Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts

‘Escape from Gringotts’ is a mind-blowing, multi-dimensional ride based on the famous Gringotts sequence in ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2‘. Embark a roller coaster cart synchronized to enormous 3D projection screen, and let it take you deep among Gringotts’ underground vaults!

In addition to solving several VFX challenges including CG characters, animation, matchmoving and compositing, DNEG was tasked to create complex stereo. The final stereo imagery is being projected onto giant screens with an almost 300 degree field of view running at 60 fps, and integrated with the practical effects and roller coaster aspects of the ride.

For this project, DNEG’s R&D team led by Oliver James, developed a custom camera rig in RenderMan which used the curved screens themselves as ray-sources. This means that the stereo works perfectly in all directions.