Is this real? Will discussion be allowed?

[Bussy]

Seeing as the Is this real? thread has been closed but no discussion about it was allowed I thought I would try again. I think the photo is a fake, yes the shadows are there but that is really easy to do with a program called Photoshop. If you look at the actual tower in the picture you will see why I think it is a fake. It looks like it is drawn and then put on a generic photo to give an impression of what the ride will look like when it is finished. Where did that photo come from Paul? "The Bus is now leaving for The Illusion Plains, South Australia"

[T-bone]

That photo bus came from the Media Cd from Wonderland which was an interactive CD full of pictures and information on the park. This cd was given to members of the press. I have re-attatched the image again for those who can't be bothered in clicking the link which bus provided. I mean richard, no offence, i love this site, and respect you, but why did you close the thread before anyone else could comment?

[Gazza]

Hmm, I dont know, how good was photo editing software back then? Thr colour of the shadow on the SP building roof looks a little lighter and a bit more blueish compared to the rest of the shadows in the park.

[steve$]

Notice the shadow at the very bottom of the tower. It looks triangular. Shouldnt it be circular because of the dome at the top

[SeanM]

Hi, I think it looks like a fake, the scale looks strange? mmm, something does not look right. I opened the file in photoshop to have a good look. Does anyone have another photo say from the Zodaic to compare it to.

[T-bone]

http://roller-coaster.com.au/gallery.php?gid=53 Not from the Zodiac, but some good ones there. You can see in the link i just posted the segments of the dome, yet on this one, the dome don't have segments. Like a gap in between the 2 segments. Also here. What do you think?

[Richard]

The level of details of far beyond that of any artist's impression. The shadow is very accurate. For one thing with concept art you wouldn't bother with shadows at all. If it were edited, it would be done before the ride was in place. Why then is the design of the dome completely accurate? Why does the tower look identical (not similar or close enough, identical) to what it did when installed? Why is the Design of the queue house and station building exactly as it was when built, right down to the placement of plants. Seriously, this is concept art. Concept art is used to create an estimate of the design for overall planning and aesthetic evaluation purposes. You have an unedited photograph. I can't believe there's even any debate over the issue.

[T-bone]

Where's the cracks in the dome? And where's the brakes at the bottom where they stick out? They aren't there. Does anyone have any experience, or pictures of the Probe being constructed? We are going to settle this and come to a conclusion.

[Richard]

What cracks in the dome? The brakes are clearly visible if you zoom in on the photo with any image editing software. There is a conclusion. It's real.

[T-bone]

When i say "The Cracks, or Spaces" i mean where the gap is, on every section of the dome. It looks real, but what about the stuff i mentioned before? Where are they?

[dr_teeth]

I think its real...I think it looks a little strange because its an old photo probably taken not long after the ride was built. Look at other things in the photo: #1 being the paint job on the Zodiac and that HBL is obviously still open, Sky hawk is still there, and so is wizards. Also Sky rider isnt there...all of these indicate at the "very least" the photo is 3 years old and obviously from other things in the photo its a lot older then that. Probably the most noted thing for me in the photo to indicate its age would be that the park on the day this has been taken is obviously closed. There are no rides in action, no one walking down paths and NO CARS in the carpark. I believe the park went to 7 day a week operation in 1997...(someone may be able to correct that) So given that the ride was built in 1995 i would guess this would be the time in which this pic was taken. (late 95-97) So again the ride looks weird cos its brand new

[T-bone]

Also, you can see the Pay Parking Booths. But, the joins in the dome do not come through via age. They are there from the start. So why can't we see these Joins in the picture? And the brakes which aren't there. And compare the dome on the pic i posted before, and the one i have just posted. The 1st one seems more round, yet this one looks more squarish.

[pin142]

I would personally say that the probe is edited into the pic. The shaddow for the tower is as previously mentioned too light and the black part of the tower appears to be out of proportion of the shaddow for it.

[Richard]

The photograph in question was taken from above the top of Space Probe, all other photos are from below. That's why it looks more round. The joins would have been perfectly white when the ride was new, i.e. in the original photograph. Over time dirt and mould would build up and cause them to become visible. Makes sense? I'd just like to know, if you think it is edited, why? Why would there be ridiculously accurate concept art like this? What reason would Wonderland have for getting such pictures commissioned?

[T-bone]

It all makes perfect sense richard, i ain't stupid, but the shape of the dome wouldn't be that much different from the ground, to the top. Found something else aswell. Why is it that the picture that we are arguing about (Sounds silly), the SP dome looks real small, yet this one looks heaps big, and this one looks further away than the other one. Take a look.

[Wonderbuzz]

Okay Paul_Hollibone, you want this settled and concluded so here it goes.... The picture is real. If you take a look at the photo, it isn't really the best of quality is it? The colours are a bit dull and overall image is not real sharp which is why you can't see the "cracks" or smaller details (on the dome and the queue line roof) in that picture. I've attatched a better quality image of that exact same photo for those who think it's fake, and also another photo from a slighty different angle which I assume was taken during the same photo session. All the details you say that are missing are as clear as day, or atleast as clear a camera back in those days could capture from a helicopter. I also remember when that info CD was being made. As to why the photo provided on the CD was of rough/low quality is beyond me. Maybe it was a bad CMYK>RGB conversion? So looking at my picture, I'd say this matter is settled. The picture is real, but due to the low-quality of the original picture in question led some people to believe it was fake.

[ripcurlboy_81]

paul, the pic is REAL, the cd i have got from which the pic came from has a hi res pic on a low res pic i sent you the low res pic, i have the hi res pic for my own use, but THE PIC is REAL.

[Bussy]

I’m still not convinced that it is not a fake. To me the tower looks like it has been drawn. Buzz I think you need to get your eyes checked if you think that those photos you posted are better quality. They are a lot darker and are fuzzy, the one Paul posted originally is much sharper. Look at this photo and tell me if it real or not. "The Bus is now leaving for Fuzzy Hill, Queensland"

[Richard]

So, wonderbus, you're telling us that Wonderland had not one, but two of these photographs edited to include the ride? Wonderbuzz posted two images taken from different angles. If logic and actually thinking about this didn't close the case, then I'd think those images above would. That picture you posted wonderbus is clearly a fake. The textures are clearly CG and the lighting doesn't match that of the people and surrounding buildings. That's what concept art is. To get this Space Probe shot to look as real as it does, you'd have George Lucas working for you.

[Wonderbuzz]

Just to back you up Richard, I've got more than just those two pictures! Anyway, I've just dusted off my copy of the info CD that Paul_Hollibone sourced that image from, and it turns out that the both the high and low resolution files on there are CMYK. The file that Paul posted wasn't properly converted to RGB before saving resulting in incorrect colours. I can only assume that he was using a program that doesn't manage CMYK very well. Just look at the red gondolas on Zodiac, they appear more of a pale purple rather than red like it should. I've taken the liberty of converting and saving the image to RGB whilst retaining the correct colours (using Photoshop 6.0). See attatched. Compare it to Pauls for the colour comparison, then look at the Space Probe. In regards to my previous post/photos, I now admit they didn't quite show the amount of detail I'd hoped, but that was probably due to some of the filters I had enabled for my scanner (scratch removal, auto tone.....).

[dr_teeth]

Ahh wonderbus you will argue and argue wont you, I'm sure even to the point where you start to convince your self...

The photograph in question was taken from above the top of Space Probe, all other photos are from below. That's why it looks more round. The joins would have been perfectly white when the ride was new, i.e. in the original photograph. Over time dirt and mould would build up and cause them to become visible. Makes sense?

Good points richard and I would believe correct in all cases. The point about the shadow of the tower seems to be a bit of a hot topic as well. As far as I can tell its in the right proportion for that time of day. Check the shadow on the zodiac its cast in the same direction and angle. I would suggest also that the reason it looks faint on the roof of the que building would be because the roof is new and bright white. Also not everything that white is actually white. Anyone who has ever had to match paint for a white car will know what im talking about. EG VS commodore has about 11 different matches of white for their paint. And yes some do look green and even blue when you compare them, you cant notice by itslef tho. Perhaps another explanation could be the type of film and camera that was used. Typically its a known fact that different brands of film do not bring out the same match in colours. EG Kodak films are known for showing more red, Agfa blues and Fuji greens. Easily there are a million different explanations. I think at best tho we could say the SP in the photo is real, with the possibility that its been "touched up" digitally for the purpose of advertising etc.

[joz]

That's either real, or the best concept picture in existence. Did anyone here see the concept picture for Giant Drop? There is no track where the brakes should be, and the concept art for all of SW's stuff doesn't have any people, but does have things shaped suspiciously like people. No real doubt about it in my mind, its real. There is no way that Wonderland would have spent that much to add stuff like the queue line and stuff like that on the concept art. It just looks like they've brightened it up a bit.

[T-bone]

Ok i must admit that the pic that Buzz just posted is real good quality, but i still don't see much difference between it and the one that was previously posted by myself. Overall it is a better pic, and no i didn't convert it at all. It came directly from Ripcurlboi. I have nothing to do with the uploading and all of the picture. But in that 2nd pic, it makes it look even more like a digitally edited image. And you said that the gaps could be seen in the better version of the pic, i still can't see any gaps in the dome. Also, where are the brakes? You know near the bottom where there are things that stick out on the track?

[dr_teeth]

Also, where are the brakes? You know near the bottom where there are things that stick out on the track?

Richard found them!! See above ^^^^

[T-bone]

I still don't see them, just looks like ordinary track to me.