spatialaudiooverview.qdoc

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// Copyright (C) 2022 The Qt Company Ltd.
// SPDX-License-Identifier: LicenseRef-Qt-Commercial OR LGPL-3.0-only OR GPL-2.0-only OR GPL-3.0-only
 
/*!
\page spatialaudiooverview.html
\title Spatial Audio Overview
\brief Support for spatial audio.
 
The Qt Spatial Audio API provides a number of classes that allow the creation of
three dimensional sound scene. It is defined by objects located in 3D space
that emit sound and surrounding geometry that can be modelled using
one or several rooms. Finally a listener can be placed into this
sound scene at a specified position and orientation.
 
There are both C++ and QML APIs that can be used.
 
\section1 Creating a sound scene
 
To create the sound scene, one first instantiates a \l QAudioEngine. This engine
processes input sound data and geometries to create a realistic
representation of the sound scene as it would be experienced by a person placed
at a specific location inside the scene.
 
The \l QAudioEngine::OutputMode property can be used to optimize the output either
for headphones using binaural (virtual 3D) rendering or for a stereo or surround speaker
configuration.
 
The output device can be selected using \l QAudioEngine::outputDevice property.
 
Once the engine is set up, we can place various sound objects into the scene by creating
\l QSpatialSound objects and specifying a url to a sound file using the \l
QSpatialSound::source property.
 
\l QAudioListener can be used to define the position and orientation of a person
listening to the sound scene. At max one listener per engine can be used. If no listener
is specified, the engine assumes that the listener is at the origin of the coordinate system
facing into a positive z direction, with positive y pointing upwards.
 
In addition to sound sources and a listener, you can define a geometry that influences how the
sound is being experienced by the listener through a set of \l QAudioRoom objects. Rooms
are rectangular and support a wide variety of materials for each wall giving a different experience
with different sound reflections and reverb. Room effects will get applied if the listener is
located inside one of the rooms. If he is inside multiple rooms, the room with the smallest
geometrical volume will take precedence.
 
If you need some stereo overlay that is independent of the position and orientation of
the listener (such as background music or a voice-over), you can use
\l QAmbientSound to create the sound overlay.
 
For a small QWidget based example showcasing one audio source that can be moved around in a room, have
a look at the \l {audiopanning}{Spacial Audio Panning Example}.
 
\section1 Reference Documentation
 
\section2 C++ Classes
 
\annotatedlist spatialaudio
 
\section2 QML Types
 
\annotatedlist quick3d_spatialaudio
 
*/