We produced the Pepper’s Ghost pre-show and all virtual reality content for this immersive attraction at Thorpe Park. We worked for over 2 years developing the script with Derren Brown and Merlin Magic Making, performing R&D work in the film studio, creating photo-realistic 3D characters and scenes, animating, developing software and best of all testing out our scares on our unsuspecting team in the office! We used a blend of multi-camera filming, photogrammetry, motion capture and CG environments to create a virtual world with realistic characters.

The project required us to push the boundaries of virtual reality technology and thoroughly explore how stories are represented in a VR environment. We also worked with the project delivery team to design the VR hardware system and created all the base software that gives the park operational control over this ambitious ride – the world’s largest permanent installation of HTC Vive headsets, all fully integrated into full-size, moving trains. Our bespoke software integrates with the ride control system and gives the operations team monitoring information for every single one of the 173 computers and VR headsets.