In the fall of 2003, to coincide with the release of Imagineer Jason Surrell's book, The Haunted Mansion: From The Magic Kingdom to the Movies,  as well as the distribution of the live action movie based on the attraction, Disney released this "book" which essentially is a collection of pieces to construct a small scale paper model of--not The Haunted Mansion--but a form of haunted mansion based more on the production design of the movie.

The ghostly blue nuts and bolts shown in the blister pack attached to the cover are the fasteners for all of the walls, floor, and partial roof.

The availability of the book was short-lived and now it fetches about three to four times the original cover price on the secondary market for a copy in new condition.

It's really geared more for the much younger as is evident in its overall simplicity and the illustrative style of the graphics. Hard core Mansion fans might collect it just because it is what it is, but once it's put together, the result is largely anti-climatic.

However, I decided to scan all of the pieces and take them into the cg realm for a bit of fun. Until an animated fly-through can be rendered out and composited, here are a few stills:

(click images for larger view)

The model was massed using SketchUp Pro 7, then imported to 3DS Max 2009 for materials, lighting and rendering. A bit of post was then done in Photoshop CS2.

In the early stages of planning for The Haunted Mansion, imagineer Ken Anderson created a series of concept sketches for the original idea of a walk-through attraction.

One of those vignettes depicts an overhead view of a dilapidated parlor with an organ and ghostly footprints leading to it.

 

 Having admired this sketch for many years now, I finally found the opportunity to recreate it in 3D with interpretive finishes and materials.

The model space was created mostly in SketchUp Pro 7, then finalized and rendered in 3DS Max 2009 with post done in Photoshop CS2 (click image for larger view).

A relatively quick Photoshop exercise using a downloadable coloring page freely available on the net.

Might use it as an avatar for something.

For this week's Illustration Friday exercise, the topic was "subterranean."

During my first year at Ringling, as a class exercise, I created a series of photo collages using the architecture of a campus building.

One of those collages provided the inspiration for this image (see below).

The image was created using Sketchup pro 7, 3DS Max 2009 and Photoshop.

In an effort to "stay in shape," so to speak, Brock and I have decided to participate in a weekly challenge based on the ideas supplied by illustrationfriday.com

This week's word was "perspective."

So, here's my run at it using 3DS Max and just a bit of Photoshop.

Soon (hopefully) we'll also have a blog set up to showcase these weekly "workouts." It's just too easy to get lazy about things--especially during down time between projects.

The point is to stay sharp...maybe even push a little.

Though, maybe not this week.

Using another of Ray Keim's paper model templates, I completed this short animation exercise recreating the animatronic tombstone found outside the entrance to WDW's Haunted Mansion attraction.

I made some minor modifications to the original graphics to animate the eyes and also changed the design of the base to look more like that of the actual installation.

The model and animation were created in 3DS Max.

A Trial Run
























In 2004, graphic designer and animator Ray Keim created Haunted Dimensions--a website tribute to Disney's Haunted Mansions and all things generally spooky. What has most distinguished Ray's website from other tribute sites is his creation of numerous paper model kits available free to download and construct.

Though the models are intended to be printed and cut out for assembly, I thought it might be interesting to simulate that process digitally--essentially creating pieces of mesh based on the shape of the graphics and then assembling them (mostly) according to the original instructions.

It makes for a great exercise in modeling at the sub-object level.

The initial idea was actually to do this with Ray's model kit for the Liberty Square Haunted Mansion, but I thought I'd start a little smaller and see what I might be getting myself into. So I started with one of the less complex models--the Liberty Square entrance pillar.

Anyone with an affinity for The Haunted Mansion, modeling, or both should visit Haunted Dimensions and browse through all of the galleries and look at the model kits.


Ray is also a seasonal designer with Universal Studios Orlando and works on the design team for the annual Halloween Horror Nights event. Check out his blog (The Mansion Observer) for more on his work at Universal.

This model of the entrance pillar was created and rendered in 3DS Max.