Realistic Audio Communication in a Three Dimensional Computer-Generated Virtual Environment
A participant in a three dimensional computer-generated virtual environment is able to control a dispersion pattern of his Avatar's voice such that the Avatar's voice may be directionally enhanced using simple controls. The audio dispersion envelope is designed to extend further in front of the Avatar and less to the sides and rear of the Avatar. The audio dispersion envelope may be static or controllable by the participant to enable the distance that the Avatar's voice travels within the virtual environment to be adjusted. This enables the Avatar to whisper or “shout” in the virtual environment such that other Avatars normally outside of hearing range of the Avatar may selectively receive audio generated by the user. Separate audio streams are mixed for each user from audio generated by users with Avatars within their Avatar's dispersion envelope. The volume of audio from a user in the mixed audio stream depends on the separation of the Avatars within the virtual environment.
1 . A method of selectively enabling audio to be transmitted between users of a three dimensional computer-generated virtual environment, the method comprising the steps of:
determining a position of a first Avatar in the virtual environment;
determining an orientation of the first Avatar in the virtual environment to determine which way the first Avatar is facing in the virtual environment;
enabling audio from the second user associated with a second Avatar to be included in a mixed audio stream for the first user associated with the first Avatar if the second Avatar is located within a first distance of the first Avatar in the virtual environment and the first Avatar is facing the second Avatar; and
not enabling audio from the second user associated with a second Avatar to be included in a mixed audio stream for the first user associated with the first Avatar if the second Avatar is located within the first distance of the first Avatar in the virtual environment but the first Avatar is not facing the second Avatar.
2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of defining a audio dispersion envelope for the first Avatar, such that if the second Avatar is located within the audio dispersion envelope then audio from the user associated with the second Avatar will be included in the mixed audio stream for the first user, and if the second Avatar is located outside the audio dispersion envelope, then audio from the user associated with the second Avatar will not be included in the mixed audio stream for the first user.
3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the audio dispersion envelope for the first Avatar is controllable by the first user associated with the first Avatar.
4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the audio dispersion envelope for the first Avatar may be increased to extend a greater direction toward a direction that the first Avatar is facing to enable the first Avatar to shout in the virtual environment.
5 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the audio dispersion envelope for the first Avatar may be decreased to extend a lesser direction toward a direction that the first Avatar is facing to enable the first Avatar to whisper in the virtual environment.
6 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the audio dispersion envelope for the first Avatar may be increased to extend to coincide with a volume of the virtual environment, such that any audio generated by the first user associated with the first Avatar will be included in audio streams mixed for all other users associated with Avatars that are located within the volume of the virtual environment.
7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the audio dispersion envelope for the first Avatar is automatically increased to extend to coincide with the volume of the virtual environment when the first Avatar enters a particular location within the virtual environment.
8 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the audio dispersion envelope is controllable by the first user via interaction with a mouse wheel.
9 . The method of claim 1 , the method further comprising the step of determining whether there are obstacles between the first Avatar and the second Avatar in the virtual environment, and selectively not including audio from the second user associated with the second Avatar in the mixed audio stream for the first user associated with the first Avatar if there are sufficient obstacles between the first and second Avatars.
10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the obstacle is a wall.
11 . The method of claim 2 , wherein a shape of the audio dispersion envelope for the first Avatar is dependent on Avatar's location within environment.
12 . A computer program including data and instructions that are stored on a computer readable memory which, when loaded on a computer processor, enables the computer to implement a method of enabling realistic audio to be simulated in a three dimensional computer-generated virtual environment, the method comprising the steps of:
defining a first audio dispersion envelope within the three dimensional computer-generated virtual environment for a first Avatar associated with a first user; and
selecting audio from other users associated with Avatars located within the audio dispersion envelope for inclusion in a mixed audio stream to be presented to the first user.
13 . The computer program of claim 12 , wherein the method further comprises the steps of adjusting a shape of the audio dispersion envelope based on obstacles in the three dimensional computer-generated virtual environment.
14 . The computer program of claim 12 , further comprising defining an attenuation factor for items in the virtual environment to determine a size and shape of the dispersion envelope.
15 . The computer program of claim 14 , further comprising enabling the first user to control the audio dispersion envelope.
16 . The computer program of claim 15 , wherein the step of enabling the user to control the audio dispersion envelope enables the user to enlarge the audio dispersion envelope to include audio from Avatars that are farther away so that the Avatar can shout in the three dimensional computer-generated virtual environment.
17 . The computer program of claim 16 , wherein the step of enabling the user to control the audio dispersion envelope enables the user to reduce the audio dispersion envelope to prevent Avatars from being included in the audio dispersion envelope so that the Avatar can whisper in the three dimensional computer-generated virtual environment.
18 . The computer program of claim 12 , wherein if a second Avatar is within the dispersion envelope for the first Avatar, then a user associated with the second Avatar can hear audio from the first user.
19 . The computer program of claim 18 , further comprising the user to invoke a feature that will enable audio from the first user to be included in audio streams provided to all users associated with Avatars within a volume of the virtual environment.
20 . The computer program of claim 19 , wherein the feature is intrinsically invoked when the first Avatar enters a defined area of the virtual environment.