disney animatronics

brb1006

brb1006

Well-Known Member
Bairstow said:
I think a lot of it can be attributed to the history of big attractions in the '00s.
Disney sunk a lot of money into the Yeti, the Space Shuttle of animatronics, and the thing worked for less than a year and broke.
Meanwhile, Soarin' and Midway Mania, rides that don't even have animatronics, turned out to be runaway successes.
History like that doesn't normally inspire a great interest in new animatronics.

That said, there have been some really good ones recently.
Doc, in particular is one of the most impressive figures I've ever seen.

http://www./wp-content/uploads/2014/04/doc.jpg



Who are you talking about? Garner Holt?
Click to expand...
I hope they update the Animatronic Buzz face seen in Space Ranger Spin in the future. He looks blurry and hard to see compared to the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.
 
Raineman

Raineman

Well-Known Member
I would rather see AAs that are maybe not that complex, but are extremely low maintenance and work all the time, rather than AAs that are amazing to see, but never work (the Yeti). It amazes me how Hall Of Pres and American Adventure have such complex and great looking AA, but seem to not have any major problems.
 
MerlinTheGoat

MerlinTheGoat

Well-Known Member
Even older less advanced animatronics (like A1's) can still look fantastic with the benefit of compliance and good artists behind the facial/body designs. I really like rides with a large population of AA's, so it's not always important to have every single figure the latest and greatest model of animatronic. Sometimes it's better to have attractions with larger quantities of older type AA's than to blow the budget and have a substantially smaller quantity of newer ones. It's always awesome to see the newest technology in robotics, but not every single figure in a AA-rich ride has to be the most advanced ever.

It's still cool having 2 or 3 A100s (or whatever is newest) and the rest being the older less expensive variations (which is apparently how Pirates and Great Movie Ride are). Again compliance and other tech upgrades have provided a lot of benefits to the older models as well.

Rides like POTC, Spaceship Earth, Great Movie Ride and Splash Mountain still look great in spite of most figures not being A100's (i'm not even sure if Splash and SSE have any A100's at all, though I do know GMR and Pirates have a few). You don't as easily notice the lack of motion on some figures either when there's such a large quantity of characters to take in.

brb1006 said:
I hope they update the Animatronic Buzz face seen in Space Ranger Spin in the future. He looks blurry and hard to see compared to the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.
Click to expand...
Facial projection animatronics are hit or miss. They can look good, but I do prefer physical movement to faces. Projected facial success however relies on three very important elements to get right. The first of course are good artists, that's the same with any AA though. Secondly you need EXTREMELY precise lighting to begin with, particularly requiring very dark sets to function correctly (which is why the Dwarf and Haunted Mansion figures generally look so good, and why the figures like Buzz don't ever work as well).

Third and possibly most important, you have to actually sculpt the physical facial features in that you're projecting onto. Bone structure elements such as a physical nose, cheeks and eye sockets are of VITAL importance. It's a major reason Buzz and HM's current bride appear off, the faces are much too flat to give proper depth. Even the older HM facial projections such as Leota and the graveyard busts had proper facial sculpting (and they've been around for over 45 years now).

But you also need impeccable maintenance as well as a fourth requirement, which is a particular issue with WDW. Projectors need constant monitoring and strict maintenance. Bulbs being a common problem in projector tech. If you neglect a projector, the image starts to become dim, dirty and fuzzy (commonly affecting the Blackbeard/Davy Jones effect and Soarin). Thankfully newer projected faces are digital instead of film, so that's one element that retains good image quality at least. Still though, unless maintenance does their job properly, they can get very ugly. Worst case scenario is the projection doesn't work at all and you get faceless nightmare fuel. The Wardrobe figure in the BATB area suffered issues like this shortly after opening for instance.
 
brb1006

brb1006

Well-Known Member
MerlinTheGoat said:
Even older less advanced animatronics (like A1's) can still look fantastic with the benefit of compliance and good artists behind the facial/body designs. I really like rides with a large population of AA's, so it's not always important to have every single figure the latest and greatest model of animatronic. Sometimes it's better to have attractions with larger quantities of older type AA's than to blow the budget and have a substantially smaller quantity of newer ones. It's always awesome to see the newest technology in robotics, but not every single figure in a AA-rich ride has to be the most advanced ever.

It's still cool having 2 or 3 A100s (or whatever is newest) and the rest being the older less expensive variations (which is apparently how Pirates and Great Movie Ride are). Again compliance and other tech upgrades have provided a lot of benefits to the older models as well.

Rides like POTC, Spaceship Earth, Great Movie Ride and Splash Mountain still look great in spite of most figures not being A100's (i'm not even sure if Splash and SSE have any A100's at all, though I do know GMR and Pirates have a few). You don't as easily notice the lack of motion on some figures either when there's such a large quantity of characters to take in.


Facial projection animatronics are hit or miss. They can look good, but I do prefer physical movement to faces. Projected facial success however relies on three very important elements to get right. The first of course are good artists, that's the same with any AA though. Secondly you need EXTREMELY precise lighting to begin with, particularly requiring very dark sets to function correctly (which is why the Dwarf and Haunted Mansion figures generally look so good, and why the figures like Buzz don't ever work as well).

Third and possibly most important, you have to actually sculpt the physical facial features in that you're projecting onto. Bone structure elements such as a physical nose, cheeks and eye sockets are of VITAL importance. It's a major reason Buzz and HM's current bride appear off, the faces are much too flat to give proper depth. Even the older HM facial projections such as Leota and the graveyard busts had proper facial sculpting (and they've been around for over 45 years now).

But you also need impeccable maintenance as well as a fourth requirement, which is a particular issue with WDW. Projectors need constant monitoring and strict maintenance. Bulbs being a common problem in projector tech. If you neglect a projector, the image starts to become dim, dirty and fuzzy (commonly affecting the Blackbeard/Davy Jones effect and Soarin). Thankfully newer projected faces are digital instead of film, so that's one element that retains good image quality at least. Still though, unless maintenance does their job properly, they can get very ugly. Worst case scenario is the projection doesn't work at all and you get faceless nightmare fuel. The Wardrobe figure in the BATB area suffered issues like this shortly after opening for instance.
Click to expand...
I seen videos of the Wardrobe in BATB and I didn't know that her face was projected at all.
 

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