A stuck-at-home Disney parks fan, missing the iconic Disneyland firework display, has used a combination of 3D printing and projection mapping to take the spectacle and put it in his own home.
With Disneyland closed due to the Coronavirus pandemic, Dr Tim Abram wanted to recreate the show so he could share the experience with his three-year-old niece.
“I had seen a similar video which projected fireworks video onto a printed model and it looked amazing,” said Abram, speaking to Planet Attractions. “I wanted to experiment with the process and create something specifically for the Anaheim castle.”
Abram - who has a background in engineering and design, and also holds a PhD in bioengineering - combined a 3D-printed model of the Sleeping Beauty castle with a projector and a fan-recorded version of the California fireworks show to recreate the display normally only seen at Disneyland.
“I use a lot of the same tools for 3D design and prototyping in my work, and this was a fun side project,” says Abram, who worked on the projection mapping for a number of weeks to produce the final result.
“I wanted to keep things simple and avoid having to manipulate the video or fine-tune the projector position relative to the castle, so I ended up modifying the 3D model using forced perspective to align the castle to the fireworks video/ For example, the towers are tilted back slightly to match the angle from which the video was recorded. I also had to move some elements closer to the front of the castle so the projected video didn’t go noticeably out of focus.”
Abram made modifications to the castle model using a 3D modelling program called Blender.
“Model editing took the most time, mostly because I was still learning some new techniques,” he says. “Due to the size of the castle, I had to print about 20 separate parts and glue them together. After everything was assembled, I filled in any remaining gaps and gave the whole thing several coats of white paint.”
After completing the project, Abram shared the results with Reddit, gaining huge traction on the website’s Disney and 3Dprinting subreddits.
“The response from both communities was overwhelming,” says Abrams. “I know a lot of us wish we could see these shows in person again soon, so bringing the fireworks show home is the next best thing.”
Disney’s nighttime fireworks and light shows remain on hold for now. When they return to all of its parks, Epcot will introduce its new Harmonious show, which the operator has billed as “one of the largest nighttime spectaculars ever created for a Disney Park.”
For the New Year, Disney shared a special pre-recorded presentation of “Fantasy in the Sky” so that fans across the world could celebrate at home.
Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park remain closed and will reopen at a later date, pending state and local government approvals.
A stuck-at-home Disney parks fan, missing the iconic Disneyland firework display, has used a combination of 3D printing and projection mapping to take the spectacle and put it in his own home.
With Disneyland closed due to the Coronavirus pandemic, Dr Tim Abram wanted to recreate the show so he could share the experience with his three-year-old niece.
“I had seen a similar video which projected fireworks video onto a printed model and it looked amazing,” said Abram, speaking to Planet Attractions. “I wanted to experiment with the process and create something specifically for the Anaheim castle.”
Abram - who has a background in engineering and design, and also holds a PhD in bioengineering - combined a 3D-printed model of the Sleeping Beauty castle with a projector and a fan-recorded version of the California fireworks show to recreate the display normally only seen at Disneyland.
“I use a lot of the same tools for 3D design and prototyping in my work, and this was a fun side project,” says Abram, who worked on the projection mapping for a number of weeks to produce the final result.
“I wanted to keep things simple and avoid having to manipulate the video or fine-tune the projector position relative to the castle, so I ended up modifying the 3D model using forced perspective to align the castle to the fireworks video/ For example, the towers are tilted back slightly to match the angle from which the video was recorded. I also had to move some elements closer to the front of the castle so the projected video didn’t go noticeably out of focus.”
Abram made modifications to the castle model using a 3D modelling program called Blender.
“Model editing took the most time, mostly because I was still learning some new techniques,” he says. “Due to the size of the castle, I had to print about 20 separate parts and glue them together. After everything was assembled, I filled in any remaining gaps and gave the whole thing several coats of white paint.”
After completing the project, Abram shared the results with Reddit, gaining huge traction on the website’s Disney and 3Dprinting subreddits.
“The response from both communities was overwhelming,” says Abrams. “I know a lot of us wish we could see these shows in person again soon, so bringing the fireworks show home is the next best thing.”
Disney’s nighttime fireworks and light shows remain on hold for now. When they return to all of its parks, Epcot will introduce its new Harmonious show, which the operator has billed as “one of the largest nighttime spectaculars ever created for a Disney Park.”
For the New Year, Disney shared a special pre-recorded presentation of “Fantasy in the Sky” so that fans across the world could celebrate at home.
Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park remain closed and will reopen at a later date, pending state and local government approvals.
