3D ZOETROPE

While at Disneyland last week, we stopped over at California Adventure and happened upon this really neat addition to the Animation pavilion.

It's a "3D Zoetrope" of sorts, using all the characters from Toy Story. It was static when we walked in the room, and I thought it was just a display of maquettes -- but found the repetition of poses a bit odd. As soon as it started spinning, I knew what they were up to, and waited for the strobe light to start.

It's pretty ingenious, in that they probably animated the entire thing in CGI and then output the "poses" to foam via stereo lithography.

I've also posted a video (note: the irregular strobing and occasional blacked-out frames on the video are the camera’s fault, because it’s not precicely synced with the zoetrope’s strobe light. In person, the effect is flawless).

UPDATE 12:32AM: it was inspired by a similar display in Japan at the Studio Ghibli museum, and was created for a NY MoMA exhibit in 2005. You can read more about it at the Pixarblog.