Coaster101 » intamin

Expedition GeForce derails

John — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 20:04:27 +0000

An accident occurred at Holiday Park derailed and while thankfully no one was injured, the pictures show that this could have ended much worse:

Since most of the news reports are unclear, we do not know the exact cause of the derailment at this time. We’ll closely follow this development for any updates!

Intimidator 305 Opens

John — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 01:02:22 +0000

Officials at Kings Dominion are calling their newest ride, The Intimidator 305, the most exciting roller coaster in Kings Dominion’s 35 year history. Intimidator 305 takes its name from the legendary Nascar driver Dale Earnhardt, who was called the intimidator. The roller coaster reaches speed of up to 94 miles per hour and has a lift of 305 feet, making it the tallest and fastest roller coaster of its type on the East Coast.

Click here to see a video of the coaster in action.

Alton Tower to open TH13TEEN

John — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 03:37:54 +0000

From MSN News:

Alton Towers Resort is to launch “the scariest ride in the UK” next year.

Thirteen, built on the site of the old Corkscrew rollercoaster, aims to combine physical and psychological fear and will be dubbed a “psychoaster”.

The £15 million ride will be restricted to 16 to 55-year-olds only and visitors limited to one ride per day “due to concerns about emotional maturity and physical health”, resort bosses said.

Visitors will also be required to sign a waiver which assures the resort of their physical and mental health “to avoid any resulting lawsuits”.

Alton Towers’ latest secret weapon comes after the successes of Nemesis, Oblivion and Air and will be based on the discovery of an unearthed ancient burial site in an area of unexplored woodland known as the Dark Forest.

A spokesman said: “Visitors will be invited to take a petrifying ride on Thirteen, venturing into the seemingly living and breathing Dark Forest. There they will face an unknown horror that has been unleashed from the ancient crypt.”

Built on a burial site that is part of the original Alton Abbey, one of the main features will take place inside the unearthed crypt.

Morwenna Angove, Alton Towers’ sales and marketing director, said: “This new ride will be a shocking, never-experienced-before rollercoaster and we’re excited that once again the Alton Towers Resort is able to offer visitors the chance to experience something unavailable in any other part of the world.

“However, just as we take physical health and safety very seriously, Thirteen demands that we also consider our visitors’ emotional health, and as such we’re not afraid of introducing necessary measures to ensure riders are fully prepared and healthy enough to brave Thirteen.”

The new ride took a team of 35 people nine months to build and will be launched in March next year.

Wicked Twister CAD Model Tutorial

Nick — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 00:17:20 +0000

If you are a frequent visitor to Coaster101, you may have seen some of my CATIA amusement park ride computer models, like this. You may also have been asking yourself or wondering how I created those computer models. Well today I am going to explain in a little bit further detail on the process I have used to recreate those attractions on the computer.

I use a program called CATIA (Computer Aided Three-dimensional Interactive Application), which is the most powerful and widely used CAD (computer aided design) software of its kind in the world.

If you’ve ever used No Limits simulator there is an excellent Wicked Twister recreation so I am going to use that to help me out. Keep in mind that this is just one approach of literally thousands of different ways of doing it. If you have a other suggestions I would love to hear them!

The first thing I did was get the coordinates from all of the node points in the No Limits model. I created all of these points in a CATIA part. Be careful of the axis system, CATIA’s default axis is not necessarily the same as No Limits in terms of which direction is X, Y, or Z is. Next, connect all of the points with the spline command. This is the result thus far. You can see the basic profile layout, also called the center or heartline of the coaster.

Now we need to make the shape of the track. This are the dimensions I used for the track.

I have never seen an actual spec from Intamin so I had to do a little investigating and guess work. This is what’ve I’ve come up with. From an old Millennium Force flyer I learned the rails are 5 inches in diameter and only 3/8 inch thick (even at the highest g-force areas). Someone gave me an educated guess that the rails are 48 and 54 inches apart at the centerlines so I went with it. The rectangular tubes that hold the rails together I assumed to be 3 inch square tubing.

The important thing to notice now is that the rails are zero degrees with respect to the horizontal axis. This becomes critical when we get to the two towers and this angle will gradually increase, which makes the twisting helix.

The basis of everything is right here. The centerline and the sketch for the rails.

After I created the sketch for the rails, I used the rib command to extrude their shape throughout the length of the station and launch track segments.

After the rails were created I had to construct the connecting tubes, pictured here.

I used this image for reference as well.

Next I began adding the diagonal cross bars. I only have to sketch one of them on the straightaway then I can simply pattern the rest.

The hard part now is the spikes on the end. Remember the critical angle I mentioned earlier? At every node point starting from the fourth one out of the station the track now rotates 45 degrees about the center. I created points where the rails will go and then connected them with a spline, giving the shape you see here. I can then sketch a circle on the end and rib it through the spline, just like I did earlier, thus creating the rails.

This is what all of the construction geometry looks like, and by construction geometry I mean all of the points, planes, lines, splines, axis and sketches. These elements are used to construct the solid.

Next, I ribbed the twisting splines. After all of that, here is the result of our progress, which is as far as I am going to go today. The only other thing I will do now is to quickly construct some simple concrete footers and steel supports for reference.

I saved my assembly as a 3d xml file and exported it to 3D Via and here it is for your enjoyment.

Would you be interesting in learning more and reading additional features like this one? Let us know in the comments or in the forum!

Thanks for reading.

-Nick

The Future in 3D

Nick — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:53:35 +0000

If you’ve been following Coaster101 you may have seen some of the amusement park ride 3D computer models we have been working on in our spare time. In those earlier posts, all we presented you with were 2D pictures of the rides. You could only view the model from the view that we gave you. What if you wanted to view the model from a different angle? Well now you can. We have converted all of our original Catia models to 3D XML format and uploaded them to 3D VIA. Several of our works-in-progress are embedded below for your enjoyment. Feel free to explore the actual 3D models yourself!

For those who are not familiar, 3D XML is a universal, lightweight XML-based format that enables users to share live, accurate 3D data quickly and easily. A free player is provided by Dassault Systemes (you will need to install a plugin in order to view our creations). The models come with no history, meaning you can’t see exactly how they were built, just what the end result is.

One of the coolest features of 3D VIA is the ability to integrate high quality 3D models within Word and PowerPoint documents, which is as easy as dragging and dropping the 3D XML file into the Office document. This also enables users to view interactive, real-time 3D applications in a Web browser or stream them from a website.

What does this mean for the amusement park industry? These tools can be a great resource for ride design and would enable more efficient communication between the manufacturer and the amusement park. Gone are the days of carrying around huge sheets of plain, two-dimensional drawings that take money to print and time to revise. It’s much easier to visualize a new attraction if you can see a model in 3D and even better if the park can zoom in on specific features and view it from any angle. This software enables the park to give instant feedback on what they do or don’t like about their upcoming ride. The biggest advantage of 3D VIA is that it enables all of this to be achieved without the park having to own expensive CAD software.

In fact, another great feature is the complete three-dimensional models can even be viewed on your iPhone! 3D Via’s new mobile app allows you to position and overlay 3DVIA models on your iPhone photos and e-mail or share with friends. Check out an example video:

Revisions can be made and viewed in real time, again increasing efficiency and communication. This could help the park and manufacturer save money by decreasing design time. Attractions can be realized quicker and would need less lead time. The parks could save additional money because they wouldn’t need to hire a separate company to build a model of the ride for marketing purposes as they would already have exactly what they needed. It’s a win-win-win situation for operators, designers, and customers.

Intamin Ball Coaster

Vekoma Flying Dutchman

Water slide

Wood coaster

Steel coaster

Click on the pictures above to go to the live 3D models. This is just a sample of how would work in real world situation (if it isn’t already being done).

Check out our project showcase site.

View some of our other non-amusement park related models.

Intamin Zac Spin CAD Model Recreation

Nick — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 18:23:16 +0000

I decided to try recreating an Intamin Zac Spin/Ball Coaster in CATIA V5 R19 the other day. After a few hours of work this is the result. Still trying to figure out a way to dumb down the model so it isn’t as heavy and take so long to load. Maybe converting to step file and then back to catpart? This model itself is based off of Kirnu (RCBD it if you’re not familiar). Still working on some of the details like the track to support column connections. I pretty much used all circles and lines so I could easily pattern the track’s ribs. What do you think?

Kings Dominion is getting a Giga?

John — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:38:08 +0000

This one’s really surprised me. It seems as if Kings Dominion will be receiving an Intamin Giga coaster next year. This thread over at Theme Park Review somewhat confirms it. Like I said, I wasn’t expecting this at all. With the current economic situation, I’m shocked that Cedar Fair would make such a costly investment, especially with Dominator only being installed two years ago. Granted, that probably didn’t cost as much as this ride will, but in the general public’s eye, Dominator is still a new attraction.

But on the other hand I’m not sure I want to trust a label on a package of washers. With the new style of track pieces that you can see in the post mentioned earlier, I’m more willing to believe that this may be a hybrid style of coaster, not necessarily a Millenium Force sybling. But whatever it is, I bet it’s going to be big. Those pieces of track have a double spine for a reason!

Cedar Fair probably has an idea of why they’re adding this ride. Kings Dominion is rather close to Busch Gardens Europe, which probably gets a better rep. Hopefully this attraction will be a smart investment for Cedar Fair.

El Toro debuting at Six Flags Great Adventure in 2006!

John — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 02:43:25 +0000

In 2006, thrill seekers at the World’s largest regional theme park will challenge El Toro, an enormous, new wooden roller coaster under construction at Six Flags Great Adventure. The thrill ride, which incorporates the most daring features of the world’s best wooden roller coasters combined with the smooth speed of a steel coaster, will be the star of a vibrant, newly-themed area of the park, Plaza del Carnaval. Just around the corner, families with young children will explore exciting, pint-sized adventures in the all-new Bugs Bunny National Park kids’ area, featuring new rides and attractions designed just for them. Both new areas, including monstrous El Toro, are set to open next season.

“Classic design meets state-of-the-art thrills with our spectacular, new wooden roller coaster,” said Rick McCurley, the park’s vice president and general manager. “As part of our multi-year expansion to a family destination, this massive coaster adventure will anchor a colorful, newly-themed area evoking the lively energy of Spanish-speaking regions of the world.”

El Toro’s unique design, inspired by the agility and strength of the brave Matadors, features a hybrid design including a classic “out and back” track with four fast-charging drops, multiple highly-banked turns and a beastly “twister” finale. El Toro will also deliver nine “airtime” opportunities, giving riders the highly-sought thrill ride sensation of weightlessness.

At 181 feet tall, reaching 70 mph, El Toro will rank among the tallest and fastest wooden roller coasters in the world. Its 4,400 feet of mountainous track includes records for second tallest, fastest and longest drop of all wooden coasters in America and features the world’s steepest drop on a wooden roller coaster, 76 white-knuckled degrees.

El Toro will anchor the colorful and lively Plaza del Carnaval section along a scenic waterway. This newly-themed area will feature La Cocina restaurant offering authentic Mexican fare, plus an open-air, marketplace-style retail shop and a new, themed family ride. Plaza del Carnaval will also include one of the world’s rare, classic dual-track wooden roller coasters, Rolling Thunder, introduced in 1979.

Just around the corner, parents and their young children will explore Bugs Bunny National Park, an all-new, wilderness-themed children’s area with tons of fun for little ones. Located on Six Flags Great Adventure’s picturesque Great Lake, this new kids’ area, featuring Bugs Bunny and his Looney Tunes pals, will join Looney Tunes Seaport and Balin’s Jungleland as the park’s third section devoted to the youngest thrillseekers. Families will enjoy the great outdoors with new rides, an interactive water play feature, plus a lakeside theater with a high-spirited show for kids and a snack bar with lots of sweet treats.

“Moms and dads told us their kids love the new Balin’s Jungleland area this season, and they want more. “We listened, and with nearly 25 rides specially-designed for kids 54 inches and under, dozens of rides for tweens and teens, and the world’s ultimate coaster collection, Six Flags Great Adventure will be the perfect way to enjoy playtime together in 2006,” McCurley said.

The new Bugs Bunny National Park, and Plaza del Carnaval featuring El Toro, are slated for a spring 2006 opening.

Guests can take a virual ride on El Toro and receive up-to-the-minute park news throughout the winter construction project.