The stars come out, indoors

ShowLED Classic Starcloths will light up the giant backdrop for the theater within a theater at Plopsa Indoor Coevorden. ShowTex provided ShowLED with a CAD drawing of exactly where each framed picture on the Studio 100 Wall of Fame would be hung. In this way, the Classic starcloths with random LED placement could be custom configured to fit perfectly around the images. Computers can only do so much though, getting these drapes up on the tracks and large scale frames up took some....that's right, heavy machinery...and a motivated crew.

The backdrop puzzle

Studio 100 Art Director Piet De Koninck created these fairy tale illustrations as the backdrops to various rides and park areas at Plopsa Indoor Coevorden.

The new backdrops differ from previous Plopsa theme parks because of the extra details like shadows, reflections, and color shading.

In fact, the images were so elaborate it seemed impossible to scan them in to be printed on the giant backdrops. Not only that, the rest of the rides, restaurants, and other buildings weren't there yet when the curtains had to be measured and printed. Koen Van Kerkhoven, one of the founders of ShowTex and project manager for Plopsa Indoor Coevorden explains: "Everything, from the mountains to the city scape of houses and entrances and exits in front of the backdrops was theoretical. We had a clay model to work with, but all the backdrop panels had to precisely match up, not just with each other,  but with whatever structure or ride would come in front of it."

That meant that our measurements per three meter wide panel were given to the illustrator as a basis for making the final image. We also had the technology in house to digitize the image at the highest possible resolution, resulting in a print that retains the fine detail of the original drawings.

The Plopsa Indoor Theater

Here you can see the structure of the theater area in progress

and below a member of the ShowTex installation team imagining
how he's going to get those velvet curtains up to the 14 meter high curtain tracks

 no, still there...

Of course, with the help of some friends....

 And some heavy  machinery...

Anything's possible!

The Foundations of Fun

It all started with a huge site conveniently located next to the family friendly Center Parcs. Plopsa Indoor Coevorden has 15000 m² of excitement, with 10000 m² dedicated to indoor attractions and 5000 m² to outdoor fun.
Here are some pictures of the location and the big machines it took to get this project started. Is that Samson or Gert driving the bulldozer, I cant tell...

Plopsa Indoor Coevorden - a ShowTex Diary of a Theme Park

Lucky kids will soon have a new theme park to add to their wish list. Plopsa Indoor is coming to the Netherlands for the first time. The amusement park featuring the popular Studio 100 characters is set to open on April 30, 2010. ShowTex had the pleasure of being part of this huge construction project that's been going on over the past year. To count down to the park's opening, this diary will show the transformation of Plopsa Indoor in the Dutch city of Coevorden , from concept to installation to crowd pleasing finish!