# Previsualization software for dancing water fountains



## JohnBobanthbar (Feb 26, 2019)

Hi,

I'd like to know what type of previsualization software was used for Universal Orlando's Cinematic Celebration. 
Any suggestions on software similar would be welcomed. I've attached a screenshot of their software from a scene of their show.



I'd like to recreate this show on my computer for fun (if it is even possible), but seeing it seems recreations of shows like this can only be done on RCT3, and that game is discontinued.

Thanks


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## sk8rsdad (Feb 26, 2019)

Capture does water jets. I've never used the feature. You probably need Symphony to get enough jets to emulate the image.


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## NateTheRiddler (Feb 26, 2019)

JohnBobanthbar said:


> Hi,
> 
> I'd like to know what type of previsualization software was used for Universal Orlando's Cinematic Celebration.
> Any suggestions on software similar would be welcomed. I've attached a screenshot of their software from a scene of their show.



1) The show in question was _likely_ designed by Aquatique, the same folks who did the predecessor, UCS/U100.
2) As someone who masochistically once tried to recreate World of Color because he really wanted to work for Disney, I can tell you that similar software does not exist in any free format for a single user. These shows may be programmed in-house but they are developed outside of it.
3) As someone who has worked on Universal’s Cinematic Spectacular, I can tell you that the original programming was done live in front of the show lagoon; whatever previsualization existed was likely proprietarily developed for UO’s creative team.
4) If what you’re saying is true, and this is a screenshot from their show control software, you ought to be _EXTREMELY CAREFUL_ posting such things on an open public forum; you know you signed an NDA if you’re employed there, right? Aquatique is google-able; proprietary show control is not. I know what we used to program everything together, and I ain’t talkin’. Universal was a good employer and I’m not looking to burn my bridges.


JohnBobanthbar said:


> I'd like to recreate this show on my computer for fun (if it is even possible), but seeing it seems recreations of shows like this can only be done on RCT3, and that game is discontinued.


If you’re doing this for fun, I would recommend looking into existing visualizers such as WYSIWYG and Capture, and seeing if they have fixture models, profiles, and physics engine details for fountains. I imagine they just might, although perhaps not for free.

RCT3 is certainly not “discontinued.” You can buy it from Steam or Amazon, easily Google-able. It’s your best bet, but be prepared for severe limitations, particularly in lighting and projection. You’re looking into the mod community at that point.


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## JohnBobanthbar (Feb 26, 2019)

NateTheRiddler said:


> 1) The show in question was _likely_ designed by Aquatique, the same folks who did the predecessor, UCS/U100.
> 2) As someone who masochistically once tried to recreate World of Color because he really wanted to work for Disney, I can tell you that similar software does not exist in any free format for a single user. These shows may be programmed in-house but they are developed outside of it.
> 3) As someone who has worked on Universal’s Cinematic Spectacular, I can tell you that the original programming was done live in front of the show lagoon; whatever previsualization existed was likely proprietarily developed for UO’s creative team.
> 4) If what you’re saying is true, and this is a screenshot from their show control software, you ought to be _EXTREMELY CAREFUL_ posting such things on an open public forum; you know you signed an NDA if you’re employed there, right? Aquatique is google-able; proprietary show control is not. I know what we used to program everything together, and I ain’t talkin’. Universal was a good employer and I’m not looking to burn my bridges.
> ...



1) It was indeed by Aquatique per Michael Aiello.
4) Don't worry about NDAs- that was a screenshot of their "behind the scenes" video for CineCele


Thanks for your input.


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## Morte615 (Feb 27, 2019)

Aquatique created the fountains (hardware) and did the initial setup but they were programmed on Hog 4 consoles using DMX. They did use pre-vis for a lot of it but also spent a lot of time onsite tweaking and updating the show. I don't remember off the top of my head what the pre-vis software is but I do know it's available to anyone to download, though NOT cheap (think $2-4k) Though the setup, mapping, and configuration of the software is very labor intensive.
Though the original show was programmed by an outside company they are using their internal resources to do special events (NYE.)
As others have mentioned Capture is probably your best bet. I know there are lots of lighting pre-vis software out there and I would assume that more than one does fluid physics but I don't think it's a very great number of them.


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## wakkoroti (Mar 6, 2019)

The screen shot looks to be D3 (Disguise). https://www.disguise.one/en/


JohnBobanthbar said:


> Hi,
> 
> I'd like to know what type of previsualization software was used for Universal Orlando's Cinematic Celebration.
> Any suggestions on software similar would be welcomed. I've attached a screenshot of their software from a scene of their show.
> ...


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