MerlinTheGoat
Well-Known Member
While I think the projected faces on these figures look pretty good as far as projections go, some of the more recent and advanced physical face technology is hardly at any sort of disadvantage compared to projection tech. This Abraham Lincoln animatronic head in particular from D23 last year shows a major advancement they've made to facial features recently (it looks rather stunning)-
I think there are two key reasons the Dwarf faces look better than Buzz. First of all as stated- the lighting. These figures are no doubt going to be in a low-lit dark ride type environment. Likely very low show lighting just with the glow of the gemstones for other sources, compared to Buzz's (IMO) too-bright lighting. The other reason I think they look better is that the designers seem to have put more effort in sculpting the physical features of the faces to project on. They have actual physical noses and distinct cheek bones to their heads. Buzz's face seems much flatter of a surface and the projection just doesn't look as natural. The same problem I feel is also true of the current bride in Haunted Mansion, when her projected face is off it shows that the underlying head model is just a flat surface. This affects the projection and makes it look flat and fake. I can't find a picture at the moment, but I remember seeing a shot of the bride with the projection off, and underneath looked like a blank flat surface (there may not have been any physical features at all).
On the other hand though (and somewhat ironically), the now MANY decades old projected heads of Haunted Mansion including Leota and the graveyard busts STILL look surprisingly great even today. Again I believe one key reason is because underneath they made far more of an attempt to sculpt the physical facial features into the surface of the busts. So when the projection is mapped to the surface, it looks much more natural and 3-dimensional. You can see what i'm talking about in these pictures where the projections are off (either that or the lighting is too bright to see the projection) and you can see the underlying features of the busts-
EDIT- Second image was broken, go to the bottom of this page to see it-
http://www.doombuggies.com/phantom2.php
Projected faces can be hit or miss (this is also true of off looking AA's such as Ariel, but that is the fault of the artists, not the tech itself, an all around well designed AA always looks great IMO). It's highly dependent on lighting and the underlying physical surface that is being projected on. AND of course maintenance, which is usually where WDW in particular flops like a fish. WDW I shouldn't need to say has an ABYSMAL track record, ESPECIALLY with projector maintenance nowadays. Projection effects are arguably even less cared for than physical elements. Soarin has looked awful for years now with no improvement in sight, and even still great attractions such as American Adventure have issues with the projected effects (the shaking, blur and artifacts are very distracting). Not to mention the hit or miss nature of other projected AA's in the rest of FLE such as the wardrobe, Lumiere and the magic rose. And of course POTC's Blackbeard/Davy Jones was allowed to rot for a ridiculous amount of time before anything was done about it. There's a lot to be concerned about here.
Sad though it may be, there ARE people out there who won't be able to tell when something is broken in an animatronic (especially on moving rides, cough yeti cough). Perhaps because they just don't know it's even supposed to move for instance. But there's probably not a reasonably well sighted person in existence who wouldn't double take at a faceless/mouthless dwarf AA. When facial projections aren't working, it's immediately obvious that things are very wrong. Non working versions of these figures are going to be even more difficult to cover up than plopping a themed scrim over the top of a piece of furniture. Unless they want to drop a burlap sack on their heads and pretend the dwarfs are redneck serial killers...
In an ideal maintenance situation, i might place the dwarf facial projections as close in quality to the old Haunted Mansion heads (more cartoony of course, but the quality of the effect is what i'm referring to), rather than the newer worse projections they used for the bride or Buzz. IMHO anyways. Except perhaps for something I can't quite put my finger on with the Dopey figure (and no it's not because he has diamonds stuck on his eyes). He may look better when you actual ride (really, projections look far better in person than when they're shot on video, recording video screens ruins their quality), but there's something that seems a bit off about him in the video. The other figures' faces actually look good IMO though. Again though I like projections more when they are used conservatively, as more of a side show element in a bigger E ticket attraction. Something to fill the gaps between the animatronics instead of being an integral part of the actual centerpiece figures and sets. I think Haunted Mansion in its original form did this well, along with all four classic Future World E tickets. They had a few projected elements, but they were never the center of attention.
I think there are two key reasons the Dwarf faces look better than Buzz. First of all as stated- the lighting. These figures are no doubt going to be in a low-lit dark ride type environment. Likely very low show lighting just with the glow of the gemstones for other sources, compared to Buzz's (IMO) too-bright lighting. The other reason I think they look better is that the designers seem to have put more effort in sculpting the physical features of the faces to project on. They have actual physical noses and distinct cheek bones to their heads. Buzz's face seems much flatter of a surface and the projection just doesn't look as natural. The same problem I feel is also true of the current bride in Haunted Mansion, when her projected face is off it shows that the underlying head model is just a flat surface. This affects the projection and makes it look flat and fake. I can't find a picture at the moment, but I remember seeing a shot of the bride with the projection off, and underneath looked like a blank flat surface (there may not have been any physical features at all).
On the other hand though (and somewhat ironically), the now MANY decades old projected heads of Haunted Mansion including Leota and the graveyard busts STILL look surprisingly great even today. Again I believe one key reason is because underneath they made far more of an attempt to sculpt the physical facial features into the surface of the busts. So when the projection is mapped to the surface, it looks much more natural and 3-dimensional. You can see what i'm talking about in these pictures where the projections are off (either that or the lighting is too bright to see the projection) and you can see the underlying features of the busts-
EDIT- Second image was broken, go to the bottom of this page to see it-
http://www.doombuggies.com/phantom2.php
Projected faces can be hit or miss (this is also true of off looking AA's such as Ariel, but that is the fault of the artists, not the tech itself, an all around well designed AA always looks great IMO). It's highly dependent on lighting and the underlying physical surface that is being projected on. AND of course maintenance, which is usually where WDW in particular flops like a fish. WDW I shouldn't need to say has an ABYSMAL track record, ESPECIALLY with projector maintenance nowadays. Projection effects are arguably even less cared for than physical elements. Soarin has looked awful for years now with no improvement in sight, and even still great attractions such as American Adventure have issues with the projected effects (the shaking, blur and artifacts are very distracting). Not to mention the hit or miss nature of other projected AA's in the rest of FLE such as the wardrobe, Lumiere and the magic rose. And of course POTC's Blackbeard/Davy Jones was allowed to rot for a ridiculous amount of time before anything was done about it. There's a lot to be concerned about here.
Sad though it may be, there ARE people out there who won't be able to tell when something is broken in an animatronic (especially on moving rides, cough yeti cough). Perhaps because they just don't know it's even supposed to move for instance. But there's probably not a reasonably well sighted person in existence who wouldn't double take at a faceless/mouthless dwarf AA. When facial projections aren't working, it's immediately obvious that things are very wrong. Non working versions of these figures are going to be even more difficult to cover up than plopping a themed scrim over the top of a piece of furniture. Unless they want to drop a burlap sack on their heads and pretend the dwarfs are redneck serial killers...
In an ideal maintenance situation, i might place the dwarf facial projections as close in quality to the old Haunted Mansion heads (more cartoony of course, but the quality of the effect is what i'm referring to), rather than the newer worse projections they used for the bride or Buzz. IMHO anyways. Except perhaps for something I can't quite put my finger on with the Dopey figure (and no it's not because he has diamonds stuck on his eyes). He may look better when you actual ride (really, projections look far better in person than when they're shot on video, recording video screens ruins their quality), but there's something that seems a bit off about him in the video. The other figures' faces actually look good IMO though. Again though I like projections more when they are used conservatively, as more of a side show element in a bigger E ticket attraction. Something to fill the gaps between the animatronics instead of being an integral part of the actual centerpiece figures and sets. I think Haunted Mansion in its original form did this well, along with all four classic Future World E tickets. They had a few projected elements, but they were never the center of attention.
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