Waveform Editor

The Magnitude of an effect corresponds to its strength, or the amplitude of the vibration. A magnitude of 0 means no vibration will be felt. A value of 10,000 will yield an effect with a strength according to the WAV data (no attenuation). Since different device types have different capabilities and strengths, there no physical units associated with Magnitude. Instead, the Magnitude is simply a scale factor where 10,000 represents no attenuation.

Use the Magnitude slider to control the strength of the effect. The slider's channel is color coded in the same manner as the waveform in the Preview Area. Green is for low-amplitude effects, yellow for medium amplitudes and red for high amplitudes (very strong effects).

The valid range for the effect's Magnitude is shown as the maximum and minimum values for the slider.

To enter an exact number, simply type it in the edit field below the slider. The number you enter must be in the valid range.

The File Path of a Waveform effect specifies the WAV file containing the definition of the haptic waveform, which is the signal that the will use to drive the actuator. WAV files normally define an audio signal but in this case the file defines a haptic signal. supports mono or stereo WAV files of any sampling rate; however, only 8- or 16-bit samples are supported. In the case of stereo WAV files, averages the two channels.

The has the ability to resample the WAV file. The feature can be used to reduce the amount of data that needs to be sent to the device if the haptic effects are of sufficiently low frequency or if the target actuator is unable to reproduce high frequencies. In addition, the on the target device will resample to a fixed sampling rate so it is wasteful to send data to the device at a higher sampling rate. The Sampling Rate dropdown box lists common sampling rates in addition to the original sampling rate from the WAV file and the device's sampling rate if available, and lets you select a sampling rate. You can also enter a sampling rate that is not in the list.

supports only 8- or 16-bit WAV files but can resample the WAV data and change the bit depth. For example, if the WAV file has 16-bit samples, can resample the data to 8 bits and reduce the size of the data by 50 percent.

The Actuator Index specifies the actuator on which to play the effect. In order to play the effect, the Actuator Index must be set to an actuator that is present on the current handset. If the specified actuator is not present on the handset, it is displayed as Unavailable, and playing the effect will display an error message.

The waveform described by each of these parameters is depicted in the rectangular area at the center of the editor.

The X-axis of this graph represents time. The length of time displayed is equal to the effect's duration.

The Y-axis represents the strength of the effect. Color is also used to indicate the effect's strength (green for subtle effects, red for very strong vibrations).

When playing an effect, this graph is animated to visually reinforce the effect you feel on the device.