USH Transformers Review

One of the most anticipated new attractions in the world of Southern California theme parks has been the opening of Transformers: The Ride 3D at Universal Studios Hollywood. Transformers is an immersive experience that puts guests in the middle of a war between alien robots that can morph into common objects such as cars, trucks or planes. The good guys are the AUTOMATS and the bad guys are the DECEPTICONS. The ride is based on the Hasbro toys, first introduced in 1984, and was developed by Universal Creative and Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). Film producer Michael Bay was hired as creative consultant.The queue is designed as the headquarter for N.E.S.T. (Nonbiological Extraterrestrial Species Treaty), a maximum-security battle command center built by the humans to protect themselves from the DECEPTICONS. Throughout the queue guests watch videos filling in the story. They get to hear from Commanding Officer General Morshower and get to push lots of buttons and switches that do nothing. I have said before that by the time you finish the queue you will be able to write a dissertation about the world of the Transformers. It is that long and complete.We learn that our primary mission is to protect the last remaining All-Spark. According to Transformers mythology, the All-Spark is an awesome source of pure and ancient power and the origin of life for all TRANSFORMERS, capable of bringing mechanical and electronic objects to life and turning everyday mundane objects into living robots.We get to ride along with a new Transformer character named EVAC whose job it is to protect the All-Spark. Of course, you know something is going to go terribly wrong.For me, the highlight of the ride is the incredible ride vehicle that Universal has chosen to use to take us on this journey. They have reused the 12-passenger mobile, motion-based simulator ride platform that has been in use at Spiderman at Islands of Adventures for more than a decade. Each vehicle travels along its 2,000 feet of track and weighs 12,000 pounds. They can pivot in all directions with a 360-degree rotation in precision synchronization with the 3D-HD media. The vehicles move through a 60,000 square foot building and the track is on two levels and includes two lifts. Sound is provided by a 5,000 watt, 14 channel audio system.To fully immerse the guests, ILM claims to have used “the largest collection of 3D screens ever assembled in a single theme park ride.” There are 34 projectors and 14 screens of various sizes throughout the ride. Some of the screens are over 60 feet tall. Each projector has four times the resolution of your typical HD television. ILM was responsible for producing the HD-3D CGI images and used a specially-devised high resolution, sphere-shaped still camera, shooting 360-degrees of panoramic imagery that captures 75 images every 50 feet within a designated square mile area of a major metropolitan city. They wrapped these images around a three-dimensional wire-frame to produce the photo realistic films. ILM visual effects person Richard Bluff said, “When you put photo realistic images on the screen, people immediately start to believe they’re actually there.” ILM Visual Effects Supervisor Jeff White said, “It’s important for us that the screen disappears and the characters move seamlessly between the environment and back into the media.”One of the challenges for ILM was to produce 3D visual media that could ‘shift’ from one point of view to another as the ride vehicle moves along the track. The objective was to create a photo-realistic world where the projected images and the practical sets blur. Even the glasses contribute to this illusion. Notice that the ‘Protective Battle Eyewear’ have blinders built into the sides of the frames specifically to limit the guests’ field of vision. Other special effects have been integrated including wind, heat, water, and smoke. Jeff White of ILM said, “This is the most complex and technically challenging project we have ever worked on.” Was it worth the effort?