Foley For Games

1
Foley For Games

• Mark Petty
• Gearbox Software

2
Outsourcing vs. In House

• Factors in this decision
• 1) Player Foley
• Revisions to the animations throughout the
  project
• Footsteps
• Equip / Switch weapons
• Wall hop / Dig In
• Move Orders
• 2) Cut Scenes Decisions
• Iterations
• Perspective
• Stereo vs. Mono
• Sound attached to player or character camera
• 3) Foley Artist
• Using in house mocap staff as a solution

3
Foley Pit Construction

• 1) What am I going to use this pit for?
• Footsteps
• Short walls ( Reduces resonance )
• Smaller pit ( Need length not width )
• Because footsteps involve close mic techniques
  the resonance of the pit becomes a big factor.
  Keeping the footstep surface close to flush with
  the wall height eliminates this issue.
• Wet Foley
• Taller Walls
• Line the inner walls with acoustic rubber
• Heavier construction
• Larger size
• 2) Pit Example
• Dimensions and Materials
• 3ft. X 3ft. X 11in.
• 1.5in. Thick walls
• 1/8in. Acoustic rubber lined

4
Content Creation

• 1) Multiple Mic Setup / Flexibility
• Creates different perspectives
• Mono / Stereo
• Close / Distant
• Using mic characteristics to capture different
  aspects of the same source.
• Reduces the need for processing
• Being able to change the relationship between the
  mic positions reduces the need for filtering and
  processing to create different perspectives.
• Increases Iteration speed
• Content creation and the way that it translates
  in game aren't always the same.
• Having the flexibility of changing the foley
  perspective for the player by adjusting the mix
  of mic positions reduces the time spent
  rerecording.
• Individual elements can be extracted and used for
  other content.

5

• 2) Content Cleanup
• Processing
• Compander (Sonalksis CQ1)
• Frequency dependant gating
• 3) Reverb
• IR reverbs
• TL space (Trillium Labs)
• IR (Waves)

6
Implementation

• 1) Player Foley
• Center Channel Usage
• 2) Cutscenes
• Attaching foley to the camera or animation
• Distracting from camera focus
• Is foley needed
• Head relative, Center channel or Pan
• Breaking up files to accommodate iterations
• This also applies to the recording process