The new game engine plugins from Dolby.io equip developers with simplified tools to create engaging and immersive experiences, including improved spatial communications, scaling the number of people you can hear in a shared audio scene, and streaming media into or out of your virtual world environment.
New Dolby.io Virtual Worlds plugins for Unreal Engine and Unity
- Dolby.io transforms how you experience virtual worlds through more natural and lifelike conversations with realistic 3D sound, powered by Dolby Atmos technology
- Support for hundreds of simultaneous speakers in large environments through server-side spatial mixing
New Dolby.io Real-time Streaming publisher and player plugins for Unity
- Developers can broadcast live video streams into virtual experiences or stream one or more virtual cameras out to large audiences in the browser or on any device
- Provides similar features and experiences as the existing Dolby.io publisher and player plugins for Unreal Engine, but for projects built using Unity
- The integration of Prefabs makes it possible to get started immediately with absolutely no coding needed
Virtual world immersion
Immersion in virtual worlds depends not only on visual effects but also on a compelling audio experience. In addition, it is a function of scale and number of active users. The larger the world, the more there is to explore and the more people you can potentially meet.
But the way you can currently interact with people in virtual worlds has room to improve. Existing communications solutions limit you to hearing only a handful of people and they need to be “standing” right next to you. How can developers create a truly immersive experience when technologies don’t scale to reflect the size of the environment?
The answer is Dolby.io Spatial Audio
Dolby.io Spatial Audio drives social interaction and immersion by dramatically increasing the number of people you can interact with in a virtual world. Not only can you hear hundreds of voices, each with the unique richness, clarity, and tenor you’d find in real world interactions, but you will also be able to tell precisely where people are thanks to spatial positioning, powered by Dolby Atmos technology.
Blend the boundaries of virtual and in-person experiences
As the lines between virtual and in-person events are increasingly blurred, you need to be able to stream your content into and out of these virtual spaces. We already see examples of this with companies like RedPill VR using Dolby.io Real-time Streaming (RTS) plugins for Unreal to stream content such as a performance by Paul Oakenfold to scale a real-time performance to a large audience in a browser. We have expanded that ability from Unreal engine to the world of Unity.
These new plugins are designed to make it easy to stream content into a Unity world from any capture device (webcam, professional broadcast equipment, OBS, hardware encoders, iPhone, SDI camera, GoPro… you get it) and also to stream content from a virtual camera out to any device with a browser, such as a laptop, iPhone, smart TV, or tablet, at scale.
The plugins are a no brainer to use, including objects called “prefabs” which are pre-built elements in the game to provide a very easy on-ramp for developers to get started in Unity development. This provides a no-code solution for streaming into or out of your app. Simply add a prefab camera or video screen, connect your Dolby.io account, and start streaming into and/or out of a Unity virtual world today.
Learn more and get started
To learn more about improving social interactions for more immersive experiences in Virtual Worlds, visit our solutions page here.
Virtual World Communications
If you are a developer interested in improving peer-to-peer communications in Virtual Worlds, start your Unreal or Unity project by following the links below.
Unreal Engine
Unity
Real-time Streaming
If you want to broadcast external media into your project, including live events, or take a rendering of your virtual experience and stream it to audiences viewing on browsers, desktop, or mobile applications, follow the links below.
Unreal Engine
- Unreal Player GitHub page
- Unreal Player developer documentation
- Unreal Publisher GitHub page
- Unreal Publisher developer documentation
Unity
Upcoming events
Want to meet our development team and learn how Dolby.io is transforming social interactions in Virtual Worlds? Sign up for the GDC 2023 After Party Meetup Featuring: Dolby, Unity & more at DNA Lounge in San Francisco. It’s happening Tuesday, March 21, 2023. Doors open at 7pm.
