Understanding the Visual Elements in Wwise

Wwise uses several icons or visual identifiers to help represent different elements in the interface. The following table describes each of the different visual elements used in Wwise.

Icon

Name

Represents

Virtual Folder

A folder that can be added throughout the Project Explorer to group project elements.

Master Mixer Icons

Audio Bus

A sound object grouping that allows you to work with different structures within a game. For example, you can group all the environmental sound structures under one Audio Bus and all the player sound structures under another.

Auxiliary Bus

A sub-grouping of sound objects anywhere in the project for adjusting volume, channel configuration, positioning, and RTPC, as well as applying Effects, States, or mixer plug-ins before routing back to a parent Audio Bus. Ducking, HDR, and voice mix adjustments are not possible in an Auxiliary Bus.

Motion Bus

A grouping of many different motion structures within a game. For example, you can group all the explosion structures under one Motion Bus, all the vehicle structures under another Motion Bus, and so on.

Actor-Mixer Icons

Audio source

A separate abstraction layer between the audio file and the object. It is linked to the audio file imported into your project and is where you define the Conversion Settings (for the active game platforms).

Source Plug-in

An audio source that is created by a source plug-in coming from outside of Wwise.

Motion FX

An object containing motion data.

Sound SFX

A sound object containing sound effects.

Sound Voice

A sound object containing voice-over or character dialogue.

Work Unit

A distinct XML file that allows you to divide up your project into separate segments so that different members of your team can work on different parts of the project concurrently. These XML files can be easily managed by your source control system.

Actor-Mixer

A hierarchical structure of one or more sounds, motion objects, containers, and/or Actor-Mixers. You can use an Actor-Mixer to apply properties to all objects below it.

Blend Container

A group of one or more objects and/or containers that are played back simultaneously. The sounds and containers within the Blend Container can be grouped into blend tracks where sound properties are mapped to Game Parameter values using RTPCs. Crossfades can also be applied between the objects within a blend track based on the value of a Game Parameter.

Random Container

A group of one or more objects and/or containers that are played back in a random order.

Sequence Container

A group of one or more objects and/or containers that are played back according to a specific order or playlist.

Switch Container

A group of objects and/or containers that are organized into a series of Switches or States, so that they can be played when the associated Switch or State is called by the game.

Interactive Music Icons

Music Track

A music object that contains arrangements of individual music clips that are displayed in waveform so that you can visually align them in a Music Segment.

Music Track - Random Step

A Music Track that plays back its sub-tracks in random order each time its parent Music Segment is played.

Music Track - Sequence Step

A Music Track that plays back its sub-tracks in sequential order each time its parent Music Segment is played.

Music Track - Switch

A type of Music Track that plays back its sub-tracks according to the associated Switches/States of the specified Switch/State Group.

Music Segment

A music object that contains Music Tracks that can be aligned using sync points for musical arrangements in interactive music.

Music Playlist Container

A group of one or more segments that are organized in a particular way so that they can be played back in a random order or according to a specific order.

Music Switch Container

A group of one or more Music Segments and containers that are organized into series of Switches or States, so they can be played when the associated Switch or State is called by the game.

Other Project Element Icons

Event

A method to trigger audio or motion in game using an action or series of actions, such as Play, Mute, and Pause, that have been applied to one or more Wwise objects.

Dialogue Event

A method to trigger audio, which may or may not be dialogue, or motion in game using a combination of State/Switch Groups and States/Switches arranged into paths that have been assigned to an object in the Wwise Actor-Mixer Hierarchy.

SoundBank

A group of Events, Wwise objects, and media that will be loaded into the game's platform memory at a particular point in a game.

Switch Group

A collection of related Switches that have been grouped together to help manage the different alternatives that exist for a given element within the game.

Switch

An alternative that exists for a particular element within the game.

State Group

A collection of related states that have been grouped together to help manage the global changes that occur in the game environment.

State

A global offset or adjustment to the game audio properties that represent changes in the physical and environmental conditions in the game.

Game Parameter (RTPC)

A parameter in your game, such as speed and RPMs in a car racing game, that can be mapped to Wwise property values using RTPCs.

Trigger

A particular action in game that leads to the playback of one short piece of music.

Effect ShareSet

Audio Effect settings that can be used to enhance the audio in your game. These settings have been saved as a ShareSet and can be shared between objects.

Attenuation ShareSet

Attenuation settings related to the volume of a sound based on its distance from the listener. These settings have been saved as a ShareSet and can be shared between objects.

Conversion Settings ShareSet

Conversion settings, which include sample rate, audio format, and number of channels, help to define the overall quality of your audio output. These settings have been saved as a ShareSet and can be applied and shared between objects.

Soundcaster Session

A group of sound, music, motion, and Event modules arranged in a particular order that have been saved along with Game Sync settings for the purposes of a simulation.

Mixing Session

A group of busses and/or objects, along with their corresponding properties, that have been saved within a type of mixing console for the purposes of fine-tuning the audio mix of your game.

Query

A specific set of search criteria used to find a particular object or project element.

Property Value Indicators

Link

The property value is linked to the values of other active game platforms.

Unlink

The property value is not linked to the values of the other active game platforms.

Partial Unlink

The property value for the current platform is linked to the other active platforms, but one or more corresponding values of other platforms are unlinked.

Link Mixed

Some of the selected objects have different link statuses. Some may be linked, while others are unlinked or partially unlinked.

RTPC Disabled

This property value is not tied to an in-game parameter value.

RTPC Enabled

An in-game parameter value is tied to this property value. This means, for example, that the speed of a car in-game can be tied directly to the pitch property in Wwise. As the speed of the car increases in-game, the pitch in Wwise will increase in real time.

RTPC Mixed

In-game parameter values are tied to property values for one or more, but not all, objects loaded in the Multi Editor. You will not see this indicator in the Property Editor or the Contents Editor.

Randomizer Enabled

A property value to which a Randomizer effect has been applied.

Randomizer Disabled

A property value to which no Randomizer effect has been applied.

Randomizer Mixed

A Randomizer effect applies to the property value of one or more, but not all, objects loaded in the Multi Editor. You will not see this indicator in the Property Editor or the Contents Editor.