Overview
- The patent application, published on August 20, 2026, details a system made of cameras, sensors, a controller, nonvisible light sources and projectors that detect changing surfaces and adjust projected content in real time.
- Disney explicitly lists possible projection surfaces such as fireworks residue and smoke, fog from machines, low-lying clouds, suspended particles, flexible fabrics and tethered floating screens called "floats."
- The filing describes adaptive content behavior that tracks shape changes — including splitting, merging and thinning — and uses generative AI to create or reform images so characters or effects conform to the new shapes.
- Lead inventor Lanny S. Smoot is named on the application along with three colleagues, and the coverage stresses that Imagineering routinely patents concepts so publication does not guarantee the technology will be built or rolled out in parks.
- The proposal builds on Disney’s past use of unconventional screens like water curtains and suggests practical uses such as a follow-up projection after fireworks and guest-interactive effects, though operational limits like wind and visibility would still affect real-world shows.