A3D
Encyclopedia : A : A3 : A3D : A3D
- For the military aircraft, see A3D Skywarrior.
A3D differs from the various forms of discrete positional audio in that it only requires two speakers, while surround sound typically requires more than four. It is sometimes less convincing than surround sound but is intentionally better in interactive environments. For example, PC games in which sounds often move from one speaker to another favour A3D, while pre-recorded video favours surround sound.
A3D uses a low detail subset of the actual in-game 3D world data to accurately calculate sound reflections (A3D 2.0 can perform up to 60 first-order reflections). EAX 1.0, the competitor at the time, simulated the environment with an adjustable reverb -- it didn't calculate any actual reflections off of the 3D surfaces.
For all its promise, A3D was entirely displaced by EAX (an inferior technology) and DirectSound 3D around the beginning of the year 2001. A3D was proprietary and licensed, while EAX/DS3D were free (but not necessarily open) and therefore easier for software developers to build into their games.
Creative Labs sued Aureal for patent infringement in 2000, and Aureal won the lawsuit. However, the battle used up the last of Aureal's cash reserves, and Creative later purchased Aureal and added the A3D engine to their already considerable list of gaming technology. A3D technology is making its way into Creative Labs' newer EAX incarnations.
See also
External links
- [A Gamer's Guide to 3D Sound and Reverb Engines]
- [3D Audio Revolution - A legacy web site featuring news about Aureal and its A3D technology]
- This article was originally based on material from the Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, which is [Foldoc licenselicensed] under the GFDL.
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