How would I duplicate the Haunted Mansion Stretching Portraits?

[halloweenrick]

Hi all, just seeing if you could help me with an idea that's been kicking around in my head.  If you've been to the Haunted Mansion at Disney, you've seen the 4 stretching portraits in the elevator room.  Would it be possible to duplicate that action indoors of a house? Lets say if I made the painting ( or poster) on a 3' rolling shade.  Could I then use a 4 rpm motor with a Prop-1 to raise and then lower the painting?  I could leave the painting in a frame, and give it an almost "garage door" effect, but it would be cool (and save space) if I could use a rolling shade or similar mechanism.  You can follow the original discussion here at HauntForum http://hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=19948  and check out the motor I'm considering using at ServoCity: http://servocity.com/html/4_rpm_gear_motor.html  I would like to either do this with a PIR or manual trigger.  I hold a party Halloween night while the Trick or Treating is going on and this would give something for the guests to ooh and aah at indoors instead of wandering around the yard while we are trying to set off pneumatic props.  Thanks for all inputs and suggestions in advance!

[BigRez]

It's been a few years since I've been there, but doesn't the whole room appear to be lowering?  That is, not just the paintings stretch but the walls as well?  Is that the intent of the effect - to make the entire room appear to stretch or just the paintings?

I was thinking if I were to do that, I'd need an area with a high ceiling - my entry way goes up to the 2nd floor.  So, a "room" (or elevator) could be built at the front door. After the suspects enter the room and close the door, the room would appear to drop.  This effect would really be accomplished by raising the top part of the room thereby "stretching" the walls and pictures.  That could mean a lot of weight to lift though.

I've bookmarked your other thread because sounds like an interesting project.

[menehune]

I haven't been to the haunted house in disneyland.
One way to stretch a picture would be to have it printed on a rubber sheet and pull the sheet apart.  The picture would elongate along the axis of pull.  Sort of like stretching silly putty to make a distorted image of a transfer from the sunday comics.  Rubber sheet is probably expensive and will either wear out and tear quickly at the mouting points or require stonger motors to pull it apart, the further you go.

Another way could be to have a distorted picture painted or mounted on a tilting table and use mirrors to adjust the parallax? angle between the viewer and the table.  Sort of like adjusting the keystone on a projector screen and LCD or opaque projector to compensate for a non-perpendicular projection lens.  Once the angles and complex mounting is fixed in place, the mirrors could easily change for a large number of repeats with no wear.  Depending upon the size of the mirror, the mounting frame may be large and the motors could potentially induce vibration into the reflected image.  Like how the large side mirror on school buses vibrate when the bus travels down a gravel road.

[BigRez]

The pictures at the Haunted Mansion don't actually "stretch" - they "grow."  The images are not distorted while they grow.  The link provided shows a good example of what appears to be happening.

Found a video of the Haunted Mansion at:   http://www.veoh.com/collection/magickingdom/watch/v537243cd4fXNWa  You can advance to about 0:45 through 2:00.

It does appear if the bottom portion of the pictures may be rolled.  I wonder if you could have the picture printed on canvas (a local company here does that using a large scale plotter/printer) or just print the image on heavy plotter paper and then use a roller mechanism.  I'd be concerned with the spring return of a window shade which may have too much force if wound too much.

[halloweenrick]

Great ideas all!  Menehune you must visit the Haunted Mansion if you're a haunter, it's like our pilgrimage to Mecca.  I still wonder about this motor from ServoCity.  Would I be able to make it operate from a Prop-1 to make it raise and lower?  If I put a shaft hub on with 2 pulleys and wire to pull up the poster or picture, would the Prop-1 be able to lower it say, 4 rotations and raise it 4 rotations.  I have experience with the Prop-1 with the servo project for my Haunted Mansion raven, but a servo would operate much too fast, unless anyone knows of a slower operating servo motor.  Thanks to all for the input, and keep them coming. Gotta go to the dollar store to check out a cheap roller shade!

[BigRez]

you must visit the Haunted Mansion if you're a haunter

The DisneyLand and DisneyWorld (Magic Kingdom Park) Haunted Mansions are pretty much the same, so either is good.

Looks like the motor fits within the Prop-1 requirements. You'll need to reverse polarity to switch direction of the motor.  Have a look at the  How to reverse polarity thread. You could also search for other "Reverse" or "Polarity" threads for more ideas.

You could time the motor (i.e. run for 60000ms) which would get "about" 4 rotations, or you could be more precise using limiter switches to turn it off at a certain high and low point. 

The above info is my two cents...  I haven't worked with motors (yet  ;)) other than servos and an old rotisserie motor.