A 3D Portal.(Technology Information)

A stereoscopic motion ride transports viewers to a world of superheroes

Millions of people will descend on the nation's amusement parks this summer in search of thrills and spills, and one new attraction that's not disappointing vacationers so far is the "7th Portal 3D Simulator Experience," which opened recently at several Paramount theme parks. The stereoscopic 3D ride film, created by artists at Blur Studio (Venice, CA), immerses viewers in a world populated by superheroes and villains from the popular "7th Portal" Internet comic series by Stan Lee, creator of classic comic book characters such as SpiderMan and the X-Men. Early reviews of the ride film by visitors have ranked it as one of the park's best attractions.

The 3D adventure begins when one of the villains from the episodes bursts through the screen and drags the audience into the parallel dimension of Darkmoor. There, visitors join six superheroes in a fight to save Earth.

The plot may have a familiar tone, but the 4-minute adventure will take viewers on a unique, true-3D adventure. "We used stereoscopic 3D, so the effects jump right out at you, and they give the audience a sense of interacting directly with the larger-than-life characters on the screen," says Blur's Aaron Powell, who co-directed the project with Yas Takata, the studio's veteran ride-film director. "We thought that having the audience interacting with the characters would be far more compelling than just flying around in space and occasionally bumping into objects--the formula for most motion rides."

The designers faced a number of technical hurdles while creating the in-your-face 3D effects. "7th Portal" was the studio's first experience in creating stereoscopic effects, so the design team spent a great deal of time researching the required technology and studying existing stereoscopic films to determine which effects worked and why. Once, Powell even park-hopped among three theme parks in a single day to experience firsthand some of the newer stereoscopic films and the effects they had on the audience.

"We found that the stereoscopic effects worked best when the motion platform was fairly stationary," says Powell. "The effects started to flatten out when the audience was bouncing around too much."

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