United3dArtists Archive

I think it should be possible to use TS as a acoustic simulation program for rooms!

We know it is possible to let light reflect from objects.
Maybe it is possible to create a special shader to show the wave nodes of
different acoustic frequencies reflected from objects in a room.
That might be cool to see visible acoustic waves moving through a room.

Is someone here with the skill to create such a shader?

I am not sure if only a shader is the best way to simulate the sound..
It should use a colored light to visualize the propagation of sound in a white room. A wall mat correspond to a sound-absorbing material. A bright wall corresponds to a less absorbent material. The most colored areas would the most noisy area. Using the same scene but with materials that produce only reflections and render with caustics, we could see the path of sound. Thus, we would have the direction and intensity of sound by studying the two render. This needs vray (first render with global illumination and second render with caustic) and a lot of computing time. It would however make adjustments to materials that can simulate realistically. For example: know the level of sound absortion of a material to transform it into an object matte or gloss. By comparing a simulation and a study in a real room, we could adjust the setting of materials to create a simulation model.
Another adjustment would be necessary for the materials: we need to make them slightly transparent so that light passing through them is the amount of sound that can cross the materials (we need transparent shadow for the render). Curiously, stone would be more transparent as glass. A heavy object would also be less transparent. we must think "sound" and not real material to adjustment. This is why that need a library of material with the model of simulation. However there are certain parameters that TrueSpace could not simulate like the sound propagates within material when we knock on a pipe but this experience can be interesting.
Simulation is a very complex technology and specialized scientific programs are real monsters. TrueSpace could do something not too bad with much work yet. Simulation of real-time sound will be a new step for gaming in recent years. But this will not be as sophisticated as the scientific simulation. Sound designer is a profession used in architecture but I do not know of sophisticated software for that. Create a simulation model with a library of "sound material" would be an innovation that would generate new interest in TrueSpace