allow this, but since it looks like you have your own sources, I am hoping that this is possible.

    I am working on a splitscreen local multiplayer game and therefore would need up to 4 AudioListeners in a scene to accommodate all 4 players.

    Anyways, great tool so far. Keep it up :)
     
    andreiagmu likes this.
  15. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    Hi, Oliver. Thanks for the compliments :)

    I do use a pool of Unity's Audio Source components under the hood. They are just hidden away. In the case of HDR sounds, I neuter them and do a lot of work myself, but not enough to support multiple audio listeners. I still rely on the standard Unity/FMOD integration for core mixing and spatialization.

    At the start of SECTR AUDIO I very seriously considered using some Mono sauce to bypass Unity and talk to FMOD directly (I did a ton of FMOD programming on the Buddha engine at Double Fine). Unfortunately, those Mono tricks would have just been too fragile for my customers and too much of a support headache for me. I decided it would be better for everyone if I took a more standard approach, but I'm sorry to say that still doesn't give you any good solutions for split screen multiplayer.

    I'll try to think about some clever solutions for you in split screen, but I don't have any great ideas right now. FMOD does support multiple listeners, but TBH it's a pretty cacophonous mess when you have multiple players coming out of the same speakers. It's almost fine just to play all the sounds in 2D, maybe with a bit of attenuation :p
     
    andreiagmu likes this.
  16. Oliver-Eberlei

    Oliver-Eberlei

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    Thank you for you answer.

    The 2D approach probably is best. I tried a solution before that duplicated each audio source 4 times and did some inverse transforms to calculate all the audio source positions to a single AudioListener (all 4 cameras had virtual listeners attached to be able to know the spatial relation between audio source and virtual listener). But yeah you're right. If the characters are near to each other the audio always stacks in weird ways. Also, every AudioSource automatically meant 4 AudioSources... the limit was reached quite quickly that way.

    I'm sure it'll be enough if I just calculate the closest camera and play the sound once for this camera. It's a fast pace game anyways so the players probably won't even notice.

    Thanks for the pointer. (I havn't actually though of that before... *duh* ;) ).
     
    andreiagmu likes this.
  17. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    Hey, no problem. It's often the simplest solution that works. If you buy (or have already bought) SECTR Audio, it has complete source and it would be pretty straightforward for you to modify the audio system logic to do something like what you want. That's why I include full source!
     
  18. Oliver-Eberlei

    Oliver-Eberlei

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    Awesome!
     
  19. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    FYI that there is a GUI bug in a Sector creation helper dialog. This will be fixed in 1.0.1 but you can fix it yourself replacing Line 48 of SECTR_CoreMenu.cs with this:

    Code (csharp):
    1. if(sharedChildren.Count > 0  EditorUtility.DisplayDialog("Overlap Warning", "Some object in this Sector overlap other Sectors, which may cause unexpected behavior. Would you like to make them Members instead of children?", "Yes", "No"))
     
  20. Parallaxe

    Parallaxe

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    I ran into an issue with SECTR Audio and UFPS:
    • I have a newly created scene with only a plane and a main camera.
    • There's nothing else in the scene.
    • UFPS is only imported but NOT used in the scene.
    • The main camera has SECTR_Audio_System attached.
    • A Master Bus is present as well (referenced in SECTR_Audio_System, field "Master Bus").
    • There is no audio source in the scene
    When I play the scene, the SECTR Audio window "Collecting audio assets" briefly pops up and then Unity freezes completely. Only option left is killing the Unity process via task manager.

    After restart of Unity: When I delete the complete UFPS folder in "Assets", the scene plays correctly without freezing Unity.

    When I import UFPS again (and again, I am NOT using UFPS in the scene, it just sits in the Assets folder), Unity freezes again as soon as I try to play the scene. This again happens after the SECTR Audio window "Collecting audio assets" briefly popped up.

    There seems to be an issue if SECTR Audio and UFPS are both imported. I'm using Win7 64bit and Unity 4.3.4.f1.
     
  21. Hikiko66

    Hikiko66

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    Yeah, that happens if you don't close the audio window before pressing play.
    I am using UFPS in the scene.
     
  22. Parallaxe

    Parallaxe

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    You're a genius! Thank you so much, NA-RA-KU, this workaround actually helped (-:
     
  23. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    Glad you have a workaround! I also have a fix/workaround coming in 1.0.1.

    The root problem is that SECTR AUDIO needs to scan your project for audio files when the Audio Window is open. As part of that scan, it searches for AudioCue and AudioBus assets, which use the generic .asset extension. In Unity, many different kinds of data all share the same extension (.asset) and the only way I can tell what kind of data is in an asset is to try to load it. Unfortunately, there are some assets in some versions of Unity that appear to hang the editor when you try to load them this way, though I have no idea why.

    My solution to this in 1.0.1 is to allow you to pick an audio root folder. Once you set this, SECTR will only scan that folder and its children. This makes that scanning faster, but it also allows you to fix this problem by making sure there are no problem assets in this folder. I also improved the scanning progress bar to tell you which asset it's loading, which will show you what asset is causing the lockup.

    I'm just putting the finishing touches on 1.0.1 and will submit this weekend. If anyone wants to get 1.0.1 sooner, just send a copy of your invoice to support@makecodenow.com and I'll get you a download link.
     
  24. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    FYI that SECTR 1.0.2 is now live in the Unity asset store.

    SECTR 1.0.2 Release Notes
    CORE
    * Documentation updates and fixes.
    * Fixed bug in Portal bounds computation.
    * Significantly optimized Sector and Member update.
    * Improved Sector creation logic in complex scenes.


    AUDIO
    * Optimized audio window asset search. Especially useful for large projects.
    * Hardened instance API against accidental reuse.
    * Pitch and Volume scalars for all audio sources and audio environments.
    * Removed accidental dependencies on demo components.
     
  25. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    SECTR 1.0.3 is now live in the asset store. For folks interested in using SECTR for open world games, definitely check out the Beta Terrain GUI. It will auto create sectors and portals for your terrain, even split the terrain into multiple chunks for you. The GUI tool is in CORE, and STREAM is now aware of how to handle connected terrains. There's also a new Region Loader for easily streaming a volume around the player.

    SECTR 1.0.3 Release Notes

    CORE
    * Beta Terrain Sectorization GUI. Ideal for setting up terrain-based open worlds.
    * Additional optimizations in Member update.
    * New Optimization chapter in CORE manual.


    AUDIO
    * Fixed a bug with max instances not properly limiting playback.
    * Fixed leaking pool objects when reloading in editor.
    * Fixed bug in application of fade out to HDR sources.
    * Fixed Propagation Source attenuation beyond max range.
    * Beta Audio System HUD.


    VIS
    * Fix for visibility traversal terminating early in complex scenes.
    * Fixed bug with directional shadow caster bounds projection.
    * Minor optimizations to portal and occluder early out logic.


    STREAM
    * Chunk properly handles unloads during loads and vice versa.
    * Fixed duplication of extra components on Sector during export.
    * Beta of new Region Loader. Ideal for open world streaming.
    * Beta support for terrain grid streaming and stitching.
    * Minor optimizations to Loader update logic.
     
  26. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    FYI that SECTR 1.0.4 is out. Major improvements are Beta support for Play Maker, multi-select in the Audio Window, more Open World/Terrain improvements, and various bug fixes.

    SECTR 1.0.4 Release Notes
    CORE
    * Beta PlayMaker Support.
    * Fix a Unity warning when a Portal is created through the drawing interface.
    * Beta Terrain GUI groups new objects when splitting terrain into pieces.
    * Beta Terrain GUI can include static and/or dynamic objects during sectorization.

    AUDIO
    * Beta PlayMaker Support.
    * Multi-select support in Audio Window.
    * Arrow navigation in Audio Window.
    * Press space to audition cue or clip, Esc to stop.
    * UI fixups in Bus and Cue inspectors.
    * Fix subtle bug with distance attenuation sometimes being too large.
    * Fix bug that could cause occluded sounds to not become un-occluded.
    * Optimizations for redundant pitch and volume changes.
     
  27. lazygunn

    lazygunn

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    This looks good!

    (Slight off topic) I'm assuming you tried hl2 or dear esther? nothing beat those two for sense of place
     
  28. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    SECTR 1.0.5 is out and fixes two critical issues, one of which is a workaround for a Unity bug that can cause save game corruption. Everyone should get this fix ASAP.

    SECTR 1.0.5 Release notes

    CORE
    * Workaround for critical serialization bug that could cause scene file corruption when creating portals in projects with mixed/binary serialization.
     
  29. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    SECTR 1.0.6 is now available on the Asset Store. Includes UI and open world related improvements.

    SECTR 1.0.6 Release Notes

    CORE
    * Fix some issues with multi-selection and custom inspectors.
    * Properly orient portals created by Terrain window.

    AUDIO
    * New keyboard shortcuts (Enter to rename, Ctrl/Cmd D to duplicate, Del/Bksp to delete).
    * Ensure horizontal scroll bars don’t appear unless absolutely necessary in Audio window property panel.
     
  30. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    I'm happy to announce that SECTR COMPLETE is part of the May Madness sale for 50% off on the Unity Asset Store! We've reduced the price of the individual SECTR modules (AUDIO, STREAM, VIS) to match.

    There's also a new version of SECTR to celebrate this sale. 1.0.7 is likely to be the last update before 1.1.0, which will be the same code but with additional demos showing off the new features that have come online since 1.0.0.

    SECTR 1.0.7 Release Notes
    CORE
    * Added optional PortalDetermined mode to Member. When set to true, Sector membership will only change when the object passes through a Portal (instead of whenever it enters a Sector Bounds). Ideal for games with very complex/concave scenes.

    AUDIO
    * Propagation Source now supports all types of occlusion.
    * Added Occlusion Scale to AudioCue, which allows different Cues to respond differently to occlusion.
     
  31. Drum

    Drum

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    Hi, I installed SECTR audio and got as far as adding a few sounds to my scene, then, after one of Unity's frequent crashes, the SECTR entry from both the Window menu and the component menu have disappeared. I tried reimporting, but it made no difference.

    Any help?
     
  32. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    Very strange. Do you see any errors in the console? I'd recommend you delete the SECTR folder and then reimport.
     
  33. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    SECTR 1.0.9 is out! Major improvements include better terrain sectorization improvements in the fidelity of Propagation Source.

    SECTR 1.0.9 Release Notes

    CORE
    * Terrain window supports automatic Sectorization of Terrain Composer created terrain grids.
    * Fix crash splitting terrains with trees in the Terrain window.
    * Sectors no longer include Particle Systems in their bounds computation as they are too dynamic to be reliable. Also fixes issues where sometimes Sector would expand to include the origin due to a particle returning an invalid Bounds.
    * Custom inspector class updated to more perfectly match behavior of default inspector, including support serializable, private, non-hide-in-inspector variables.
    * Updated documentation with more information about advanced bounds logic and the new portal determined membership mode.

    AUDIO
    * Fix bug in Trigger Source inspector that was applying but not saving properties.
    * Improved distance calculations in Propagation Source to sound more accurate in complex cases. Propagation distance is now the portal path distance, not the simple linear distance.
    * Propagation Source properly supports one-shot sounds.
    * Fix for some small pops in Propagation Source due to various edge cases when handing off sounds during major path changes.
     
  34. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    SECTR 1.0.10 is out. Mostly bugfixes and some new Terrain documentation.

    SECTR 1.0.10 Release Notes

    CORE
    * Added documentation about working with Terrain Window to CORE Manual.
    * Fix bug where missing null check in Member could cause crashes on some platforms (like iOS).
    * Fix bug where results from Portal’s viewport Sector selection/swap GUI would be erased in play mode when performed on a Portal in a Prefab when the user pressed Play.

    AUDIO
    * Fix bug where 2D sounds could disable reverb on 3D sounds if Audio Source pool entry was re-used.
    * Support multi-select of Audio Cue in Audio Window and Inspector.
    * Fix Cmd+Select in Audio Window on OSX.
     
  35. DrewMedina

    DrewMedina

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    Hello,
    Just setting up SECTR audio for the first time, getting that Unity freeze when I run the game with the Audio window.
    I'm up to date (1.01.0) Otherwise, its awesome! Thanks
     
  36. Viper50BMG

    Viper50BMG

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    Hello, sir!

    My name's John, and I've been tasked with stepping out of my comfort zone as a composer and sound designer and getting my feet wet with SECTR audio in a 3D, 3rd-person Unity game. I've not used Unity or SECTR before this project, so my apologies if I ask some questions that may seem blatantly simple. I've found SECTR fairly straightforward for SFX work, and am hoping to continue to use it on this project, as long as some of these issues can be overcome:

    Spline Sources: Increasing the size to give me more elements, only clones SECTR Spline Source Key 2 ad infinitum, and doesn't give you more controls for stretching and controlling spline sources. Bug, or have I missed something?

    Near 2D Blend: How do you enable it? (And, would it help in the following case?) I've some sounds that are very specific in their area of effect, but larger than the player camera; in this case, they're wind-tunnel like airstreams that blast past the player; invisible, save particle effects, and when the player is inside the airstream, they should sound like they're coming from "everywhere" around the player, but no matter the settings I set on falloff distance, they always have a perceptible center, even though they shouldn't. Suggestions? A friend of mine (not a SECTR user) talked about a Global setting for the audio, rather than localized, but I think what I need is something like a combination of the two.

    Random issue: Whenever I type in the SECTR Audio window, the frame of the window I'm typing in shrinks with every keystroke, only resetting when you re-open the SECTR Audio window. Not devastating, but occasionally frustrating, and weird.

    Odd question: When setting inner and outer radii on, say, a point source, is EVERYTHING inside the inner circle playing at the same volume regardless of where the camera/listener is inside that zone? Or does it gradually attenuate softer as the player moves to the edge of that zone?

    Unusual request: Would it be possible to incorporate cuboid (or even polygonal) sound zones for point sources/environmental zones in a future update? I have come across so many examples of situations where having that level of control would have allowed me to do things much more elegantly than the current solution.


    Anything you can do to help would be great! Thanks!
     
  37. PhobicGunner

    PhobicGunner

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    Hello
    I've experienced a bit of a strange issue in SECTR Audio
    It appears that for propogated sound sources, distance is not calculated correctly. Actually, logging distance to the console does appear to provide very odd results indeed... at a short distance away from the sound source it prints out large distances like 20 or 30 which appear to quickly increase - far more quickly than the camera is actually moving.
    For logarithmic sound sources, it has the effect of making the volume drop off VERY quickly, to almost nothing over just a few meters.
    I don't know if I'm doing something wrong, or if it's a bug.

    EDIT:
    So I managed to get better results by plugging in a different attenuation algorithm. It seems that a simple 1 / distance does not work well, and is certainly not what Unity seems to use.
    I borrowed one from YoYo Games, exponential I think, with a falloff of 1 and a reference distance of 100 (the distance at which the sound drops to half volume). Don't know if that's at all correct or close to what Unity uses, but it seems to work much better (doesn't drop off to almost nothing so fast).

    Code (csharp):
    1.  
    2. attenuation = Mathf.Clamp01( Mathf.Pow( Mathf.Max( activeSound.distance - minDistance - 1, 0.01f ) / 100f, -1f ) );
    3.  
     
    Last edited: Jun 16, 2014
  38. spectre1989

    spectre1989

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    I'm having a bit of an issue pausing audio when the game is paused. AudioListener.pause works but it affects everything, I need my UI sounds to still work. Is there any way to pause only selected buses?
     
  39. PhobicGunner

    PhobicGunner

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    1,813
    Actually, I think I just found a pretty big flaw in propagated sound sources - if I use Local3D or Occludable3D sources, Unity applies its own distance attenuation, and then SECTR applies its distance attenuation on top of that. This is what's causing the super sharp drop off in audio volume.
    It works if I use Infinite3D sources, but then it isn't affected by reverb zones at all.
     
  40. spectre1989

    spectre1989

    Joined:
    Oct 6, 2009
    Posts:
    125
    Looks like there's a bug in pausing looping sounds. They keep resuming shortly after pausing their buses. I had to change line 543 of SECTR_AudioSystem.cs from:

    if(Loops)

    to:

    if(Loops && !Paused)
     
  41. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2014
    Posts:
    1,246
    Hi, John. Sorry for missing your post here but you and I got things sorted out over email.
     
  42. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

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    Feb 14, 2014
    Posts:
    1,246
    Hey, thanks for the thoughts. I'll check into my propagation attenuation calcs again. Maybe something got busted there. The current behavior is based on what I understood Unity/FMOD to use with some checking in a graphing calculator. I'll dig in again. I don't think I can use yours b/c of the magic number 100, but I'll make sure this at least matches Unity's log eq.

    PS - sorry for the slow replies. My son was born two weeks ago :)
     
  43. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2014
    Posts:
    1,246
    Good catch, thanks. I'll patch that into the next version.
     
  44. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2014
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    This bug is due to an overclever refactor on my part a few versions ago. Try changing the implementation of ForceInfinite in SECTR_AudioSystem.cs to the following:

    Code (csharp):
    1.  
    2. public void ForceInfinite()
    3. {
    4.     _SetFlag(Flags.ForcedInfinite, true);
    5.     _SetFlag(Flags.Local, true);
    6.     _SetFlag(Flags.ThreeD, true);
    7.     occlusionAlpha = 1;
    8.     if(source)
    9.     {
    10.         source.rolloffMode = AudioRolloffMode.Linear;
    11.         source.maxDistance = 1000000;
    12.         source.minDistance = source.maxDistance - EPSILON;
    13.         source.dopplerLevel = 0f;
    14.     }
    15.     Update(0f, true);
    16. }
    17.  
     
  45. voncarp

    voncarp

    Joined:
    Jan 3, 2012
    Posts:
    187
    Is there a way to open Sectr AUDIO without it doing a sound search. As the project grows the wait time gets longer and longer as it searches through all the files. And sometimes if you tab off Sectr Audio and tab back into it starts the search over again. This tends to get tedious.
     
  46. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2014
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    You can't eliminate it but you can make it faster. Have you set an Audio Root yet? If so, that will limit searches to just subfolders of that folder, which is much faster than searching the whole project. Also, if you have Unity 4.5 I've implemented a much faster (nearly instantaneous) search using an API that's new to 4.5. This will be updated in the asset store in a few days, but if you have 4.5 and want that version early, I can send you a patch if you email support@makecodenow.com.
     
  47. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2014
    Posts:
    1,246
    SECTR 1.0.11 is out, including fixes for all the major issues reported here, including the double-attenuation in propagation source, pausing issues, etc. Also includes a much faster Audio Window search in Unity 4.5 and some other nice UI fixes.

    SECTR 1.0.11 Release Notes
    CORE
    * Sectors created by the Terrain window are now parented above the Terrain rather than being added to the same object. Fixes issues with certain 3rd party scripts expecting to be on the same object as the terrain.
    * Fixed seams appearing between terrains when using the split feature of the Terrain Window.
    * Guard against null lights in the baked only lights table.
    * Fixed PlayMaker integration compile issues in Unity 4.5.

    AUDIO
    * Fix accidental double-attenuation when playing non-HDR sounds from Propagation Source.
    * Fix looping sounds would un-pausing prematurely.
    * Optimized Audio Window asset search for Unity 4.5 and above by using new Asset Database Find API.
    * Fixed typing in Audio Window search boxes causing incremental shifting of splitters.
    * Fix drag-and-drop of Audio Clip into Hierarchy window.
    * Fixed PlayMaker integration compile issues in Unity 4.5.
     
  48. Audioboy

    Audioboy

    Joined:
    Mar 16, 2013
    Posts:
    8
    I've been through a few different audio tools for Unity these past couple of days and this is by far the best one for me. Loving the spline tool and the ambience zones particularly. What I'm stuck on at the moment is how to use the Character Audio component. I'm not sure what the surface material is for? The footsteps cue, is that for a loop or for another cue containing random footstep sounds? I can't seem to find any documentation on it online apart from the API reference.

    Don't suppose there's a hidden tutorial anywhere on how to use this component and get it up and running in a scene?

    Thanks in advance.

    Oh and congratulations on your new born! :)
     
  49. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2014
    Posts:
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    Really glad to hear you like SECTR AUDIO and the spatial audio tools. I'm a big fan of spline source, personally, as it's cool to make things like roads and streams with just one emitter.

    There's no tutorial on Character Audio, but I use it in the demo scenes. It's just a way to play surface-dependent sounds for common character events like footsteps, jumping, etc. It's not meant as the ultimate way to do character audio, but an example of how to do surface dependent sounds in SECTR AUDIO.
     
  50. MakeCodeNow

    MakeCodeNow

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2014
    Posts:
    1,246
    SECTR COMPLETE is on sale now for 50% off as part of the UAS August Madness sale. Also, SECTR 1.1.0 is out, just in time for the sale.

    SECTR 1.1.0 Release Notes
    CORE
    * Added new Quick Start panel including live information on news, sales, and updates as well as quick links to useful videos, docs, and support.
    * Make sure to never double-add Sectors for Portal Determined Members.
    * Removed legacy Unity 3.5 code, added initial compatibility code for Unity 5.

    AUDIO
    * Support Infinite 3D Cues in the Audio Environment Background Loop.
    * Support Infinite 3D Cues played from Audio Sources.