Watch Disney's Little Mermaid Animator Glen Keane Drawing in Virtual Reality

Except if you live on another planet you probably have heard about virtual reality which is about to take a bigger place in our lives in the years to come and today we have a great example of what you can do with it thanks to Disney's animator and Director Glen Keane who did the beloved Little Mermaid and Aladdin animated films.

The Vive VR headset use a HTC's position-tracking and has a the standout demo called Tilt Brush. According to Wired "this 3D painting experience is like Paper by FiftyThree in space -- you use wand-like controllers to splatter the air with oils, rainbows or pure light in real space, and can move around your creation in order to add depth and shading."

A new short film by the Future Of StoryTelling festival shows how impressive it caa be when Disney's Glen Keane, 61, put on the headset, and recreated some of his most famous characters from Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, and Beauty and the Beast in virtual reality with Tilt Brush (or at least something very much like it).

"I can put goggles on and I just step into the paper and now I'm drawing in it," Keane says in the video. "Today, all the rules have changed. All directions are open now, just immersing myself in space is more like a dance. What is this amazing new world I just stepped into? When I draw in VR I draw all the characters real life size. They are that size in my imagination. The character can turn... and even if you take the goggles off, I'm still remembering -- she's right there, she's real."

Have a look at the video and don't go away as i have more greatness with Glen Keane for you.


Glen Keane – Step into the Page from Future Of StoryTelling on Vimeo.

Now, Glen Keane did also recently a beautiful traditionally animated short film called "Nephtali." in this short film, Keane "uses both film and drawing in order to depict the journey of a ballerina that is drawn towards a higher power."

Pixar and Disney are now doing only 3D animation these days, but "Nephtali" is a good example of 2D animated art that makes you regret that most of animated studios if not all of them don' create anymore animated films in 2D.




And if you've missed it, her dis another animated short by Glen Keane titled "Duet" with absolutely no dialogue, but a wonderful soundtrack. It tells a story which follows the lives of a man and a woman as they journey into adulthood and succeed to find one another along the way.





Videos: copyright Glen Keane

Stunning Little Mermaid Artwork by Mark Englert

The part two of the Ratatouille press event is coming soon, but in the meantime here is a fantastic Little Mermaid artwork done by Mark Englert. And if you love it you can even order a print HERE for $50. There is more artwork too for sale on the same page.

Artwork: copyright Mark Englert

Carthay Theatre and Little Mermaid Imagineering Videos

Disney Parks released today two new videos. The first one is a good time lapse video showing the Carthay Circle Theatre construction through last week at Californa Adventure...




And the other video is about Under the Sea ~ Journey of The Little Mermaid coming to New Fantasyland at WDW Magic Kingdom next year. As we know the exterior decor will be close to the animated feature and a seaside grotto beneath Prince Eric castle is where MK guests will enter the world of Ariel. Lot of rock work, so, and Imagineers always had great cement sculptors who are able to create amazing rock work wonder. In this next video Imagineer Eric Miller explains how the team is creating a realistic underwater environment for Ariel that's inspired by the film, a process involving sketches, models, computer technology, construction and artistry.




Video: copyright Disney

New Imagineering video reveals more about WDW Little Mermaid attraction

Since the opening of Star Tours 2 and the Little Mermaid at DCA, and more recently Goofy Sky's School, there was not a lot of news coming from the Imagineering. And suddenly WDI released today this new video showing the making of the WDW version of the Little Mermaid attraction, presented by Imagineer Chris Beatty. Great shots of Imagineers at work, of the WDW Little Mermaid model, and also new renderings which reveal new details on what will be this new version of the ride. As usual the video editing is quite fast so we're going to "stop the time" to have a better look at these interesting pics thanks to home made screen captures. Click on each to see them in bigger size.



As i keep repeating to anyone talking about the Little Mermaid attraction, the WDW Magic Kingdom version will be the best one. Not only because the budget will be higher than the DCA version, but also because WDI Imagineers will have much more room available than they had at DCA to build the "perfect" attraction with Eric's Castle, a long themed queue decor, and much more.

You've seen above a new version of the rendering showing the entrance and below is another brand new one showing the whole Little Mermaid area.



Also new, the rendering below shows what is probably an early concept-art.



One of the most interesting rendering released in this video is the one below. It shows a scene of the queue decor, probably interactive, something that will be unique to the WDW version as they didn't had the room to build one like this at DCA. In fact, WDW fans can expect a long and great queue decor, going from the cave that you see below to right under the castle, and even under the castle kitchen with another scene called "captive lobsters". In that scene - and if WDI plans didn't changed - guests will see the bobtail dog from the movie standing near "captive lobsters" waiting to be cooked by the castle's cook. The dog and the lobsters will probably be audio-animatronics and guests will also see the shadow of the cook, up the stairs leading to the castle kitchen supposedly above the guests.



And if you wonder where will be the entrance of this highly themed queue, this next one will tell you exactly where it will be.



Another highly interesting new rendering is this next one showing the ride boarding room. Even if the galleon is still at the beginning of the ride, it's obviously a totally different boarding room than at DCA, inside a cave with also what probably will be a retro projection effect of the sea and seagulls - but what we see can also be the outside. All these new details looks pretty exciting, aren't they?



Another new rendering, but this time showing the ride opening scene that we already know is the one below.



Let' move to the model shots as there is some great one in the video, too, as you will see on the five next pictures.









The video also include some shots of ride scenes model like this one for the "kiss the girl" scene...



...as well as others showing WDI Imagineers working on the Little Mermaid model.





As i've said, WDW fans can be "happy happy" as this time they will get the best version of a ride, and we'll probably know more about it at the next D23 convention. If you didn't watched yet this great Imagineering video on the Disney Parks web site, i'm sure you're dying to see it, so here it is below!





Pictures and video: copyright Disney



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Little Mermaid Ariel's Undersea Adventure Full Ride Video !

That's it, here is the first video of the Little Mermaid Ariel's Undersea Adventure full ride and the ride is a Wow! The HD video filmed by Asianjma123 is excellent and of course if you're planning to do the ride at DCA anytime soon it's better to don't watch the video as it is a giant spoiler.

That said, it is a really charming dark ride in the grand Disney dark rides tradition, with state-of-the-art Audio-Animatronics. If you expect this - and not an attraction like Pirates of Caribbean or Haunted Mansion - then you won't be disappointed at all.



However, the only thing that seems off is the transition from the Kiss the Girl scene to the end finale. A big climax scene with the death of Ursula would have been welcome as the ride ends a bit abruptly. Let's hope that this missing climax scene will be added in the WDW version. Otherwise the whole ride looks pretty solid.

But we must congratulate Tony Baxter and all the WDI Imagineers as they did a fantastic job on this ride! Now, if the ride could come to Disneyland Paris in the future, that would be great!

Enjoy the video, and most of all watch it full screen!




Picture and Video: copyright Asianjma123 whom i thanks a lot for his perfect filming!

New Little Mermaid video shows a lot of the ride !

WDI Imagineers had the good idea to invite original Little Mermaid animators, Andreas Deja, Mark Henn and Glen Keane to come at DCA and tour the awaited "The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Undersea Adventure", opening June 3rd.

They filmed the three animators inside the ride, comparing the audio-animatronic figures in the attraction to their original drawings produced for the film. And the video include dozens of new footage wthat will delight any Disney fan who can't wait to ride the attraction. If you're planning to visit DCA or to attend little Mermaid opening day - and keep the surprise - i prefer to warn you that there is some spoilers in the video below as not only you'll see Scuttle the seabird the animatronic host of the story (above), but also new footage of the incredible "Under the sea" sequence which include 128 animated characters...







...and the Ariel projection effect that guests will see over them when their omnimover will go down under sea...



...as well as Ariel Audio-Animatronic...



...not to mention a new shot of Ursula with the projection effect of Ariel inside Ursula's crystal globe...



AND the first shot of Ariel and Eric Audio-Animatronics in the "Kiss the Girl" sequence.



More awaits you in this new video which is very promising, i'm sure a lot of you can't wait to ride this 6 minutes long dark ride!





Pictures and video: copyright Disney

New Little Mermaid video reveals King Triton Audio-Animatronic

Walt Disney Imagineering released this new Little Mermaid video showing the recording of the ride music. Remember "Part of Your World" "Under the Sea" "Poor Unfortunate Souls" and "Kiss the Girl"? You'll hear all these classics throughout The Little Mermaid attraction when it will open at Disney California Adventure on June 3rd. The ride will last about 5 1/2 minutes and scenes will include 183 characters, including 127 in the “Under the Sea” scene alone.

On the video you'll see for a few seconds a new Audio-Animatronic, the one of King Triton which should appear at the end of the ride!



Video: copyright Disney

Little Mermaid Attraction: Ariel Audio-Animatronic unveiled !

Two weeks ago WDI unveiled the impressive Ursula audio-animatronic and yesterday they released a video showing the one of Ariel. The Ariel AA is not the same size, of course, than the Ursula Animatronic but it looks really good as you will see in the video below!



Picture and video: copyright Disney

It's Official : Star Tours 2 and Little Mermaid Grand Openings will happen at DL and DCA on June 3 !

Editor's Note: It's official! Star Tours 2 and the Little Mermaid ride will have their Grand Opening at DL and DCA on June 3! And the new “Mickey’s Soundsational Parade” will have its Premiere on May 27th. If you're planning to visit South-Cal, keep these dates in mind!

At WDI, programmers Imagineers put the final touch to the programming of Ursula huge Audio-Animatronic...



...while at DCA King Triton joins the cast of characters at the Little Mermaid ~ Ariel's Undersea Adventure. The 76 inches tall statue who was previously near the Little Mermaid meet-and-greet area in Fantasyland is now at the top of the main archway at the front of the Little Mermaid attraction.



Who will be there on June 3 for these Grand Openings?

Picture and video: copyright Disney