Hey everyone
We are all waiting for PlanetCoaster of course to be released, but in the mean time, I have still an other project to work on: A remake of the Watershow Aquanura in the Dutch themepark Efteling.
For the people who don't know The Efteling or Aquanura: The Efteling is a famous Dutch themepark and one of the biggest themeparks in Europe. In 2012 they have opened a watershow at the lake near the main entrance of the park. The watershow Aquanura has been built by WET Design (also known from Bellagio Fountain in Las Vegas and the Dubai Fountains at Dubai mall) and is the end-show of the day in the Efteling at which different music pieces from different attractions of the park are brought together in 12 minutes long, spectacular watershow. At the moment they have 3 shows: First Efteling Symphony(since 2012). Second Efteling Symphony(since 2014) and a special show: Tiësto Efteling Aquanura show(since 2015).
When the First show premiered was broadcasted live on youtube and television, I quickly started to try to set up the basic layout of the fountains and it was around the end of 2012 when I decided to turn it in a serious project.
Area - The "Vonderplas"
A big part of this project is the recreation of the area around the lake in which Aquanura has been built, the so called "Vonderplas". I want to recreate the real area as good as possible to imitate the specific Efteling-atmosphere as good as possible. Therefore all the buildings and objects are custom-made in 3d program Google Sketchup. All the 3d models are created by me en several other peoples. for example the main lampposts around the lake and the frogs are created by PatrickDVZ, and the Theater Building has been made by Harm Lieftogt in cooperation with me. other buildings and paths are designed by me. I also want to create the nature of the park as good as possible by using a lot of custom made plants and trees which are made by several people like nSeven or StationJimJr. StationJimJr has also supported me a lot by offering the 3d models of his vegetation models so I could use them in a way I want to.
Teaser show
Besides the main show (more about that later), the Efteling has also introduced Teaser show which is performed in the morning at the beginning of the day. I'm also recreating this show in RCT3
First Efteling Symphony
The main source of this project is of course the actual night show: Aquanura - First Efteling Symphony (Real version). I've spend a lot of time on a couple of aspects of the show. At first the effects themselves. RCT3 has a very beautiful editor built in it called "Advanced Firework Editor"(AFE). In the AFE you are able to create advanced particle effects like firework, but also lights and something that looks like fountains. I've spend a lot of time to create a lot of different particle effects to create different fountain types like jets, shooters, bloom-shaped fountains and fan-shaped fountains as good as possible, both on its look as a watereffect, as applying the right lightning/colouring to it. A second aspect is programming the choreographics of the show.
I've spend a lot of time to recreate the choreographics of the real show as good as possible in RCT3 on the same music. This includes many aspects. At first it is important to time the right fountains on the right time in the sequence to match it perfectly with real life. besides the timing it is also important to create the movements of different fountains as good as possible. Therefore I've developed a special method with which I can program the movements of different fountains very good by creating CustomFlatRides for the game which includes the movements of the fountain-launchers. By starting the show in RCT3 at the same time as the custommade flatride, the movements match the music. Together with some movements in the effects themselves, I've been able to create advanced motions for several fountains. Especially the fan-shaped fountains got some very advanced movements which is very unique for RCT3.
One of the most advanced things in creating the show has been the coloring/lightning of the show. Aquanura has been included with an advanced lightning system with LEDs in the water and moving heads around the lake to light up the different fountains in any color possible. My goal is to create the actual show as good as possible, including all the different color patterns. This included some very advanced coloring in the show that is beyond imaginable for RCT3. Some of these advanced techniques is to turn the fountains from one color into an other color at just one moment. This takes a lot of different fountains effect together with effects for the LEDs to make it look like the light-system of the show actually influences the color of the fountains to make it look as realistic as possible.
[video=youtube;w4uxKRwk5c4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4uxKRwk5c4[/video]
[video=youtube;ItDRwakfMCc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItDRwakfMCc[/video]
[video=youtube;cBR9YKN3uI0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBR9YKN3uI0[/video]
[video=youtube;GTj8hSNj-OA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTj8hSNj-OA[/video]
[video=youtube;GOCKez1kEqw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOCKez1kEqw[/video]
At this moment, a lot of stuff has been finished on both the show and the area. but there is still a lot of stuff to do. I'll keep you guys up to date when I have something new to show you!
