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Infrared reflective paint or tape to trigger window displays at Wizarding World of HP

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18K views 41 replies 13 participants last post by  BobbyA 
#1 ·
Is there any cheap local source of IR reflective paint or tape I could find to convert, say, a #2 pencil into a magic wand? Vs. paying $50 for the IR reflective wand at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter? Heading out to Orlando tomorrow and wondering about local, inexpensive sources. Would be a fun hack to try. :)

Seems confirmed that the displays are activated by a wand tip orb that is IR reflective.
 
#4 ·
Why do you think it is IR reflective, vs any other technology ? For instance a small IR diode would allow the wand to act like a remote control. Instead of pushing the button to send out a signal, you wave the wand.

I read up on them a bit. It looks like they are passive and do not work like a remote.
Here is some material that was suggested as something that might work for this.
http://www.identi-tape.com/high-gain-sheeting.html

If I were going to try to make one, I would go to Michael's or similar and buy a rhinestone jewel.
Kind of like a bedazzle uses. Hemispherical with a little mirror material on the back.
 
#8 ·
Why do you think it is IR reflective, vs any other technology ? For instance a small IR diode would allow the wand to act like a remote control. Instead of pushing the button to send out a signal, you wave the wand.

I read up on them a bit. It looks like they are passive and do not work like a remote.
Here is some material that was suggested as something that might work for this.
http://www.identi-tape.com/high-gain-sheeting.html


If I were going to try to make one, I would go to Michael's or similar and buy a rhinestone jewel.
Kind of like a bedazzle uses. Hemispherical with a little mirror material on the back.
Thanks Bobby. Definitely passive--no battery compartment on the wand. May give Michael's a try and/or Jo-ann's fabrics. Since there's talk of a gray Bumi Chiffon fabric that may be similar to what AtmosfearFX uses as its projection surface at Spirit in-store displays. I've felt the projection surface in a Spirit store and it's semi-thick, gray, and has a stretchy plastic feel--if I recall correctly.

Might "space blanket" material you find in sporting good stores, or camping sections of Walmarts, work? No idea about the optics here. But the space blankets are cheap--typically a buck or two each.

May look for a cheap reflective vest and try that. The high gain reflective tape is over $100 per roll, evidently. Ouch!
 
#5 ·
i have security cameras in & around my house and a vest with reflective tape on it is super bright in the dark when the ir leds from the camera come on

not 100% certain where you can find reflective tape ... but i haven't been in the market for any, so i didn't look and don't happen to remember if i seen any ... probably have but didn't make a mental note about it ... lol :D

amk
 
#7 ·
Hmmm... now where would be the cheapest source of a vest with the kind of reflective tape you're talking about. Then I'd cut out the tape, not needing the vest; a little adhesive--double-sided duct tape--and, possibly, voila! I have a Habor Freight semi-nearby. Or would Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot, etc, have cheap vests like the one you have? I should probably go to YouTube and see if I can find any close-ups of the HP wand "orb" ends. Or maybe there are some close-ups on Google Images.
 
#9 ·
Before I bought a space blanket, I'd use a paper punch on a sheet of aluminium foil to cut out a dot and stick it to a pencil. (BTW gold foil is highly IR reflective).
If looking for the IR reflective tape, I'd look up mfg website and request a sample.
 
#12 ·
Thanks IBC. There's a Party City--also a Dollar Tree--on my way to the airport. Anyone else think the Party City product could work? Would be fun to pick up a paper bunch, some # 2 pencils (also a Staples next door), and just try a variety of things. @Dave, it's about the fun of the hack, not the $50! :)
 
#15 ·
@Bobby, might your suggestions make even more sense given the above observation?
You'd said:
"If I were going to try to make one, I would go to Michael's or similar and buy a rhinestone jewel.
Kind of like a bedazzle uses. Hemispherical with a little mirror material on the back."

I can hit a Michael's on the way to the airport. And I've already packed some #2 pencils and super-glue. :)
 
#17 ·
I just bought some GLINT tape and squares online. I'm going to test it out when they come in. I imagine that the domed shape they use on the wands is due to not knowing exactly what angle people will be waving their wands from and how short or tall the people will be. I may try the domed fake gemstones from a local fabric store too
 
#18 ·
The link in Mike's above post doesn't seem to go anywhere useful now.
If I were trying to make a passive IR reflector wand and didn't have gold foil available...
I would put an aluminum foil disk on the end of a dowel rod, and place over that the dome from a PIR detector.
You can then decorate the side of the "wand" to be anything you want.
 
#19 ·
i'd rather not go with the gold foil route just yet, i'm trying to keep my wand very unassuming. the reason for this is, I have the Lucius Malfoy walking stick/hidden wand. the wand does not come in an interactive flavor due to being a replica/collectible. so i'm going to try using a hole punch on some glint tape and use the circular punch out on the end of the wand. this is the fabric i'm going to be trying
Black Pattern Design Font Black-and-white
 
#20 ·
Glad to see this discussion continue. No plans for me and my wife to visit the Harry Potter lands any time soon. But hoping someone comes up with a good hack by the time we do. I mean, yeah, I did end up buying my wife an IR responsive wand in the end. So I'm more interested in the technology / how it works at this point.
 
#21 ·
Is it possible that the harry potter interactive wands could contain RFID chips embedded in the black glass wand-tip beads? Some mention there being a silver or foil item either behind the bead or inside it. Also, in the following thread, a photographer speculates that the bead tips being black is no accident.

http://orlandoinformer.com/topic/3019-ollivander%E2%80%99s-wand-shop-%E2%80%93-diagon-alley-at-universal-studios-florida/page-52

"I think the tip is black for more than just cosmetic reasons. If the tip were clear, then all light (regular visible light, and the infra-red light emitted by the interactive sensor in the window) would be reflected by the wand. In the bright Florida sun, a clear wand tip would be reflecting a lot of sunlight. I think the tip is black so visible light is blocked, and only the infra-red light from the emitter in the window is reflected. I am a semi-professional photographer, and I've taken infra-red photos with my camera. To do that I have to attach an infra-red (IR) filter to my camera lens. The IR filter blocks all visible light so only infra-red light reaches the camera sensor. My IR filter appears to be made of black glass... it's so black that it looks opaque and you can't see through it."

Still hard to believe after all this time no one has really "cracked the code" / hacked the Wizarding World of Harry Potter wands. Since my wife already owns a wand, I'm merely curious how these things work having no active electronics in them. If there is a mini-RFID chip embedded in the tip, this means there's data to be read--and no recognizable data in Home Brew wands means none will work. I did think the comment and insight about the black tip was interesting though. Where one buys a black glass bead, I don't know. But one of those super-glued to a wooden pencil might be interesting...

Again, hard to believe no one has discovered the secret of the potter interactive wands / reverse-engineered the potter interactive wands. Seems certain that the 4 visible IR LEDs at each Spell Site are involved, reading the motion of the wand-point. But if there's RFID involved, again, it seems like no home made potter wands will work at the interactive displays in either Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade.
 
#22 ·
I don't think the photographer is on to anything. The rest of the world outside that window does not have an IR (pass) filter to eliminate visible light. Yet the window functions. BTW RFID would not give you a point source to track, it would only tell you wand number 487 was in the area of the window.
 
#23 ·
Could the RFID still communicate that the point source is a valid wand. Heck, could be a single number for all wands.

And would it be true that a black glass bead would be an easier surface for Universal's Potter spell tracker to get a fix on and follow it?

Sorry for my technical ignorance. But I'd like to keep this quest alive--for someone out there to explain precisely how the wizarding world of harry potter interactive wands work under the hood, proving it with a hack and/or reverse engineering a wand.

You know, if the interactive wand doesn't work by IR reflection plus RFID, what are some other methods that might explain how the effect is accomplished.

In stage magic there are often many different methods for achieving the same effect. But it seems folks are narrowing things down by, say, noting the 4 red LED arrays, that look purple when photographed, in each interactive display.
 
#24 ·
After a few minutes reading the available information, it seems pretty clear the wand tip is just a reflector. That the park has an IR emitter, and watches the pattern the reflecting tip created in the air. Probably with an IR video camera digitizing the shape and then a computer guessing what you are trying to create. Like when you draw answers with your finger tip on a touchscreen. You might be able to see the wand tip with an xbox kinect. I don't see anything that makes me believe it has RFID inside, or actively emits IR or RF.
 
#25 ·
Thanks Bobby. I know it has no active electronics in it--no battery compartment. Thought of RFID because RFID chips themselves don't require a self-contained power source. Interesting about an IR video camera digitizing the *shape* of the wand tip. So you mean exact dimensions of the half sphere of the tip may be part of the mix? People on other discussions have mentioned the XBOX Kinect and possibly seeing the tip. I have the working wand, but no xbox kinect--or inclination to buy one just for the sake of this particular experiment. Too many other projects I need to get my butt in gear for this coming Halloween.

Thanks for your ideas and insight on this thread. Hope someone out there on the Internet solves this technological puzzle. I'll post a link here if I find anything definitive or highly suggestive. Maybe others will discover this thread by googling and contribute.
 
#26 ·
No, I don't think the camera cares about the shape of the tip per se.
I meant the camera saw a bright spot trace out a series of lines which formed the shape of a square, and decided the tracing wasn't the shape of a triangle or circle.
 
#28 ·
IBC, looks like that is the answer. I did a very quick patent search the other day, but got too many hits to care that much.
Mike, it looks like you could glue a ball bearing on the end of your stick and get the system to respond.
It would take a more specialized setup to look at it with two colors, but that is possible if they got too many fake wands.
Interesting that it is an offshoot of a camera lens detection device (the other patent referenced in this patent).
Perhaps you could test the theory and wave a pocket camera in place of the wand (cell phone camera lens may be too small).
 
#31 · (Edited)
Thanks IBC and Bobby. The keywords that jumped out at me in the alleged Wizarding World of Harry Potter Interactive Wand patent were retroreflective / retroreflector and "passive" regarding the wand itself. The proof will be in someone getting to the parks and testing something that actually works. I've not heard reports of anyone who has successfully created their own functioning interactive wand to activate the window displays in Diagon Alley & Hogsmeade. Surely someone will do so soon unless there's a truly "occult" aspect about the wand technology we've not read about yet. Occult in the non-supernatural sense of the word--meaning hidden from the eye.

Interesting link about Retroreflection:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retroreflector


Have not yet had a chance to read every word on the references provided, but they look like good ones. Thanks again. Wish I *did* have plans for visiting Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade soon. But would rather someone else make and document the discovery.
 
#30 ·
got too many fake wands.
While the occasional person may do that just for the fun of trying to make it work I wouldn't see this as being a major issue. You spent thousands to get to WWOHP and just plunked down another hundred for the robe, 25 for the school scarf etc. The $50 you spent at the wand ceremony is small in comparison. And, the wand is a super cool souvenir-especially when you got to use it.

I can make a set of mouse ears for about $1 but spend $20 every trip to Disney because it wouldn't be the same thing.

However, I would LOVE to know how they do this just for the solution to the puzzle.
 
#32 ·
I came across this thread yesrerday, and came across a statement in the following article today, which may indicate it's not possible to use a non-authentic wand.

The article: bradjashinsky.com/universal-creative-takes-muggles-behind-the-scenes-of-the-wizarding-world-of-harry-potter/

The telling line being:

IR also can’t distinguish between an authentic wand and a knock-off.
 
#36 ·
My daughter got an interactive wand from Universal California. I've x-rayed the tip and it is a spherical reflector, not hemispherical, as some people suspect. To reflect enough IR back to the cameras, the tip is a "cat's eye retro-reflector". The dark color probably prevents unwanted wavelengths from interfering with the signal.
 
#38 ·
I made a working interactive wand

So I made my own interactive wand using retroreflective tape simply applied to the end of my hand-made wand.
I tried it out at universal in LA, and though it was touchy, it worked. However, I did it at night
youtube /watch?v=HIjmK_dTpwQ

I made a few others with glass beads and hemispherical beads and they did not work.
I'm thinking it was because I tried it in full daylight.

The next attempt will be with a dark glass bead to try to filter daylight interference
 
#39 ·
I just confirmed the wand is an IR reflector. I re-discovered this thread, grabbed my daughter's wand (INT Birch I) and just controlled my 3 axis skull with it. The IR Trackir camera "see" the wand.

I now have a mission in the next 5 months to come up with a way to do something cool with the wand and an animatronic before 10/31.
 
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