Audio Tracing

Hardware-accelerated Real-Time Ray Traced Audio Plugin. 🎧

Audio Tracing is a plugin that integrates real-time Ray Tracing technology into Unreal Engine's Sound system with the goal of achieving more realistic sound propagation simulation. It calculates complex acoustic properties—such as the position, direction, and reflections of sound sources within a real-time, changing game environment—and applies them to the listener, providing a realistic and spatial sound experience.

This approach makes it possible to implement realistic sound variations based solely on the world's geometry, without the need to set up separate audio occlusion volumes or complex Blueprint logic.

You can apply Audio Tracing to existing sounds with only minimal modifications, as it is compatible with Unreal Engine's Sound Asset system, including SoundCues and MetaSounds.

Additionally, the Sound Material feature allows for detailed adjustment of the acoustic properties of each surface. You can specifically define the acoustic response of each surface by individually setting scattering coefficients, reflectivity, and absorption coefficients for materials such as wood, glass, and concrete.

Demo: https://youtu.be/k8iX0vLIHMw

Documentation: https://teampinpoint.gitbook.io/teampinpoint-docs/

Sample Project: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fPAsRaZRSeVqBIUiPTxhc7L9GEDFHkgM/view?usp=sharing

⚠️ Notice

The assets included in this Sample Project are provided for demonstration purposes only.

They must not be reused, redistributed, or included in other projects (commercial or non-commercial) without proper authorization.

Supported Unreal Engine Versions:

• 5.6

• 5.7 (5.7.2 or later only)

Note: Please be aware that 5.7.0 and 5.7.1 are not supported.

Contact:

• Email: [email protected]

• Discord: https://discord.gg/uD38UEph7K

Best Practices for Optimal Audio Accuracy

• For the most accurate and stable audio transmission, we recommend ensuring a clear spatial relationship between sound-affecting surfaces.

  A slight, intentional overlap or a small gap helps our ray tracer to resolve surface ambiguity perfectly, preventing potential inconsistencies and guaranteeing physically correct results in all situations.

• Please note that the player character mesh can be affected by ray tracing.

  To exclude the mesh from ray tracing, uncheck Visible in Ray Tracing option in the Details panel > Rendering category.

  You can verify this by checking if the mesh appears on the Sound Material Debug view.

  This can be enabled with the following console command:

  • To enable: AudioTracing.HardwareRayTracing.DebugSoundMaterial 1

  • To disable: AudioTracing.HardwareRayTracing.DebugSoundMaterial 0

Recommended Specifications

• A DirectX 12 compatible graphics card with support for ray tracing is required.

• Specifications used for development:

  • CPU: Intel i7-14700

  • GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060

  • Memory: 32GB

  • Graphics RAM: 8GB

Available Console Variables

• AudioTracing.SoundSpeed

• AudioTracing.HeadWidth

• AudioTracing.ShowDebugVirtualAudio

• AudioTracing.MinUpdateInterval

• AudioTracing.HardwareRayTracing

• AudioTracing.HardwareRayTracing.MaxReflectionDepth

• AudioTracing.HardwareRayTracing.MaxTraceTime

• AudioTracing.HardwareRayTracing.MaxActiveSoundSources

• AudioTracing.HardwareRayTracing.RayTracingNormalBias

• AudioTracing.HardwareRayTracing.DebugSoundMaterial

Known Issue

• If sound does not propagate correctly in enclosed spaces, make sure that the mesh supports Ray Tracing. Audio Tracing relies on the same geometry used for GPU Ray Tracing, so if the mesh does not support it, Audio Tracing will not function properly.

• Audio Tracing provides a default Attenuation Asset. Since Audio Tracing builds upon Unreal Engine's native Attenuation system to perform post-processing on audio, any custom attenuation effects set by the user will take precedence and be applied before Audio Tracing processing.

Required Modules

• Metasound

• Synthesis

Disclaimer

This product was independently developed by me(us) while participating in the Epic Project, a developer-support program of the KRAFTON JUNGLE GameTech Lab. All rights, title, and interest in and to the product are exclusively vested in me(us). Krafton, Inc. was not involved in its development and distribution and disclaims all representations and warranties, express or implied, and assumes no responsibility or liability for any consequences arising from the use of this product.