Menu
What's new
By:
Filters

The Monster - Lighting Design

KCL_Lighting

KCL_Lighting

Roller Poster
Hi CF Members,

I am part of a group of engineers who work on the lighting design for The Monster at Adventureland in Des Moines, Iowa. I found this forum through a CoasterForce Youtube video showcasing the ride.

We would to gather new ideas for lighting effects from the CF community, and answer any questions you may have about the Monster lighting design.

Thanks!

edit:
CoasterForce video mentioned above:
[youtubevid]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szQ_WgWOGP0[/youtubevid]
 
Oh my god oh my god.

Thank you so much for your absolutely stunning work. I'm certainly looking forward to future projects from you guys!

My only real complaint is that the Chaser Light doesn't always keep up with the train, but that's not really in your control.

Sent from my VS820 using Tapatalk
 
Thanks for the kind words. Your complaint about the chaser is something we have improved on since the CF video was taken. It's been fun observing the ride and tweaking the show timings to try to get them in sync.

The only part out of our control is the weight of the riders in the car affecting the speed. I had not thought about that aspect until working on this project.
 
^Thanks for the clarification. That explains why the chasing lights are ahead of the car in the on-ride video we posted, but behind the car in the off-ride video.
I also noticed while filming that sometimes the chasing light stops after the car clears the negative-g stall loop and the entire layout turns bright green. Why is that? I left those clips out of the video, so you can't see what I'm referring to in the YouTube video but I can post a clip here if needed.
 
ECG said:
^Thanks for the clarification. That explains why the chasing lights are ahead of the car in the on-ride video we posted, but behind the car in the off-ride video.
I also noticed while filming that sometimes the chasing light stops after the car clears the negative-g stall loop and the entire layout turns bright green. Why is that? I left those clips out of the video, so you can't see what I'm referring to in the YouTube video but I can post a clip here if needed.
Click to expand...

The green show is programmed to play if a stop button is pressed by the ride operator. I wonder if that was the case while you were there.
 
It happened about a half dozen times over the two evenings I was there. Strange that they would press the stop button that many times.
 
ECG said:
It happened about a half dozen times over the two evenings I was there. Strange that they would press the stop button that many times.
Click to expand...

The purpose for the green show is for it to be the default when no cars are on the track. I will check out what we can do to keep it from turning on while cars on on the track. Maybe there is another issue I am not aware of.

Thanks for the feedback!
 
Huh. I assumed it was part of the lights after the train hits the brake run. Didn't know it was for an E Stop.

BTW, this is what we mean(at least what I think everyone means):

ffd7e9b3488067b52ad2bc2c7b3f6540.jpg


Looks neat imo.
 
There is also a rainbow show that was originally programmed to run between the time when the 1st car hits brakes and 2nd car hits the top of the hill. Now you guys have me questioning if that show somehow got swapped with the green show. I'm going out there next week to test some new effects so I'll try to verify.

Early image I found from before all the lights were hooked up:
20160527_210254.jpg


Video of effect:
[youtubevid]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3ObHLnCp1g[/youtubevid]
 
No, the rainbow show still happens 99% of the time. It's just that the green one went off sometimes when it seemed like everything was normal.
 
Just to note, that color setup is revolutionary. Keep rolling. I hope you get more of these out there on bigger rides as it can truly change the experience for both the ride and the viewer.
 
This would be intense on a dive coaster at night. Lights following you up the hill and fading away as you hit the holding brake, then it chases you as you drop.

It would be superbly amazing on one with a tunnel (oblivion, baron and grey oblivion).
 
There are quite a few coaster projects out there that also sync sound to the layout - any thoughts on a sound and light combo project?

Also, in part because I'm not as familiar with the hardware you use for lighting; are you only able to work with open track vs. closed box track? (Such as pictured below) I would love for other parks to catch onto the concept, and retrofit these lighting features onto already existing roller coasters!

Leviathan-Canadas-Wonderland-Giga-Coaster-6.jpg
 
Hyde said:
There are quite a few coaster projects out there that also sync sound to the layout - any thoughts on a sound and light combo project?

Also, in part because I'm not as familiar with the hardware you use for lighting; are you only able to work with open track vs. closed box track? (Such as pictured below) I would love for other parks to catch onto the concept, and retrofit these lighting features onto already existing roller coasters!
Click to expand...


I am very interested in syncing a coaster light show to music. It wasn't part of the design for The Monster, but we have it on our wishlist for future projects. More triggers on the track is another thing I will push for in the future so we can have lights more accurately move with the car.

I do not know what our lighting design for a closed box track would be at this time, but I am sure we could come up with something cool!
 
Some rope lighting along the box itself, say both sides of the track, would provide a unique look similar to what you see on Monster. Would remind me of those old woodies with chase lighting already except it would be under the track instead of the side hand rail. The bigger the ride, the more epic it would be, especially if you can provide a similar experience to what Monster creates.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top