Add some sound to the scene to bring it alive.

Guided Walkthrough Video

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

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 (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

Open

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

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

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

• 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:

• 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.

Open

• Save the Script

• Re-name the frame with the music Background Sound

Before you test you need to launch this "Ambience" script from the Director Script:

• 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

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

• STOP: Save 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:

• Save

• STOP: Save and Test. The sound should be quieter now.

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

• Go to the Background Sound frame

• Under Anchor choose the Speaker object

• Save

• STOP: Save 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.

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. 

The music files used in the tutorial are from Bensound: https://www.bensound.com/ . They are free to use for non-commercial purposes when attribution is given. If you would like to use any of the music in a commercial setting, you can license the music on the above website. 

In the Headset

This is what your scenario will look like so far:

Next Up: Workshop Tutorial 3 - Add a Video to the Scene