In March, Thomas Puha
(Director of Developer Relations at Umbra Software) and Jan Beneš (Audio
Programmer at Remedy) took to the stage at GDC to talk about Umbra's technology and how it has been used in the upcoming AAA game, Quantum Break.
The 30 minute talk was recently posted in its entirety online at the GDC Vault. Click HERE to watch it!
It is extremely nerdy. Extremely nerdy. If you like learning more about game technology, this is definitely something you would want to check out. It also includes a montage of gameplay with a new track by the game's composer, Petri Alanko, and a really funny and awesome demo of how sounds and voices change depending on the character's position.
About the talk:
Umbra's automatically created spatial database can be used to not only
perform occlusion culling but also to solve other problems such as 3D
path finding, shadow caster culling and audio propagation. In this talk,
Remedy's engineers will expand on how the Umbra middleware is used in
the upcoming Xbox One exclusive Quantum Break from Remedy Entertainment.
Quantum Break presents a major challenge for a visibility system with
dynamic content that runs the gamut from indoors to large dynamically
changing outdoor environments. Remedy also utilizes Umbra for shadow
rendering optimization and makes use of the Umbra spatial database for
audio occlusion.
The talk will contain several real-world examples of how Umbra is used
in Remedy's engine, performance, toolchain integration and pros and cons
of using an out-of-house solution.
Umbra is a visibility middleware used in games such as Destiny, Call of
Duty: Advanced Warfare, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Rime.
Updated 25th June 2015 - A few hours ago, Umbra uploaded the demonstration of audio occlusion and propagation in Quantum Break, on YouTube. The two minute demo looks at how sounds and voices can change and be blocked by certain objects. It's really interesting, so if you haven't already, make sure to watch it HERE.
19th April 2015
"Using Umbra Spatial Data for Visibility and Audio Propagation in Quantum Break" GDC Talk (Updated)
