Introduction to sound design for virtual reality games : a look into 3D sound, spatializer plugins and their implementation in Unity game engine
Nuora, Julius (2018)
Tampereen ammattikorkeakoulu
2018
All rights reserved
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201803213645
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201803213645
Tiivistelmä
Virtual reality applications have become a considerable field in recent years. With evolving technology, sound design has had to develop and adapt to new requirements as well. Compared to non-VR games, what is new and different when creating sound design for VR games? This thesis is targeted especially for a sound designer working on their first VR game project.
VR games are based on three-dimensionality and immersion and sound design should reflect that. In order to create believable 3D sound design we need to be able to spatialize sound sources three-dimensionally. We as humans are able to localize sounds with our ears receiving the sound and our brains interpreting the information. One of the objectives of this thesis was to understand how spatialization techniques are based on our ability to localize sound sources.
3D audio's characteristics also affect how audio material should be created and implemented in a game. Although there are no strict rules on how to create sound design for VR games, there are some guidelines and experiments about the subject. The objective of this thesis was to look into some general concepts, what they are based on and how the concepts have worked in some previous experiments.
As the practical part of this thesis three spatializer plugins were overviewed and implemented in Unity game engine. This included creating a demo scene in Unity, with which one was able to examine the plugins and their properties. In addition to testing and comparing the plugins, the objective was to create a scenario that anyone could try at home, including walk-through videos describing how to create the demo scene and how to implement the plugins in Unity.
Although the practical study was useful in learning and covering the implementation and comparing the differences between the plugins, it should be concluded that any demo scene is hardly able to reflect an actual, real-life game's sound design process.
VR games are based on three-dimensionality and immersion and sound design should reflect that. In order to create believable 3D sound design we need to be able to spatialize sound sources three-dimensionally. We as humans are able to localize sounds with our ears receiving the sound and our brains interpreting the information. One of the objectives of this thesis was to understand how spatialization techniques are based on our ability to localize sound sources.
3D audio's characteristics also affect how audio material should be created and implemented in a game. Although there are no strict rules on how to create sound design for VR games, there are some guidelines and experiments about the subject. The objective of this thesis was to look into some general concepts, what they are based on and how the concepts have worked in some previous experiments.
As the practical part of this thesis three spatializer plugins were overviewed and implemented in Unity game engine. This included creating a demo scene in Unity, with which one was able to examine the plugins and their properties. In addition to testing and comparing the plugins, the objective was to create a scenario that anyone could try at home, including walk-through videos describing how to create the demo scene and how to implement the plugins in Unity.
Although the practical study was useful in learning and covering the implementation and comparing the differences between the plugins, it should be concluded that any demo scene is hardly able to reflect an actual, real-life game's sound design process.