Yup. Now you know. I had a general idea of what the underside looked like, but it was pretty fascinating to actually see it in motion.
Europe In The Air
- Thread starter Zachary
- Start date
This mechanism is called a Stewart platform. It is common in robotics and motion simulators. By manipulating the lengths of the 6 linear actuators, you can achieve 6 degree of freedom motion of the platform. Because the actuators are software programmable, it would be relatively trivial to reprogram the ride. A relatively easy way to upgrade this ride would be to replace the low res projectors with a modem 3D projection system like real3D or IMAX 3D. License an existing "Europe from the Air" style movie, and reprogram the motion platform to match the movie.
My first visit to BGW was last year, and my thoughts after Pirates, EitA, and Darkcastle was disappointment that the 3d on rides in a major theme park was of lower quality than that in a run of the mill movie theater, down the road.
My first visit to BGW was last year, and my thoughts after Pirates, EitA, and Darkcastle was disappointment that the 3d on rides in a major theme park was of lower quality than that in a run of the mill movie theater, down the road.
How about we go back to the beginning... When the ride first opened. I found this video after looking around on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nc6QcervFio
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nc6QcervFio
ToddF said:
My only comment is one, they own the "Europe in the Air" film and it isn't too terribly bad so there is no need to license it or a another similar one.
Also EitA doesn't have 3D, never has and will now probably never. But I actually thought that Pirates and DarKastle had pretty decent/good 3D setups.
EDIT:
Did Bob just say Celtic Fyre exhibit? This man obviously hasn't seen Celtic Fyre for it is no exhibit but a high quality performance!
Governor looking like a boss. Too bad he was promoting this crappy ride.
Maybe he got a kickback or something?
Maybe he got a kickback or something?
^
Had to"close his eyes" (bet he got sick too). "Great way to see Europe without leaving Virginia"...thought the park itself was good for that. Anyway, doesn't this just totally sound like Total Recall? You don't need the actual experience. Pay us X amount and we will give you the memories! Nausea included for free!!
Had to"close his eyes" (bet he got sick too). "Great way to see Europe without leaving Virginia"...thought the park itself was good for that. Anyway, doesn't this just totally sound like Total Recall? You don't need the actual experience. Pay us X amount and we will give you the memories! Nausea included for free!!
Zachary said:
Thanks! I have a huge boatload of statistics for Corkscrew Hill. Most of those statistics still apply to Europe in the Air.
Just another note: It has been stated before that cabins were originally fully enclosed. I can confirm that they simply cut off off the top portion of the simulator.
Larry Giles was very skeptical at first, and basically he told the people from Electrosonic to "prove it" that this would work. Since they didn't have enough room to build an actual projector room on an IMAX scale, they set up four projectors and divided the screens into four parts. Usually, 3-D imagery gets blurred when you look at it from the wrong direction, but they found that riders automatically tilt their head in the proper direction as the ride jolts them.
So this 4-part split projection or "bug-eyes" is what is responsible for my nausea?
I'll be happy to share all of the statistics that I have when I get back home. I have most of them compiled into one PDF format.
Actually, that wasn't the main reason for the nausea and motion problems. The problem lies with how they programmed this ride in comparison to Corkscrew Hill. They didn't have much time to hire as many professionals to program Europe in the Air. For one example: whenever you see the computer-generated "up in the sky" transitions, the simulator all of a sudden ducks downward.
chickenking said:
Actually, that wasn't the main reason for the nausea and motion problems. The problem lies with how they programmed this ride in comparison to Corkscrew Hill. They didn't have much time to hire as many professionals to program Europe in the Air. For one example: whenever you see the computer-generated "up in the sky" transitions, the simulator all of a sudden ducks downward.
Another old youtube video I found, from the Park's official account.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY_MNXtHXUs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY_MNXtHXUs
Alright, I finally got home. I was able to combine some of my documents into a PDF. If I find anything else of interest, I might update it. But for now, you can download or view the PDF here.
That was stellar! Learned so much and didn't realize all the issues they faced.
That was a great read I never knew what the simulator looked like before Corkscrew Hill. I thought it was always like that, not like a box. And I wonder how many times EITA had to run 2 simulators, I remember when Corkscrew Hill was there that they ran 2 simulators all the time, because it was actually popular. But I've never gone on EITA when they were running 2 simulators. Thanks for all the hard work on that I Learned a Lot!
Then how come when my mom put all her loose articles under the seat they ended up at the front of the simulator?!?