RobiNZ CAD Blog

Walt Disney Imagineering art

I picked up the “Walt Disney Imagineering” book in the Disney Art store at EPCOT and was captivated by the artwork. It’s a peek at the work done by the Disney “Imagineers” to create the various parks and rides from the original until 1998 (Tokyo/Euro) when it was published.

If you’ve been to a park seeing the design development is interesting but everyone that has seen this book since I got home comments on the stunning artwork. There is everything from concept sketches, detail pencil/pen line illustrations, oil paintings, architectural and graphic design. It covers the complete process with detail on the theatrical and engineering/construction work required to make the “Disney magic” real.

For a taste of the content click on the cover (at Amazon) to have a peek inside at selected pages. If you are interested in design, of any kind, it’s worth getting & it’s cheaper at Amazon than it was at Disney!

Measure of measures

We use measurement everyday but have you given much thought how these definitions originated?

 

I’m currently reading The Measure of All Things about Delambre and Mechain's meridian expedition of 1792-1799 to calculate the length of the metre. It’s a great read as combines scientific discovery, history, politics and adventure as they were travelling in France measuring landmarks along the meridian during the French Revolution!

 

A story today from The Register details how the Kilogram is the only metric measure that still refers to a single reference object, a lump of platinum-iridium alloy in Paris, rather than a reproducible physical constant. 

 

In comparison, the metre is no longer one ten-millionth of the distance from the north pole to the equator as originally defined. It’s now the length of the path travelled by light in an absolute vacuum during a time interval of exactly 1/299,792,458 of a second. The main reason is this can be measured anywhere there is light, no need to run back to Paris to check your ruler.

 

They now want to change the Kilogram to a “universal measure”. One of the reasons; "A meteor could strike Paris - destroying the prototype"!

The Register: Scientists want to bring the Kilogram into 21st century 

 

BOOK: Ken Alder: The Measure of All Things : The Seven-Year Odyssey and Hidden Error That Transformed the World