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Technology update
Ninjago The Ride
Exploring the interactive technlogy behind Legoland's hit new dark ride
Riders on Ninjago demonstrate the Maestro technology from Triotech
Offering a breakthrough in interactivity, the industry's first 4D dark ride using gesture-based technology has been entertaining guests at two Legoland parks since this spring – and soon three more will debut their own versions of the attraction featuring the same Maestro system from Triotech
Interactivity Maestro,
please! Triotech’s Maestro hand gesture technology represents a major innovation in the way in which riders interact with digital content in dark rides. Players can use their left hand, right hand, or both hands. For attraction operators, this intuitive “easy to learn but hard to master” quality will drive repeat visits, as well as offering a robust and easily maintainable system. Another new technology from
Triotech integrated into Ninjago The Ride is illusio, which allows media content to be projected onto 3D objects using projection mapping. This allows physical elements usually associated purely with theming to become an active part of the experience. For example, a barrel shape when hit by a gunshot can show a bullet hole and beer leaking from the barrel. Together Maestro and illusio give
ride designers new tools to immerse guests in a story without “breaking the spell”. Triotech adds that one of its strengths is that it offers a full range of services from its new base in Montreal, combining studio, creative services, engineering, software development and a lab where full scale rides or scenes can be built and tested ahead of installation.
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injago The Ride is the signature attraction of the Ninjago World themed areas at both Legoland Billund in Denmark and Legoland California. As
from November it will also feature at Legoland Malaysia, before arriving at Legoland Florida and Legoland Deutschland in early 2017. At each park, guests are invited to act as ninja warriors in
training under the guidance of Master Wu as they attempt to vanquish a legion of enemies, from snake tribes to ghosts and skeletons. By making simple hand movements – rather than using a shooter or other handheld device – players move elements such as lightning bolts, shockwaves, fire and ice to control the outcome of their adventure. “Maestro hand gesture technology is unique,” notes
Triotech CEO Ernest Yale. “Outside of the fun and inherent user-friendliness, it offers an important marketing tool for parks. First in the world is a strong statement.” “Being the first with an idea is most often a matter of
timing and circumstance,” observes Tom Christiansen, Legoland Park designer at Merlin Magic Making. “Circumstance being anything from technology know how, resources, belief (or trust) from various stakeholders, and timing being about: Is the world ready for this? Are we out too late? Or too early?” Christiansen concedes that, “Maybe we were not the first
to dream this approach – this way of battling – but the fact that most of our guests, not least the children, have become familiar with sensor technology, touchscreens, smart boards and stuff like that, encouraged us to think this could work. And then when we found a company that had a similar belief and a high enough ambition, we realised: Hey! This idea can actually become reality!” Launched first in Denmark, Ninjago The Ride was realised
by Merlin Magic Making (the creative arm of park operator Merlin Entertainments) together with Triotech and also ART Engineering, which provided the 4-seater ride vehicles. The two companies previously collaborated on Wonder Mountain's Guardian for Canada's Wonderland, which uses more traditional gun-based shooting devices. Triotech’s involvement in the Ninjago project began 18 months previously. The Canadian firm came up with some
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ideas for an interactive system suitable for Legoland's key market – children aged 4 to 10 – and quickly prototyped some solutions. It decided to not only move away from a weapon-like device but to replace it with
...nothing. Guests would use simply their hands to point at the screen in order to interact. After all, the ride's story is that passengers are apprentice ninjas, learning to master the basic elements. So why would they be holding anything in their hands? The Maestro hand gesture technology is embedded in
the ride's lap bars, with an individual sensor for each guest that detects hand motions above it. A calculation is made and translated to a virtual projectile on screen as the software calculates where the guest is aiming and plots the projectiles to the right spot on screen. As the media content is all in 3D and everything happens in real-time (noting is pre-rendered), the guest really has the impression that the projectile “comes out” of their hands. So what was it that impressed the team from Legoland
about the Maestro system? “First of all, it works!” smiles Christiansen. “It is quite complicated the way the hand movement is detected by the sensory field in front of you. A whole system of cameras and sensors translates that small input into a spectacular action on a big 3D screen. And in particular, it is quite accurate; you can actually aim and shoot with a great deal of precision, once you have become familiar with the functionality. It is not just about going crazy with your arms!” “The fact that
Ninjago The Ride is being deployed across several Legoland parks at an extremely rapid rate is a nice pat on the back for Triotech,” concludes the company’s vice- president of sales and business development, Gabi Salabi.”
trio-tech.com
Chris Brzezixki, Ninjago project manager for Merlin Entertainaments, with Triotecth CEO Ernest Yale (right)
SEPTEMBER 2016
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