Main Street illusion of length

[Werner]

I've read that Main Street uses forced perspective to make the street look longer as you walk towards the castle, and shorter as you walk towards the train station. But I've never really noticed this effect; I guess it's quite subtle. Also, I've read that buildings are angled in such a way to create the illusion, but I'm not sure I understand which angles are involved. Does anyone have a better understanding of this "trick"?

[DisneyIPresume]

I heard its not necessarily the buildings but also the trees. That the trees are shorter closer to the hub. But I don't notice an actual difference in height if they are.

[ssaamm]

I thought only WDW's Main Street used forced perspective and not Disneylands. I might be wrong though.

[disneychrista]

They do use forced perspecitve at Disneyland, to make the buildings look taller.

[HiddenMickeyBook]

It is somewhat easy to see the effect while you are on Main Street. Go to just about any storefront and look to see where the next "building" meets the one you are standing by. The next building will stick out about 4 to 6 inches. It is pretty cool, actually!

[Steve DeGaetano]

Werner, there's no "trick" involved. As Disneychrista notes, the buildings use vertical forced perspective only, with upper stories built visibly shorter than scale (at least on most of the buildings--some, like the firehouse or the train station, have second stories that could be habitable). The idea that the street is meant to appear longer or shorter in one direction or the other appears to be a corruption of the vertical forced perspective story, and appears no where in any company documents about Main Street (at least prior to the invention of the rumor--some tour-guide CMs have woven it into their narrative). Nor does it appear in any scholarly work on Main Street (and believe it or not, there are several).

Walt didn't like right angles on his street, thinking them less than pedestrian-friendly, which is why East and West Center Streets are at angles. This may be what you're thinking of in terms of angles.

Basically, you can thank the internet for supplying us with yet another "myth that refuses to die!"

[Steve DeGaetano]

It is somewhat easy to see the effect while you are on Main Street. Go to just about any storefront and look to see where the next "building" meets the one you are standing by. The next building will stick out about 4 to 6 inches. It is pretty cool, actually!

It's pretty easy to see that some buildings stick out, while other don't--there's no real pattern to it. And in fact, the actual street is just as wide at the north end than at the south end (excluding Town Square and the Hub, of course).

[RandySavage]

Any lengthening/shortening effect may be due to more layered landscaping in the Hub vs. Town Sq., as DisneyIPresume alluded to.

For example, the mature shade trees that once populated the hub in the Magic Kingdom created a wonderful depth-of-field, partially obscuring the castle, making it look more realistic and part of a (more) distant land.

When the trees were removed from the hub (after growing nicely for 30 years), there was an immediately discernible and overwhelming(ly bad, IMO) effect of pulling the castle from the background to the foreground (among other negative effects such as loss of shade and evening lights)... making it seem much closer (shortening Main St to the eye) and out of scale.

The most grievous executive decision in MK's history (and that's saying something).

With hub trees:


Without:


***

[Steve DeGaetano]

I agree, Randy--that second photo looks terrible!

Any effect created by the trees was just coincidental to any perceived effect--certainly not a conscious design element.

[flynnibus]

I've read that Main Street uses forced perspective to make the street look longer as you walk towards the castle, and shorter as you walk towards the train station. But I've never really noticed this effect; I guess it's quite subtle. Also, I've read that buildings are angled in such a way to create the illusion, but I'm not sure I understand which angles are involved. Does anyone have a better understanding of this "trick"?

I think this is a twist on what is really done.. which is the vertical forced perspective.

Think of the drawing exercise you did as a child. Draw a horizon and put a dot at the center. Then take a point, and draw a line between that point in the center. Do the same with another point a few inches below the first. As the points near the horizon, the two lines get closer together. In your drawing, by taking something in the foreground, and then making it smaller as it approaches the horizon.. you have created the illusion of perspective, even though you know it's perfectly flat on your table. That artifical perspective is the FORCED perspective.

Your brain is trained to think when you see two things that are normally 'X' apart, if they are closer then that, your brain thinks they must be farther away. This is why making the top stories of buildings smaller than true scale.. works. When you see that thing that should be a second story, you expect it to be some distance from you, so when it's built smaller.. your brain doesn't catch onto it... because it looks like you expect it should.

They can also use the size to trick you into seeing distance. When they start making things smaller as they get further away from you, but do it at a rate faster then what would really see in normal scale, it exaggerates the distance in your brain because it says 'Hey, that window should be 3' tall.. but it only looks 2' tall.. so it must be further away (then it really is). That's what they do with the castle in FL, the Matterhorn, etc.

I'd wager the scenario people are discussing in your original question is the idea that since the buildings at the far end of the street are shorter than they SHOULD be.. it will make them seem further away then they really are. But for that to be true and work.. the things closer to you should be built bigger then the ones at the far end of the street (think back to your drawing paper example.. to force the idea of distance, the lines are further away from each other closer they are when close to you).

But since the top of the buildings are all built to the same scale as you go down MainStreet.. there is no FORCED perspective in that angle... just normal perspective.

They can't do this on the length of the street artificially because it would only work one direction. If the stuff closer to you is smaller then the stuff in the distance.. it will not look far away.

Of course the fun trick of this is when you create illusions by counter-acting the angle of the lines and sizes of things like your brain would expect to see them.. leading to classic Ames Room optical illusion

[Steve DeGaetano]

I'd wager the scenario people are discussing in your original question is the idea that since the buildings at the far end of the street are shorter than they SHOULD be.. it will make them seem further away then they really are.

I think I see what you're saying...ALL the buildings are shorter than what they should be. People WANT to think the building at the end of Main Street are physically shorter than the others, but this just isn't the case...in reality, not all the "smaller" buildings are at the end of Main Street.

[flynnibus]

I think I see what you're saying...ALL the buildings are shorter than what they should be. People WANT to think the building at the end of Main Street are physically shorter than the others, but this just isn't the case...in reality, not all the "smaller" buildings are at the end of Main Street.

Yeah, they are basically just taking the notion that the buildings at the far end are smaller than normal (true) and thinking that alone means your perspective looking down the street is being altered. But what makes FORCED perspective is by changing the ratio of the size of the closer items and further items. But because that ratio isn't being manipulated here, there is no forced perspective, just the normal 'shrink' due to distance.

If there were no buildings near you, and only the building at the far end of the street, you would really see a forced perspective of greater distance because the building isn't built to full size. But because you have the same 'midget' buildings in the foreground, the effect is wiped out.

But when you look at the Castle and train station.. these are dissimilar buildings then the rest of mainstreet. The brain assumes 'castle = big' and it thinks castles are much bigger than a storefront. So seeing the castle small like that will create an effect of distance.

I'm not sure how well it would work looking up mainstreet because your brain isn't as conditioned on how big/small a train station should be. But lifting it up high like that can also contribute to the effect.

In short.. I don't think mainstreet buildings are built to force perspective of the street.. but the station and castle could have effects. But for it to work, other items placed next to it must also be appropriately sized (like trees).

[DLandFansAZ]

Walt didn't like right angles on his street, thinking them less than pedestrian-friendly, which is why East and West Center Streets are at angles.

I don't know how many times I've looked at Main Street from Google Maps and I never noticed the angle. Thanks for the info and pointing that out.

[Steve DeGaetano]

Yeah, they are basically just taking the notion that the buildings at the far end are smaller than normal (true)

Not true. Coke Corner is one of the taller buildings.

---------- Post added 02-15-2012 at 01:32 AM ----------

I don't know how many times I've looked at Main Street from Google Maps and I never noticed the angle. Thanks for the info and pointing that out.

No Problem. The better freebie guides show this clearly.

---------- Post added 02-15-2012 at 01:49 AM ----------

There's no significant difference in height. Market House (mid-block) is one of the taller buildings. There's no linear forced perspective in action here.

http://blog.sakraft.com/MainStEastElevation.jpg

Disneyland Main Street West Elevation | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[flynnibus]

Not true. Coke Corner is one of the taller buildings.

While it's a tall building relative to the rest of the structures.. it's still a building not built to full scale. But so is everything on the street.. that's the message.