Disney is known for their movies, princesses, and now a streaming service, but they are also powerhouses in developing new technologies.
Disney owns over 2,200 active patents protected by the U.S. patent office. According to Disney’s website, over 300 of these are for Imagineering technologies used to make immersive experiences for visitors of their parks.
One area where Disney is on the cutting edge is projection mapping. This technology turns ordinary objects like landscapes and building facades into movie screens.
Just in the past few months, several Disney patents aimed at refining this technology have become public. The patents reveal Disney’s plans to improve their methods for projecting colors and sounds more accurately on moving objects, including people.
While it is unclear how Disney will use the technology, it seems they are set on making things like makeup and costume changes a thing of the past. Disney plans to use computers and cameras to track performers and other moving objects, which they call “blobs”. Projectors will then shine light onto the moving objects, changing their appearance.
Their plans appear to go beyond just image projection, however. They also aim to revolutionize sound projection.
Disney is working on advancing audio technologies to improve sound quality projected from speakers behind screens. A close read of Disney’s patent reveals that they classify masks as a type of screen. This further hints at Disney’s plans to integrate projection mapping onto faces of performers.
While projection mapping has become fairly conventional at Disney attractions, imagineers seem intent on pushing the technology forward.
One recent example of how ubiquitous the technology has become is displayed in the Odyssey Pavilion at Epcot. The exhibit, called The Epcot Experience, showcases Disney’s plans for the ongoing Epcot remodel. More than a dozen projectors mounted above a miniature model of the park preview the upcoming changes. Disney’s use of this technology for such a mundane purpose shows how integral it has become to their approach to entertaining and communicating with their guests.