Overriding vs. Blending snapshots

FMOD Studio
1

What is the difference between “overriding snapshots” and “blending snapshots”? The documentation only mentions one type of snapshots…

2

The behaviour of overriding and blending snapshots is described here.

An expanded version of our manual that includes this information will be included in our next release of FMOD Studio.

1 Like
3

Even though I am logged in I can’t access the link.

“The behaviour of overriding and blending snapshots is described here.”

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4

Studio supports complex combining behaviors when multiple snapshots are activated at the same time. The combining of multiple snapshots depends on a snapshot’s behavior, priority, and grouping.

Note: This explanation has been simplified by not taking into account snapshot intensity. In cases where the intensity of a snapshot is less than 100%, the behavior is slightly more complicated.

Behavior
Snapshots come in two flavors - overriding snapshots and blending snapshots. For overriding snapshots, all scoped in properties override the underlying values. For blended snapshots, any changes to volumes will be applied additively, while other property changes will still override their underlying values.

                 Overriding Snapshot	  Blending Snapshot 
Volume Property     Override                   Additive 
Other Property      Override                   Override​

Snapshot behavior

As such, a blending snapshot is useful for doing relative volume changes. For example, you might setup overriding snapshots for each level in your game, then use a blending snapshot to apply a -2dB relative change to the ambience bus when an explosion occurs.

Priority
When multiple snapshots are active, they are evaluated in the order defined by a snapshot’s priority. This is determined by the ordering in the snapshots browser.

Priority

For example, if a high priority and low priority snapshot are both activated, the low priority snapshot’s values are applied first (stomping out values from the baseline mix), then the high priority snapshot’s values are again applied on top of that (stomping out values from the low priority snapshot mix).

Snapshot priorities​

This is where modifying a snapshots scope can be useful. Because combining of snapshots is ordered, you can scope in or out elements within a given snapshot, so that the snapshot will apply not changes to that particular property. (For example, you may want the PauseMenu snapshot to lower the music volume, but maintain the volume changes to ambience that are currently active).
​
Grouping
Snapshot groups provides you with a way to specify that certain snapshots are of equal priority. When multiple snapshots from the same group are enabled, their effects will be averaged together, before being applied as if they were part of a single snapshot. This can be used in various situations where no prioritization should occur. For example, you may want to create a group for snapshots that change reverb settings, based on proximity to trigger regions in a level. Using a group would allow for a smooth transition between the reverb states.

Moreover, groups also provide a way in which you can organize mutually exclusive snapshots. For example, you may want to group all cutscene snapshots, even if you’re only planning to have one cutscene active at any given moment.

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5

yes link is broken

I have 2 snapshots but want only one to be executed upon a condition and not both.
How to do such?
Thanks

6

The link posted, from 3 years ago, contains the same information as the top answer. If you one want one snapshot active at a time, you would need to add that logic to your game code. Otherwise you can use overriding snapshots and priority to an extent.

7

So lets say two snapshots of both types include scoped info on reverbsettings and a volume setting. If the Blending snapshot is overridden by the other and then the overriding snapshot is stopped, do all settings go back to the blending snapshot’s settings? Or does that too depend on priority?

8

Yes.