Disneyland in 3D!

[Datameister]

Today: got the roofing fixed, added more modillions, worked on the interior of the show building, and spent lots of time pouring over layouts and cross-sections. I also came by not one, but two photos of the shed-like structure behind the mansion (no thanks to all y'all! ). These confirmed the existence and appearance of the door in the queue side of it, so I modeled that door as well. I finally understand what lies on the other side, though I've never been inside, unfortunately. You open that door, walk in, and see a door to the break room (inside the facade proper) to your right. If you walk straight ahead, you go down a rather long staircase that goes underground and makes a left turn to go down a little further below the railroad tunnel. Then you're at the control tower. What I DON'T know is exactly how far that shed extends along the back wall of the mansion. Anyone who has info on this, please help! I'm off to PM our resident HM expert, GRD999, but it'd be best to get info from multiple sources. Again, my question is: does this shed just extend a few feet along the back of the mansion, or does it continue all the way across to the north side, where the old pet cemetery is? Or somewhere in between? Rough measurements, either in percentages of the back of the house OR in feet, would be especially helpful.

I can't do this alone, guys...

[Datameister]

Thanks to a number of very helpful photos from my sister, someone on Flickr, and the extraordinary GRD999, I now have the placement and size of the shed more or less nailed. I also installed a door in the side of it facing the queue. Some of the doors have also appeared at a few places around the facade. No windows, yet. The four false chimneys are now in place, though. The cupola remains very unfinished, there's no ironwork anywhere, no front steps, and neither of the pediments are in place yet. A lot of modillions haven't been put in place, either. Most of them can just be duplicated from the one modillion I originally modeled, but I do have to tweak the spacing for different parts of the facade. Also, there are smaller, cubical modillions on the front pediment, so those'll need to be modeled, too.

Figuring out the inside is difficult to do with complete accuracy, since different sources give different dimensions. Nevertheless, I am planning on making the foyer, the break room, the two stretching rooms, the space above the break room, and maybe even the backstage walkways inside if I can figure those out. If I'm lucky, I'll make the stretch rooms "functional" in the model.

Hey, anyone know what the third story of the facade is like inside? I know the tops of the stretching rooms come up to about halfway through the third story, but that leaves some room, especially over the foyer and break room. ::consults blueprints:: Ah, one of the cross section plans I have says that there's a "2' platform for window servicing" in there. Anyone care to verify or deny that? I mean, I know the spiral ladder that's between the stretching rooms in the blueprints isn't really there, and elevations show the third floor extending too far in back, and not a single blueprint so far has shown the shed, so I really have a hard time trusting these completely...

[lashbear]

Strange that the blueprints differ from the actual building ?!?

[Datameister]

Yup, strange indeed. Not sure how that happened, but at some point, the builders decided that the back of the third story needed to come inward a bit, and that shed was constructed. As far as style, materials, and apparent age go, it perfectly matches the other elements of the building--though hardly anyone remembers or thinks about its existence--which makes me think that it was probably built at the same time. Go figure.

Still got the pediments to create...not an easy task...

[lashbear]

I hope they're not IM-pediments to your progress...

[Datameister]

You get a slap in the face for that extraordinarily bad joke, sir/madam. :P Kidding, naturally. Actually, the pediments seem to be pretty true to the photos, a fact I'm very grateful for. It's stuff like the overall proportioning of the building that's inconsistent. Luckily, the local.live.com aerial photo is pretty clear--not shadowy like the terraserver-usa/Google Earth photo--so I can verify with that.

[Datameister]

Here's a not-so-little render of my progress. Feel free to laugh at me for the currently hollow pediments; all I've made is the pediment roofs. You can also see the entry doors--both shut for now--at the lower right, though neither the complex molding nor the transom window have been created yet.

[lashbear]

Looking mighty good!!!

[Datameister]

Thanks! I'm hoping to post a rather fun render within the next 24 hours. If I can get the walls to work correctly, I'm going to position the HM ballroom next to the facade, just so y'all can see how small the facade is by comparison. It always bugged me how there was no way the ballroom could fit inside the actual mansion, and now I'll have visual proof.

[Datameister]

Sorry that ballroom-and-facade render didn't pan out; I'm still hoping to do that at some point. I took a quick whack at it, and it does indeed make the facade look tiny. Splash Mountain, too, for that matter. The ballroom is a big set.

Anyway, here's an update at last to the inside of the Haunted Mansion show building. This render is at nearly the same angle as the last one I posted of the interior, but a lot has happened since. You can clearly see the ballroom and endless hallway running parallel to each other at the center of the image. The seance room is at the bottom of the image, somewhat to the left. Vertically centered and all the way to the left is the attic; notice how the central track glides upward until it meets the surrounding floor. (If anyone can confirm or deny the floor looking like this, please let me know!) You can also clearly see the garrets above the stretching rooms; if you look at the lowest spot where the stretching rooms constrict, that's the location of the scrims. Above that would be the hanging Ghost Host, and then the ceiling of the garret. The vertical scale is correct, so you can see exactly how tall the stretching rooms are. For reference, the tops of those garrets come up to about halfway through the third story of the facade.

[Datameister]

And a reverse angle, if anyone cares...



Sorry about the lack of the graveyard scene. The terrain isn't flat, unlike the rest of the attraction, so it'll be harder to figure out and create.

[BassBone]

Wowza, that's impressive. Good show, meister. Still trying to get those FP are photos for ya.

[Datameister]

Ooh, thanks! The more photos, the merrier.

[Datameister]

Things have gotten rather exciting for me inside the HM show building. Though nothing is textured yet, a definite resemblance to the real thing is beginning to manifest itself. The ballroom area is particularly interesting; I now have all three ballroom walls in place, as well as the table, balcony, and fireplace. I made the mezzanine that the Doombuggies travel along some time ago, but now that area has a proper ceiling--the floor above that holds some of the ghost animatronics. Down below is the floor (two feet lower than the ballroom floor) where the actual dancers whirl, along with the other various party guests. There's an exceedingly tiny walkway between the corridor of doors' grandfather clock and the start of the ballroom; I have yet to build the ladder that leads CMs down to the level of the ghost animatronics.

Some backstage areas are proving very, very difficult to understand. There's one area in particular that's giving me a lot of trouble. It's adjacent to the graveyard, with parts of it behind the loading area, endless hallway, and ballroom. Apparently, it has multiple levels. Different cross-section blueprints of the show building disagree, as do different overhead layouts. I really don't know what to do--I'm just hoping a current or former CM who's worked the mansion will drop me a line. In the mean time, GRD999 has been of extraordinary assistance.

My currentmost project is rebuilding the caged ladder near the north corner of the HM show building. It starts at ground level backstage, ascends to a rest platform with a door leading into the enclosed space just below the show building roof, then continues upwards for roof access. I'm finally going to do this thing correctly, especially now that the door is in the correct location.

I've also been editing music I ripped from the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone DVD, and I've got a bit of a cold, so please don't expect too much to be posted soon. Then again, I'll be incommunicado for about a week soon...so really don't expect much!

But that doesn't mean you can't post...I hate that lonely feeling I get in my stomach when I realize I'm the only one posting in my own thread...

[DisneyMan]

Please don't get that lonely feeling! We are always checking in on your progress. It's been amazing to watch the renderings come in from your computer (even if it is just a screen shot!).

It will be fun to see the doom buggies from the ballroom area when you get it detailed a bit.

I personally love the gray (or slightly colored) walled colors vs actual textured. Just my opinion.

Hope you get to feeling better!
-mark