A new trailer for Pixar’s Brave continues our introductions to the family. This time it’s the triplets – Hamish, Hubert, and Harris. Yep they have names. Apparently they have a bear of a role to play in the film too. Previously: Meet the family: Princess… Read More »New Brave Trailer – Meet The Triplets
There is something to be said for the technical ability to put on a show of the caliber Disney does aboard its two newest ships The Disney Dream and the Disney Fantasy. A new video from Disney Cruise Line shares a little bit about the… Read More »Disney Fantasy – Stage Productions Are Spectacular
This article should really be titled ‘Walt Disney Imagineering builds Star Trek Holodeck and refuses to share it with anybody.’ For a few years now WDI has used a Digital Immersive Showroom (aka The DISH) to assist in developing attractions, buildings, and even whole lands to make sure all the story details are right even before the first coat of paint is applied.
The DISH involves ultra high definition display walls combined with high precision motion capture systems and a system of goggles you wear to give you an overlay effect on the environment. Haptic feedback, markup and notation is also possible.
If you listen carefully, you can hear Imagineer Dr. Mark Mine mention that The DISH uses CAVE technology. That is the same technology that 12+ years ago Tony Baxter was rumored to be developing a new type of theme park with a virtual reality holodeck at its core. Alas, the technology wasn’t quite there yet at the turn of the millennium. I wonder if WDI considers it there now. It looks like it as Mine is now the head of the Creative Technology Group, charged with creating more uses for these technologies.
If you look at this video you can see the practical applications for simulation testing. Indeed WDI works with a number of military scale simulation technologies similar to The DISH and Central Florida is the center of the simulation industry. Can you conceive of an attraction that would use this technology to tell a story and complete the ride experience?
Anyone who wants to work for Walt Disney Imagineering could do worse that follow Mark Mine’s path. In 1997 he published a dissertation on what it means to work in a virtual world. “Exploiting Proprioception in Virtual-Environment Interaction” is not lite reading, to say the least, but it is a fascinating look at the state of the art 15 years ago.
More about Mark Mine:
Read More »Virtual Reality, just one of Imagineering’s many story telling tools
In what is perhaps the biggest “What took them so long?” moment of the decade, Disney has decided to position a version of its 8-part a capella group “Voices of Liberty” at Disneyland. This prestigious group calls the rotunda of EPCOT’s American Pavilion home and… Read More »Voice of Liberty soon to ring out at Disneyland
Carnations Plaza Gardens is an area of Disneyland that is close to its heart. It is literally adjacent to the hub and figuratively one of the places that was blessed by Walt and personally enjoyed him and Lillian Disney. Many of the couples who danced… Read More »Disneyland to Close Carnation Gardens Plaza, Relocate Swing Dancing Out of Park
As you might expect Disney is searching overseas for a few red-haired Scottish lasses to play Princess Merida from the upcoming Pixar animated film Brave. According to a story in the Daily Record, the ideal candidate would be someone who is bilingual (Gaelic and English),… Read More »Disney Searches for Scot to Play Merida in Parks
Okay. Pleasure Island as it once was is long gone. These days the signs remain but the entertainment experience is completely different. For a while it looked like we’d get Hyperion Wharf (a name I like, but am not sure it was right for at… Read More »What should happen next at Downtown Disney Orlando?
Every one can always use a wish come true in their life. That’s part of the magic of being a Disney fan. Well Dan Wright is a Disney fan and he decided to make true his own wish, a one man quartet multitrack a capella… Read More »Videopolis – One Man Quartet version of “When You Wish Upon A Star”