Epiphany of why the animations on the Living Seas Nemo ride works

[teebin]

Now, if some of you are brilliant in the science of reflection please don't ridicule this post. If someone has already posted this info, well, I looked for it day in day out and saw no mention of it.

For all of you who have wondered how exactly they make the animations on The Seas with Nemo and Friends appear within the tank. Read on.

So, as an annual passholder, I had been wondering over and over how they made the Nemo characters appear inside the tank. I was certain that it was projection and angled glass or something.

Then, the last time I rode, I was craning my head in all directions to see how they were doing it and looked up and over the mover to my right and saw these huge LCD flat panel displays with the characters dancing around to what one saw in the tank. The background around the characters on the LCD screens was black so that the only thing reflected was the bright characters. The screens were hanging at a 45 degree angle.

But I wondered, why why why do they appear deep inside the tank?

Yesterday, due to all the rain we have had, I finally set off a huge bonfire on my back lawn behind my house. It burned and burned and burned and then dusk came and I was sitting at the dining room table looking out through the sunroom to the back making sure the fire didn't get out of hand. The fire was burning slightly to the right 200 feet away from the house in the back. Yappin on the phone with the friend I finally look to the left out the side sunroom window that is at a 45 degree angle to the fire out back. Voila, my lawn was on fire approx. 200 ft out on the LEFT side of my property. Ofcourse, it was a reflection of the bonfire on the right side of my property.

So, the science is, if the reflecting object is 6-8 feet from the reflective material (the tank glass) and at a 45 degree angle, the reflected object will appear 6-8 feet beyond the glass.

I hope a few of you enjoy this epiphany on my part. I had the hardest time figuring it out and then I saw an example from my own home.

The Teebster

 

[SDav10495]

Ha, great...me, I have no clue about the ride's inner workings and can't confirm anything, but I admire that you kept trying to figure it out. That's pretty cool.

From the title, I thought you were going to try to justify the placement of a Fantasyland dark ride in the middle of Future World. This is much more interesting. :lol:

 

[primetime52]

Interesting theory/epiphany. I too have wondered how this technology works and haven't been able to find many details about it on the internet.

 

[teebin]

Interesting theory/epiphany. I too have wondered how this technology works and haven't been able to find many details about it on the internet.

I guarantee you ,this is how it works and it is the distance to the reflecting object that sets it the same distance beyond the reflection. They would have had clarity problems doing this prior to LCD/Plasma tech but someone dug up an old trick and applied new technology to it.

In hindsight, they used the same trick in LOTR Return of the King (for those of you who watched the making of DVD) to allow the horse to be b__________g a funeral pire that is not there. I just didn't know of the distanced doubled thing that I learned yesterday evening.

 

[teebin]

b___________g is meant to be a horse jumping up in front of.

 

[Monty]

Isn't the physics of optics fun?

Reflecting things on glass to give them the appearance of being somewhere they're not... Whodathunkit? :lookaroun

Well, other than the Imagineers who designed HM, ToT and numerous others...

 

[xtimMOOthyx]

If you ride The Seas at night, the trick is very clear, as you can see the outline of the projection screen reflecting off of the glass. Pretty cool, though!

 

[Enchantâmes]

Don't you mean how they work not why?

 

[UltimtMickeyFan]

I just have to say the the theory is close anyways, but not all exactly correct...

And I am not sure what difference it makes if you ride Nemo at night time???

 

[coasterridr]

Peppers Ghost has been used in many different attractions,

The Living Seas with Nemo

Horizons: the hologram phone, the birthday party

SSE: (pre-refurb)the ending decent with the people communicating around the world, you could see the figures and fiber optics up and to your left.

Haunted Mansion: ballroom

Space Mountain: I'm pretty sure some of the images in the queue use the effect.

The old backstage computer show at Epcot Center

The now defunct Mystery Fun House of Orlando, (used to be close to Universal, the building and sign were still there last time I was in town) Anyway you could sit on a stool in front of a mirror and press a button, then your reflection would change into a wolfman.

The old Ghostbusters attraction at Universal, wasn't a great attraction but they used the effect and even claimed it was bigger than the HM ballroom on a tv show I saw years ago...it wasn't bigger in my opinion.

Thats all I can think of right now, there may be more....

 

[Figment82]

And I am not sure what difference it makes if you ride Nemo at night time???

They simulate the sun's movement in the fish tank, so it gets darker at night to allow the fish and other sea creatures to live as if they were in the ocean.

 

[raven]

Peppers Ghost is the same effect you get if you are looking out your window at night. You may see scenery outside of your window but at the same time you can see the reflection of a lamp on in your room that appears to be outside as well.

As far as Nemo goes, this effect is done as well for the fish in the tank and I noticed the low ceilings overhead to hide the screens. BUT, Peach (the starfish) in the last window before you unload is done differently. Peach appears to be stuck on the window itself. A Peppers Ghost effect (like the others) needs the same distance between the glass and the viewer as the glass and the screen. The starfish window has no screen overhead and the starfish appears to be actually on the glass itself. I do a lot of special effects but I've only rode Nemo 3 times and have yet to figure out how they projected that image on the last window. My only guess is that it is some sort of digital display that's actually set into the glass and allows light to pass through it as well.

 

[WEDisney]

Wait a minute, wait a minute. You mean to tell me that isn't really Nemo and friends? I am so depressed

 

[Rob562]

Peppers Ghost has been used in many different attractions,

The Living Seas with Nemo

Horizons: the hologram phone, the birthday party

SSE: (pre-refurb)the ending decent with the people communicating around the world, you could see the figures and fiber optics up and to your left.

Haunted Mansion: ballroom

Space Mountain: I'm pretty sure some of the images in the queue use the effect.

The old backstage computer show at Epcot Center

The now defunct Mystery Fun House of Orlando, (used to be close to Universal, the building and sign were still there last time I was in town) Anyway you could sit on a stool in front of a mirror and press a button, then your reflection would change into a wolfman.

The old Ghostbusters attraction at Universal, wasn't a great attraction but they used the effect and even claimed it was bigger than the HM ballroom on a tv show I saw years ago...it wasn't bigger in my opinion.

Thats all I can think of right now, there may be more....

Though this is starting to get into the realm of the Imagineering "How do they do that" forum...

Tower of Terror: hallway scene

Original El Rio del Tiempo: Aztec guy-into-statue near the beginning

Pooh: Pooh falling asleep and floating away

Adventurer's Club on PI: The ship in the bottle in the library.

Out in Disneyland, it's also used in Pinocchio's Daring Journey and the new Monsters Inc ride in DCA.

As for Ghostbusters, I believe its claim to being bigger than the Haunted Mansion stems from the fact that they used one single, giant pane of glass in Ghostbusters, whereas the HM's ballroom uses multiple (relatively) smaller pieces.

-Rob

 

[dolbyman]

hmm .. is the butterfly effect in the imagination with figment attraction also peppers ghost or a plain mirror thingy ? :shrug:

 

[Maria]

Froget about those... I am still in awe about the chat with the turtle - what´s his name??! :brick:
That was so neat! (and a lot better than the one for Monsters)

 

[teebin]

Don't you mean how they work not why?

Yes, I should have used 'how' and not 'why'. But there seems to be no method for editing titles on this forum.

 

[coasterridr]

hmm .. is the butterfly effect in the imagination with figment attraction also peppers ghost or a plain mirror thingy ? :shrug:

The butterfly in Imagination is done by using a two sided mirror in the middle of the cage, when you see the butterfly you are actually only seeing half a butterfly, the other half you see is a mirror image of the half butterfly. When you cross to the other side you are seeing the other side of the two sided mirror with no half butterfly on it. The cage is the same on all sides so it works well with this effect.

 

[dolbyman]

ok .. thanks :wave:

 

[UltimtMickeyFan]

They simulate the sun's movement in the fish tank, so it gets darker at night to allow the fish and other sea creatures to live as if they were in the ocean.

Oh I am very familiar that the tank gradually gets darker as the evening goes on, but it it doesnt really affect what can be seen or not while on the ride through.

The "screens" in the final scene above the cars are actually lcd projectors directed to shine on a lexan wall that is actually installed inside the tank itself about 6 feet or so from the tanks glass wall.