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Positioning Tab

The Positioning tab allows you to define how sounds will propagate in your game. The propagation of a sound will depend on its type of positioning. In Wwise, your sounds can use either 2D or 3D positioning. The main difference between the two types of positioning is the way in which the source channels are mapped to the output speakers. By default, the source channels of a 2D sound are linked together and are played through the front left and right speakers regardless of the position or orientation of the listener or game object. You can, however, use the 2D Panner to balance the volume of each channel so the sound can be heard through different speakers.

For 3D sounds, each input channel can be output to any speaker in a surround environment making it easy to simulate movement of the sound in relation to the listener. With 3D sounds, you can either pre-define the spatialization yourself in Wwise or use the actual position of the game object in game. You can also apply distance attenuation to 3D sounds and then share these settings across many different objects within Wwise using an Attenuation ShareSet.

Positioning for less sophisticated devices, such as game controllers, is not an issue because the motors within these devices cannot simulate a 3D environment. You can, however, use attenuation to reduce the intensity of the motion signal as it moves away from the game player.

General

Interface Element

Description

Inclusion

Determines whether the element is included or excluded. When selected, the element is included. When unselected, the element is not included. By default, this applies across all platforms. Use the Link indicator (to the left of the check box) to determine or to set platform-specific customizations.

When this option is unselected, the property and behavior options in the Property Editor become unavailable.

Name

The name of the object.

Notes

Any additional information about the object properties.

Controls the Mute and Solo states for the object and shows the implicit mute and solo states for the object.

Muting an object silences this object for the current monitoring session. Soloing an object silences all the other objects in the project except this one.

A bold M or S indicates that the Mute or Solo state has been explicitly set for the object. A non-bold M or S with faded color indicates that the object's Mute or Solo state was implicitly set from another object's state.

Muting an object implicitly mutes the descendant objects.

Soloing an object implicitly mutes the sibling objects and implicitly solos the descendant and ancestor objects.

[Tip] Tip

Hold the Ctrl key while clicking a solo button to exclusively solo the object for which the solo button is associated.

[Note] Note

Mute and Solo are designed to be used for monitoring purposes only and are not persisted in the project or stored in the SoundBanks.

Positioning

Interface Element

Description

Override parent

Determines whether the positioning and attenuation settings will be inherited from the parent or defined at the current level in the hierarchy. When this option is not selected, the positioning controls are unavailable.

If the object is a top-level object, this option is unavailable.

Center %

The amount or percentage of volume that is passed through the center speaker for sound objects.

  • For 2D positioning without panning applied, the Center % value applies only for mono sources output to a bus with a center channel.
  • For 2D positioning, the Center % value applies only for output with a center channel (such as mono, 3.0, 5.1, and 7.1).
  • For 3D positioning, the Center % value also applies only for output with a center channel; but, moreover, it needs to be set in order to have a signal sent to the center channel.

Default Value: 0
Range: 0 to 100
Units: Percent

[Tip] Tip

For more information on using the Center %, refer to Routing Audio Signals to the Center Speaker.

 

2D/3D combo box

Specifies that the positioning of the object is 2D or 3D. An RTPC can be set to switch between both at runtime.

By default, 2D objects are only played through the front left/right speakers for sound objects without any propagation behaviors. The position and orientation of the listener in game are also ignored.

3D objects are played through all speakers in a surround environment. The speakers through which the object is played is based on the actual position of the point source in relation to the listener. The positioning for 3D objects can be one of either User-defined or Game-defined.

Distance-based attenuation can also be applied to 3D sound and motion objects.

Enable Panner

Allows you to balance the volume or intensity of each channel so that a sound can be heard through any of the speakers in a 2.0 to 7.1 Audio Bus.

The 2D Panner works independently of the number of channels within the source.

[Note] Note

The 2D Panner has no effect on an ambisonics output.

Opens the 2D Panner.

 

Attenuation

(Selector)

The list of attenuation instances that can be applied to the object.

To remove an attenuation instance, select the None option.

Opens the Attenuation Editor where you can define the distance-based attenuation settings for the selected attenuation instance.

If you use a ShareSet, any changes you make to the attenuation settings will be applied to all objects using this ShareSet.

Mode

Determines whether the attenuation instance is a unique instance or shared across several objects within your project. The mode can be either:

Define custom - To create a unique attenuation instance whose properties will not be shared between objects.

Use ShareSet - To use a ShareSet of an attenuation, which means that attenuation properties can be shared between objects.

Displays the selected ShareSet in the ShareSets tab of the Project Explorer.

Position Source

User-defined

Specifies that the object's spatial positioning is defined by creating a path in Wwise. You can define a set of fixed propagation behaviors that will ignore the position and orientation of the game object. With user-defined positioning, you also have the option of following or ignoring the orientation of the listener.

User-defined spatialization is useful for game interfaces, menus, non-localized ambiences, and voices.

Displays the Position Editor where you can create animation paths that define the spatial positioning of the sound object.

The Edit button is only available when the User-defined option is selected.

Follow Listener Orientation

Determines whether the position of the animation path is locked to the orientation of the listener.

When selected, the path moves with the listener. This means that the sound will always be heard through the same speakers regardless of the orientation of the listener. When this option is not selected, the listener moves independently of the path. This means that the sound will be heard through different speakers as the listener turns around.

For example, let's say you are using User-defined positioning to create non-localized bird sounds in your game. You have a one-point path that is located in the front-right quadrant. As the listener turns around in game, the following will occur:

  • Follow Listener Orientation (ON) - The bird sound will always be heard through the front right speaker.

  • Follow Listener Orientation (OFF) - The bird sound will pass through different speakers.

This option can be useful for creating non-localized ambient sounds.

This option can only be tested in game because the listener concept has not been integrated into the Wwise authoring application.

Game-defined

Specifies that the object's spatial positioning is defined by live game position data.

When Game-defined is selected, the propagation properties defined in Wwise are directly related to the position and orientation of the listener and game object in game.

Update at each frame

Determines how often positioning information is updated. If selected, the object's position is updated at every game frame. If unselected, the object's position is determined when it is first played and then not updated after that.

Enable Spatialization

Specifies whether the positioning of the source is calculated to simulate movement within a 3D space. When selected, movement of the source is reflected by a sound being heard through specific speakers within the surround environment.

When unselected, the source is played according to its original channel configuration regardless of any movement.


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