7DMT Animatronics

GoofGoof

GoofGoof

Premium Member
Since I guess this is where we are supposed to talk about mine train AAs, here is part of an article published in Disney Files Magazine (the DVC newsletter) that I posted in the other thread. It relates directly to the figures and what I thought was interesting is they went back to the drawing board for this ride at some point at least where the AAs are concerned. I don't have any inside info and I haven't seen the figures, but what they are describing sounds a lot more elaborate than moving the figures over from Snow White.


"At Walt Disney Imagineering, it's not just about living up to the Disney standards; it's about setting a new standard", said Walt Disney Imagineer Ethan Reed, the project's Animation Creative Director. "At one point early on, we had some basic Audio-Animatronics figures that we had sketched up, but during a review with Bruce Vaughn, our Chief Executive at Imagineering, he challenged us to see what we could come up with to make these figures unique. We knew we wanted them to have the charm and appeal of the classic characters from the 1937 film, but we needed them brought to life with 21st century technology and imagination."

Emboldened by that challenge, the team dreamed up a groundbreaking new design that would blend hand-drawn, computer and Audio-Animatronic animation, and then partnered with Walt Disney Animation Studios to help materialize their vision.

"This is a complete integration of animation media into a dimensional figure, and it's like nothing you've seen," said Walt Disney Animation Studios Special Projects Producer/Creative Director Dave Bossert. "I'm fortunate to be part of a really cool team of people from a variety of disciplines here at Walt Disney Animation Studios, and working on projects like these with equally talented Imagineers whose disciplines are just as diverse creates a perfect storm of creativity. All of these disciplines, from animation to lighting to sculpting and engineering, come together in these new figures in a way that appears stunningly seamless. When you look at the Dwarfs in the attraction, you won't know what you are looking at. They're just alive, and it's jaw dropping."

The article goes on to mention how Dave Bossert's special projects team recently supported work on World of Color at DCA.
 
LithiumBill

LithiumBill

Well-Known Member
LAKid53 said:
Which is why I prefer the old Disney films - beautifully hand drawn with great stories. Not that I don't like Monsters, Inc. or Wall-E, but my favorite scene is and always will be the Sorcerer's Apprentice in Fantasia. Walt and his Nine Old Men were THE BEST (sorry Lasseter, computers don't always make one an artist).
Click to expand...
John Lassister loves traditional animation... He is a champion for storytelling. And a traditionalist. I agree with you though, more modern artists, need to understand traditional methods, technology is a tool, like the pencil.
 
spacemt354

spacemt354

Chili's
Azmyth said:
Lovely, hospitable people on this site, I see.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the compliment! ;)

I understand you're new to the site. The conversation regarding 7DMT is one of the few "discussion" topics left in regards to the Fantasyland Expansion. I put discussion in quotes because we've been going back and forth about the attraction for years. Since the project's inception. Personally, it's going to open soon, there really isn't much to talk about aside from the same speculation that has permeated this forum for several years. Some people hate the ride, some people love the ride, but in reality nobody has been on it yet.

There have been faux-insiders ranging from people who know how many scenes are in the ride to people who have "worked on-site" as a construction worker claiming knowledge regarding the AAs, above and beyond any capacity he really could have.

And if you look at the first page of the Fantasyland Expansion forum list. Basically over 3/4 of the threads in this section revolve around 7DMT, because like I said before, there isn't much else to talk about. Tensions are high because we are tired of the same talk each day. We just want to see the attraction open. That's where the apparent "lack" of hospitality comes from. So sorry about that.

Then once it's over and 7DMT opens, people can say their final opinions and everyone in these threads can jump over to the Avatar construction section and debate till 2017!!! Yay!! :eek:;):grumpy:
 
D

doctornick

Well-Known Member
The official description of the ride on the Disney site has this to say:

"Plus, be on the lookout for several favorite characters from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs -- they're all here, recreated in vivid detail using innovative technology that brings their 3-dimensional expression to life."

Certainly sounds like some sort of projection mapping for the facial expressions.
 
Sped2424

Sped2424

Well-Known Member
doctornick said:
The official description of the ride on the Disney site has this to say:

"Plus, be on the lookout for several favorite characters from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs -- they're all here, recreated in vivid detail using innovative technology that brings their 3-dimensional expression to life."

Certainly sounds like some sort of projection mapping for the facial expressions.
Click to expand...
That's what I think is happening, perhaps much like Lumiere? which I think was done wonderfully!
 
A

ASilmser

Active Member
Just added this to the "construction update" thread, but I meant to add it here:

ASilmser said:
My guess, based on rumor, conjecture, my own observations, and lots of thread posts (translation: my gut)--is that the animatronics will be a combination of old-school animatronics with limited and repetitive movements AND the new projection technology that Disney has started to utilize recently. Both internal projection (think eyes on Potato Head in the TSMM cue, or Mater in Cali Adventure's Radiator Springs Racers) and external projection around a 3-D sculpted object (think of the "Celebrate the Magic" castle projection show, or the cue of Test Track where the basic vehicle sculpted shape changes color and texture based on the person being interviewed in the accompanying movie)

My recollection is that Disney owns a few patents for this technology, and will use it in many more places in the future (this would be a logical application).

Assuming they really are going to be the some sort of new innovative technology that they are touting in the official description, for at least a few of the dwarfs (hopefully all), I imagine a basic all-white head form (or entire body form) on a simple AA body--animated projections will then bring the faces (or entire form) "to life," making them look just like the film. That would be kinda cool, I think.

Just my prediction, based only on my reading of these forums, a little bit of guess-work, and the recently posted descriptions from Disney.
Click to expand...
 
ford91exploder

ford91exploder

Resident Curmudgeon
LithiumBill said:
Not true. A good education in the field will ALWAYS overpower the person who just happens to have a copy of Adobe Creative Suite...

I've been in the industry for 20 years (currently I am a Creative Director), went to college and learned hand paste-up design work for print, and I am now working in digital advertising. It's about having a keen design sense, and not relying upon the technology to get things right.
Click to expand...

I learned photo retouching with an airbrush, vibrating pencil and dyes, It's the eye not the tools I do love the models without bellybuttons etc from overzealous use of the clone tool and the healing brush.

Majored in EE - Always loved photography but even then you could not make a decent living as a photographer, Let head rule college decisions not the heart.
 
ford91exploder

ford91exploder

Resident Curmudgeon
lazyboy97o said:
My sources tell me the ride is inspiring by Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. I shall now leave a riddle that I will never answer about more details: The Jabberwocky loves pizza.
Click to expand...

Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe ...
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom