Thread: Anyone know how this effect was done?

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Hello all you Halloween crazy people. I come to you once again for help in figuring something out. I don't post that often but it seems like most of the time when I do, it's for some help with some little thing. Anyway, I was at Epcot a few weeks ago and rode the Journey into Imagination ride and saw an effect that is driving me crazy. There was a cage with a large butterfly on a swing swinging back and forth in it and as you went past, the butterfly disappears leaving an empty swing. You could tell there was a line in the center of the front of the cage where the butterfly would start to disappear. I'm thinking it was probably done with mirrors but I just can't figure out exactly how the mirror(s) should be placed to get the effect. I know it could have some application for Halloween either to make something disappear or appear in a cage. I went onto Youtube to find a video of the ride to get a better look at it and hopefully figure it out. I found the video but still can't get it. It drives me insane when I can't figure out how an effect works. Sorry I don't know how to embed the video so here's the link to it. The effect starts at about 4:17. I hope someone on here can tell me how to do it.

YouTube - Epcot Imagination Journey Into Imagination with Figment

Well, whadda ya know! I put the link in and it embedded all by itself.

Looks like an old magic trick I used to mess with called Mirror box. Or something of that nature. It looks like a mirror going right down the middle. For both sides. As far as the minor rocking it could be the cage is rocking a tiny bit it makes it look like the butter fly is. Or possibly the colors. Leme draw something up to give you an idea.

Ok im going to try to explain my terrible picture basically all it is, is half of everything like take a butterfly cut it right down the middle and put it up to a mirror it will look like 1. bleh im really bad at explaining hopfully you understand what I mean and if you need me to i'll try to explain it better. Also now that I think about it for the movement im guessing its the lighting thats moving. Notice the shadow and how the shadow moves only on the roof of the cage that happends to be a bright color.. Anyway hope this was helpful. Sorry for my wording and terrible spelling and punctuation im slightly drunk and its 3 in the morning

btw the cage bar happends to be right in the middle where the mirrors would be.

This is a very, very old magic principle, albeit with an interesting twist.

The basic premise is the setup in Fig. 90 of this link:

Chapter 14 - Mirror Trick, Magic Optical Illusion

The key is what is going on under the table; ignore the head. This effectively is the interior of the cage except that the mirrors are not angled; i.e., their backs are pressed together.

On the right side of the cage is half a butterfly and a half rod upon which the butterfly is perched. They are right up against the mirror. On the left side of the cage is simply another half rod, also right up against the mirror.

The very slight rocking motion of the two rods is coordinated; all you need is one mechanism. In fact, if you look closely at the video, at one point or other, the two rods do not perfectly line up.

From the right side of the setup, you see a full butterfly in a cage perched on a swing. From the left side, you only see a cage with a swing.

If building one of these, you would probably want to do away with the swing and just vanish a stationary object. If you want a swing, you're going to do a lot more work getting it just right. Moreover, you would need to set it up in a contained environment where reflections would be consistent on both sides. A cage makes this difficult but really brings home the illusion.

I understand Disney has that kind of staff and facilities.

As Jaba rightly notes, the mirror principle is also used in a commonly found magic box designed to make objects vanish and disappear; virtually every magic shop carries some form of it, although there is a ubiquitous cardboard version that comes with a dragon caricature.

The principle behind this effect is more in line with Fig. 91 of the same link.

By the way, always nice to inadvertently come across Eric Idle, my favourite Python.

Cheers,

JD

Edit: Noticed Jaba posted the drawing just prior to this post.

Thank you both for your explanations. I think I got it now. I think I was assuming that the mirror was placed in the cage on a diagonal and that was throwing me off. Now I feel really stupid for not being able to get it. Thanks Jaba for taking the time to make the diagram and for the link, JD.

Originally Posted by pysankar

Thank you both for your explanations. I think I got it now. I think I was assuming that the mirror was placed in the cage on a diagonal and that was throwing me off. Now I feel really stupid for not being able to get it. Thanks Jaba for taking the time to make the diagram and for the link, JD.

Most of the special effects behind the Disney attractions, particularly the Haunted House, represent technology that is very very old. If you like mirror tricks, then I would assume by now that you heard of "Pepper' Ghost" This is another Disney favorite that is used often by haunters. Doing a simple search here will probably yield a full evening's worth of material to read.

In short, with Pepper's Ghost (if done right) you could make any object (or person) have that ethereal "ghostly" look. Overall it is a very easy concept to implement, but when you start getting to human sizes, you are going to be dealing with very large pieces of plate glass.

There are many more mirror tricks out there. The Butterfly here is a good example of the mirror trick used with the 'severed head on a table' effect (which I believe was illustrated by another poster).

There is a book out on the imagineering behind many of the Disney attractions, and they do reveal many of the tricks Disney uses in that book.

Enjoy!