P3D Re: Mask illusions

[pd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Ronald Beck writes:
> > > >Viewed at a distance the depth appears reversed, i.e., instead
> > > >of the hollow (back) end, one normally sees the front of the
> > > >mask, a face, looking at them.  The illusion is so strong that
> > > >most people have to come very close or even touch the mask to
> > > >get back the correct hollow image.
> > 
> > This is the same illusion used by Disney Imagineers in the Haunted
> > House in Disney World in Florida. There is a section where your
> > car is pulled past a series of marble looking busts of men's
> > heads. These faces appear to be 3D, and rotate to follow YOU as
> > you go by. Of course, they couldn't all be following just you if
> > the next guy thinks they are following him, or the next gal
> > her... A clever use of the effect! I look forward to seeing it
> > again in two weeks... =)
> > 
> 
> We were stopped in front of these faces for about 15 minutes the
> last time I rode this ride and I continuously stared at these trying
> to figure out just how it worked.  I was under the impression that
> the marble looking busts were simply featurless heads (with
> protruding nose) that had the face projected on.  I know that the
> face was projected because the picture of the bust I took had a
> smooth front.  I could not tell though whether these were convex or
> concave.  I was tempted to get out and make a close visual
> inspection (we were in there that long!) but my boys were 3 and 1
> and would not have liked dad leaving the car.

This sounds like a different part of the ride.  The inverted masks are
right at the beginning, before you even get in the car, as I recall.

Later in the ride, there is a set of singing masks at floor level as
you ride through a cemetary.  These are done by projecting film onto
featureless busts.  I was astonished at how lifelike the animatronics
were until I discovered how it was done.

-pd


-- 
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                             Peter Davis
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