Difference between revisions of "OpenAL Audio Server"

Revision as of 14:37, 4 May 2012

Project Overview

Rich, 3D environments need sound to provide the user a feeling of complete immersion. When visualization is provided by a cluster of computers, the sound processing can be handled by a dedicated machine that is in turn connected to the speakers and other audio equipment. The OpenAL Audio Server (OAS) provides this functionality via a network interface on a Linux machine. OAS is based loosely on the aging Windows DirectSound AudioServer project by Marc Schreier, and is backwards compatible.

Status

• Server Backend

-- The backend of the server is functional. Connections can be made, instructions and audio files can be sent, and audio can be played, stopped, moved, etc.
-- All network input and output is handled by a dedicated thread that parses the input into discrete audio instructions and queues it up.
-- A separate thread retrieves these instructions from the queue and performs the desired action (i.e. play sound, move sound position, etc.)
-- File format support is limited only by the OpenAL extensions that are installed on the audio server.
-- Server is persistent and stable between different connections.
-- Server settings (port, cache directory, etc.) are read from an XML configuration file.

• Server Frontend

-- The frontend of the server uses FLTK and currently consists of a tabbed interface.
-- The frontend also resides in its own thread, allowing the user interface to operate independently from the backend of the server.
-- Errors are displayed in bold, warnings are displayed in italics, and informative messages contain no special formatting.

• Client API

-- Undergoing testing.

To-Do

• Extend the osgAudio nodekit to add support for the OAS client API
• Add server support for instructions that modify listener position and orientation.
• Add more goodies to the front-end (i.e. visual and tabular representation of sound sources)
• Refactor threading system so that the main thread has more complete possession of other threads

Future Work

• Enhance sockets code to add support for multiple connected clients. Asynchronous socket I/O.

Participants

Software Developers:

• Shree Chowkwale

Project Advisors:

• Jurgen Schulze

Misc. Development Assistance:

• Philip Weber
• Andrew Prudhomme

Initial Concept Base:

• AudioServer Project by Marc Schreier