Showcase month: Explainer 6 of 8

Let's add sound to the gallery!

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Add sound to the gallery

Overview

Name of explainer: Add sound to the gallery

Creative theme: Showcase month

Software used (for this explainer): Unity

User level: INTERMEDIATE

This is explainer 6 of 8 in this series

This series includes:

  1. Edit photos to include in the 3d gallery
  2. Edit video clips to include in the 3d gallery
  3. Create a Unity project and import a gallery scene
  4. Add photos and videos to the 3d gallery
  5. Add 3d objects to the gallery
  6. Add sound to the 3d gallery
  7. Export a gallery tour as an mp4 video
  8. Export the gallery to a VR headset

The Software

This series of explainers uses the following software:

Photoshop for image editing. Similar results can also be achieved using Paintshop Pro (available for a one-off fee) or GIMP (free). See image editing month for full details about these applications and step-by-step explainers.

Premiere Pro for video editing. Similar results can also be achieved using VEGAS Pro (available on subscription or for a one-off fee)or Shotcut (free). See video editing month for full details about these applications and step-by-step explainers.

Unity for working with a 3d gallery scene. See Virtual Reality month for full details about Unity and step-by-step explainers for getting up and running. We’re also using Modern Gallery, a PAID Unity gallery asset to import into our project and navigate in VR:

Finally, we’re using AMBIENS AT+ videoclip, a PAID Unity asset that lets us export Unity camera movements as MP4 videos at up to 4k resolution:

At time of writing, the combined cost of the gallery and camera recording assets is approximately 80 GBP / 100 USD. You may also find FREE 3d assets that will work just fine! Have a look at Sketchfab, CGTrader and TurboSquid, making sure to search for FREE or low-cost assets. The Unity asset store has regular sales so keep an eye out for discounts on the above!

The gallery at the end of this series

Here’s how sections of your gallery could look at the end of the project. Tap an image to view it in a larger window:

If you choose to export a gallery tour as a video file (explainer 7) or send the entire gallery to a VR headset (explainer 8), here’s how your gallery could look! The VR section is streamed from a Quest 2 headset:

The pre-requisities

This is an INTERMEDIATE explainer series overall, though the individual image editing and video editing explainers are suitable for beginners.

If you’re new to IT / computing, the explainers in this series relating to UNITY are not likely to be suitable. To get started with 3d software in a beginner-friendly environment, we recommend the free Tinkercad. See makeuseof for a helpful overview of 3d design.

Why would I do this?

Never forget the sound! Our gallery won’t be a full multi-media experience without it! In this explainer we add general gallery ambience before attaching a spatial sound source to an arcade cabinet (meaning the sound gets louder as we approach!).

If you only plan to export a gallery tour as a video, you might choose to add sound as part of the video editing process, in which case you can skip to the next explainer 🙂 If you plan to export it to VR, of course you’ll need sound directly added to the Unity scene, so stick around!

Let’s do it!

Click the play icon to watch this video. Subtitles are available – Click the settings cog at the bottom right for options. You can also watch this video full-screen by clicking the full-screen icon at the bottom right.

Good to know

This is a recap explainer. See Virtual Reality month for full step-by-step explainers for setting up Unity, editing a 3d VR scene and exploring it in a Meta Quest VR headset.

Sound is as important as the visual aspect of any gallery, whether to set the mood or deliberately clash with the visual motif (We’re sure Banksy’s idea of ‘ambience’ wouldn’t be the same as ours!).

Where to next?

Remember, this is part of a series of explainers – Join us again for the other explainers in the series 🙂

Notes and updates

There are no notes or advisories at this time. This video explainer was last updated in June 2022. This page was last updated in June 2022.

We at pixels.cool are not responsible for the content of any external webpages or software downloaded from third party sites. Links are included in good faith at the time of writing. All explainer content is compiled in good faith using processes and methods used by the team. Modern software offers users many ways to accomplish a single task, and for reasons of clarity we choose not to refer to multiple options. All computer users should run up to date virus / security software at all times to minimise risks of data loss.


This is number 6 of 8 explainer videos in this series. Make sure you check out the others!