Enhanced granular material effects
AssigneeUniversal City Studios LLC
InventorsAkiva Meir Krauthamer, Timothy Fitzgerald Garnier, Matthew Usi, Elam Kevin Hertzler, Simran Veena Batra, Aaron Chandler Jeromin
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Abstract
A granular material effect system includes a plurality of granular particles disposed in a container, a nozzle configured to activate to direct a fluid into the container, an actuator coupled to a prop and disposed in the container within the plurality of granular particles, and a controller communicatively coupled to the nozzle and the actuator. The controller is configured to instruct the nozzle to activate to direct the fluid into the container and to instruct the actuator to move the prop relative to the container while the nozzle is activated.
Claims20
A granular material effect system, comprising:
- a plurality of granular particles disposed in a container;
- a nozzle configured to activate to direct a fluid into the container;
- an actuator disposed in the container within the plurality of granular particles, wherein the actuator is coupled to a prop;
- and
- a controller communicatively coupled to the nozzle and the actuator, wherein the controller is configured to:
- instruct the nozzle to activate to direct the fluid into the container;
- and
- instruct the actuator to move the prop relative to the container while the nozzle is activated.
A granular material effect system, comprising:
- a plurality of granular particles disposed in a container;
- a plurality of nozzles disposed about the container, wherein each nozzle of the plurality of nozzles is configured to activate to inject fluid into the container to move at least a portion of the granular particles of the plurality of granular particles;
- a prop disposed in the container;
- and
- a controller communicatively coupled to each nozzle of the plurality of nozzles, wherein the controller is configured to:
- receive feedback indicative of a target position of the prop and an actual position of the prop;
- and
- instruct a subset of nozzles of the plurality of nozzles to activate in response to receiving the feedback, wherein activation of the plurality of nozzles causes injection of fluid into the container to move the prop from the actual position towards the target position.
A granular material effect system, comprising:
- a plurality of granular particles disposed in a container;
- a plurality of nozzles, wherein each nozzle of the plurality of nozzles is configured to inject fluid into the container;
- one or more position sensors;
- and
- a controller communicatively coupled to each nozzle of the plurality of nozzles, wherein the controller is configured to:
- receive feedback from the one or more position sensors indicative of a position of a user in or near the container;
- and
- instruct at least one nozzle of the plurality of nozzles to inject fluid into the container based on the feedback to fluidize the granular particles.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.