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Lesson 3

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Understanding Virtual Voice

By default, any active voice is processed by the same sequence of steps, but some sounds might not be audible simply due to a far distance, an irregular combination of randomized values or being masked by tons of other sounds. In any case, if a voice is not audible, it’s a waste using resources on it. To minimize the resources used on an inaudible voice, a voice can be sent to ‘virtual’. When a voice is active, it’s referred to as a physical voice, wherein Wwise:

  1. Decodes the audio file.

  2. Resamples the sound (if used, applies Pitch Shift).

  3. Applies Effects and filters.

  4. Performs volume computation.

When a physical voice becomes virtual, Wwise ignores all steps except the 4th, volume computation. The volume computation step is required for Wwise to know when it’s loud enough to again become physical. Because only volume computation (4th step) is processed, we’re saving resources that would be used for the other steps.

Let’s return to the Profiler and monitor which sounds are virtual or not.

  1. Make sure you are in the Profiler Layout (or press F6) and go to the Voices tab of the Advanced Profiler.

  2. As needed, drag the bottom slider to the right, until you see the Virtual column.

    The Virtual column describes whether the sound is currently Virtual or not, indicated by a simple check mark (√). A virtual voice will also be grayed out in the Voices Graph view.

  3. From the Wwise Layouts menu, select Voice Profiler (or press F11).

    The Voice Profiler's Voice Inspector and Voice Monitor allows you to easily investigate a single voice and it's modifications. Using the Voice Monitor you determine a specific point in time to inspect. However, currently there's quite a lot of overlapping voices displayed, so let's select the Ambient_Fire_Campfire audio object in the Voice Monitor's Object Filter, which is also used as the voice on the blacksmith's furnace.

  4. In the Voice Monitor's Text Filter write 'ambient fire campfire'.

  5. In the Voice Monitor, drag the time cursor backward until you see Ambient_Fire_Campfire in the left section (Game Objects and Voices list) of the Voice Inspector, alongside all other active game objects and voices.

    [Note]

    If you do not see a Ambient_Fire_Campfire voice in the Voice Inspector's left section (Game Objects and Voices list), make sure to expand any Fire game objects.

  6. In the Voice Inspector's Game Object's and Voices list, select the Ambient_Fire_Campfire voice.

    Notice that the Voice Graph and Contribution List are now displaying the detailed information pertaining to the selected voice.

  7. In the Voice Monitor, drag the time cursor even further back, until you see a virtual marker on the Ambient_Fire_Campfire voice.

[Tip]

If you don’t see any virtual voices in the Voices Graph, make sure Virtual is selected in the View selector.

As you started on a long distance from the Ambient_Fire_Campfire voice, the voice was initially virtual, but as you approach the blacksmith's forge the voice became physical. By dragging the time cursor even further back, you will see that the volume is not changing as long as it's set to virtual, due to the three first steps (1. decoding the audio file, 2. resampling the sound and 3. applying effects and filters) being ignored.

[Note]

Notice that even the Voice Inspector's Game Object's and Voices List will display the voice in italic so that you can easily identify which voices are virtual and which are not.

In the Voice Graph view, notice the icon with three rectangles and a negative infinite value.

This icon indicates relative volume, which is computed no matter if the voice is virtual or physical. Negative infinity indicates that the voice is infinitely low.

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