Wonder Mountain's Guardian

Every seat is equipped with a gun.  Each gun has an infrared camera inside of it.  The screens used during the dark-ride portion are perforated, and sets of infrared (IR) transmitters are located behind the screens.  The cameras inside the guns recognize the pattern of IR transmitters to determine which scene the car is passing by.  The gun also determines its aim from the built-in camera measuring the position of the IR transmitters installed behind the screens.

There are six scenes that take place during the dark-ride.  64 projectors are used to display scenes on a variety of massive screens.  In order to provide a 3D experience, two 720p projectors are used in tandem.  Each LCD projector is equipped with a polarizing filter, and every rider is given polarized glasses.  The glasses enable the left lens to only show the scene of one projector, while the right lens only allows light from the second projector to pass through.  Combining the two projected scenes gives the illusion of 3 dimensions to the computer-generated scenes.  The scenes shown interact with the blasters and are rendered by computers in real-time.  

©2019 Joel A. Rogers.