How to calculate collision sounds?

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on calculating collision sound levels for a Newton's Cradle simulation developed for the iPhone. Initially, the developer used impact force to determine sound levels, which resulted in unrealistic loudness from stationary balls. After experimenting with vector subtraction of forces, the developer ultimately relied on simple displacement values of collision pairs to gauge loudness. The inquiry seeks to establish the correct methodology for accurately simulating collision sounds in the game.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of collision physics and sound propagation
  • Familiarity with vector mathematics for force calculations
  • Knowledge of sound design principles in game development
  • Experience with audio programming in mobile applications
NEXT STEPS
  • Research sound synthesis techniques for collision sounds in game engines
  • Explore audio middleware tools like FMOD or Wwise for dynamic sound generation
  • Study real-world physics of sound perception in collisions
  • Investigate the implementation of energy loss calculations in sound design
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Game developers, sound designers, and audio engineers looking to enhance realism in collision sound effects within simulations and interactive applications.

JohnIsaac
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Hi,

This is my first post here. My company recently developed a game simulating Newton's Cradle for the iPhone. I've got the visual physics portions working well. Everything reacts as it should. My problem is the calculation of the collision sound levels.

Originally I was basing it off of impact force, the result was the balls in the middle that were not moving were each producing a loud sound. As opposed to the single sound heard when using a real Newton's cradle and releasing only one ball.

I then switched to using only force of the individual balls and subtracting the vectors from each other. This had similar results.

I finally just used simple displacement values of collision pairs to determine the collision loudness.

My question is... What is the correct way to calculate a collisions sound? In real life... do the balls not moving actually make a sound and it's just perceived as one sound?

I have a video of it here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH50emxBJ3w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH50emxBJ3w"
Sorry for the music, hopefully the collisions can be heard well enough. I hope this is not perceived as an advertisement. I'm seriously trying to figure this out as I want my product to be the best possible.

Thanks for your time.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
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Still working on this, does anyone have a clue for me? I've tried about 20 methods, all have different results.
 
JohnIsaac said:
Hi,

This is my first post here. My company recently developed a game simulating Newton's Cradle for the iPhone. I've got the visual physics portions working well. Everything reacts as it should. My problem is the calculation of the collision sound levels.

Originally I was basing it off of impact force, the result was the balls in the middle that were not moving were each producing a loud sound. As opposed to the single sound heard when using a real Newton's cradle and releasing only one ball.

I then switched to using only force of the individual balls and subtracting the vectors from each other. This had similar results.

I finally just used simple displacement values of collision pairs to determine the collision loudness.

My question is... What is the correct way to calculate a collisions sound? In real life... do the balls not moving actually make a sound and it's just perceived as one sound?

I have a video of it here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH50emxBJ3w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH50emxBJ3w"
Sorry for the music, hopefully the collisions can be heard well enough. I hope this is not perceived as an advertisement. I'm seriously trying to figure this out as I want my product to be the best possible.

Thanks for your time.

Can't you just record the sound and play it back?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Couldn't you just make the loudness proportional to the amount of energy lost from one ball to the next?
 

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