Adding Sound to Nodes

This tutorial demonstrates how to include sound in nodes so that it begins playing when the node is entered.

Introduction

Sound can be used for a number of purposes, including giving the viewer information about the node, or providing an ambient background. In this tutorial, a short spoken sound will be played when each of the rooms in the tour is entered to say what the room is used for.

Step 1 - Prepare a tour in the normal way

Adding sound is usually done after the rest of the tour is connected together. For this tutorial, there is a 4-node tour through a house, including nodes for the hallway, dining area, kitchen, and garden.

Step 2 - Move to the Sounds area

Click the Sounds tab. If there was a node selected, a preview of it will be shown in the center of the window. Otherwise, choose a node from the Node popup at the top left.

Step 3 - Choose the sound file

There are two ways to add a sound to the node: (1) by clicking the "Choose..." button at the top right, or (2) by dragging the sound file onto the movie from the Finder. We'll use the latter method.

When the sound file is chosen, the preview movie will be rebuilt to include the sound. The preview movie will then start playing.

Step 4 - Add sounds to other nodes

Change the node using the Node popup menu or "go to next node" button to the right of it, and add a sound to the new node.

If the volume of any particular sound file is too loud, you can reduce it using the "Front" volume slider on the left of the window. (Note: the "rear" volume is used for directional sound, and is covered in another tutorial.)

If you want to hear the change, you will need to update the movie by clicking the "Update Movie" button on the right of the window.

Step 5 - Assemble the movie

When you have finished adding sounds to the nodes, go to the movie area to preview the multinode movie with sound included. Click the "Assemble Movie" button (or "Update Movie" if the movie has previously been assembled) and click hotspots to tour the movie.

The sound attached to each node should play when you enter the respective node.

This ends the tutorial.

Watch Movie of Tutorial Being Performed  [0:52]

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