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Add some sound to the scene to bring it alive.

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Table of Contents
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Guided Walkthrough Video

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View video full screen at Vimeo at this link.

One of the most important aspects of an impactful VR experience is well-used sound. In this tutorial, we will add some localized sound to the speaker in the workshop

To keep all the music organized in our scenario, we are going to create and use an "Ambience Script".

Step 1: Create an "Ambience" Script (1:04 in Video)

  • Click on the Script icon

  • Click on your script catalog

  • Click on Add New Script

  • Name the script Ambience

  • Click on the checkmark to save

  • Collapse the script catalog by using the > icon

  • Click on the Ambience script to open it on your screen:

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Step 2: Add Scene Objects (1:59 in Video)

If your learners will be interacting with objects in the scene, you need to add those objects to the script. In this script, we are going to be adding some music playing on a speaker, so we need to add the speaker object to the script.

As usual, we will ensure we are in the correct script by looking to see it is the active script

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(tab at top of screen).

  • Click the Catalog Icon

  • Open the Workshop Objects catalog.

  • Drag and Drop the Speaker into the first frame of the script

  • Use the > icon to collapse the menu

  • Rename the frame Scene Objects 

  • Click outside of the text box to save the changes

  • Save:

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Step 3: Add Background Sound (3:11 in Video)

  • Click + on the main frame to create a new frame at the top level:

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  • Open Media Catalog by clicking on the media icon on the far right:

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  • Click on Workshop Music (you can preview the audio files by clicking on the play button)

  • Drag and Drop one of the songs into the Resource area

  • Click > to collapse the music catalog:

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  • Select Loop to continue music throughout the scenario

  • Select the Ambient track. This means that this sound is the lowest priority if there are several sounds playing at once.

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  • Open the Director Script

  • Create a new top-level frame and name it Ambience

  • Drag and drop the Ambience script from the script catalog into the frame

  • Save

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Note that the welcome message and the ambient music will start at the same time  - when you launch the experience. 

  • STOPSave and Test. Play the scenario now. You will notice that the background sound is playing. It is too loud. We will adjust this in the next step.

Step 4: Adjust Volume of Background Sound (5:26 in Video)

In order to make the background sound quieter, use the "Volume" field on the audio resource in the frame. Volume is set from 0 to 1 with 0 being silent and 1 being maximum volume.

  • Open the Ambience script

  • Open the Background Sound frame

  • Adjust the volume until it seems right to you. In this tutorial we have set it to 0.1:

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Step 5: Add Music Coming from the Speaker (6:10 in Video)

We want the learner to hear the music coming directly from the speaker in the scene.

  • Open Ambience script

  • Create a new frame Speaker Music:

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  • Click on the Media Items icon

  • Click on Workshop Music

  • Choose a song

  • Drag and drop the music into the Resources area

  • Collapse the Media catalog by using the > icon

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In order to make it sound like the music is coming from the speaker, we give the sound an anchor.

  • In the Speaker Music frame, choose Speaker from the anchor dropdown on the resource

  • Loop the track so that it plays continuously

  • Choose the Ambient track so that it has the lowest priority of sounds

  • Save

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  • Go to the Background Sound frame

  • Under Anchor choose the Speaker object

  • Save

  • STOPSave and Test. You should now hear the ambient background noise and the sound coming from the speaker on the workshop floor.  You might also want to adjust the volume once you've tested it.

You will notice that you are now hearing two types of music.  Let's fix this.

  • In the Ambience script, click on the Background Sound frame

  • Change the Volume to 0

  • Save

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  • STOPSave and Test. You should now hear only the sound coming from the speaker on the workshop floor. 

While you are in the workshop you can move around the scene by clicking on the green arrows using the laser pointer. As you move around the workshop, notice that the volume changes based on your distance from the speaker. 

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This is what your scenario will look like so far:

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For full screen, view on Vimeo this link.

Training Notes

Key Takeaways from Tutorial 2

  • If learners will be interacting with objects in the scene, you need to add those objects to a script via the Catalog.

  • Always test audio files to ensure optimal sound levels. 

  • Any audio on Ambient Track will have the lowest priority if there are several sounds playing at once.

  • When you anchor sounds to an object the sound will change based on your location in the scene.

  • Within the VR scene, use the green arrows to move around.

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