Themed Entertainment Project Managers & Technical Directors
For Themed Entertainment Project Managers & Technical Directors
The original shop closed. The attraction was built without drawings. The new element has to fit a space that nobody measured correctly the first time. And the creature character needs a skin that looks like it grew there — not like it was fitted around a mechanism after the fact. Scanning in themed entertainment is a production tool, a creative tool, and a design tool simultaneously.
Our background is in this industry. Ryan Schimmel served as Mechanical Lead at Animax Designs — the largest animatronic and themed entertainment engineering firm in North America — leading a 35,000 lb, 17-axis touring animatronic dinosaur from concept through global installation and designing the mechanism and shells for a 5-axis Sasquatch at IAAPA 2024. We understand the production, the schedule pressure, and what actually gets documented during a build. Carry-in equipment, battery-powered, deployable anywhere. We travel nationally.
Service Listings
Existing Attraction As-Built — Environment Documentation Scan
Full geometry of an existing themed environment, ride, or attraction space captured before expansion, renovation, or handoff to a new fabricator. Structural positions, set piece locations, clearance geometry, and the full spatial envelope documented as the space actually exists — not as the original drawings intended it. Used when an attraction is being extended, a new element is being added, or a change of fabricator requires the incoming team to understand the current state without relying on documentation that may not reflect what was built.
From $2,400
Est. — contact for quote
Prop & Set Piece Geometry — Reproduction & Material Translation Scan
Hero props, set pieces, themed elements, and character figures scanned for multi-unit reproduction, material translation (foam to fiberglass, urethane to bronze, resin to CNC-machined), or scale modification. No original drawings required. The physical object is the source geometry. Deliverable is a full-resolution mesh compatible with the sculpting, CNC, and fabrication software your shop uses — plus parametric CAD as a quoted add-on where needed.
From $650
Est. per piece
Space Envelope Verification — New Element Fit Check
Existing space geometry captured and delivered as a dataset the design team can import into CAD to verify that a new mechanical element, figure, set piece, or structural component physically fits before fabrication is committed. Structural clearances, adjacent element positions, egress paths, and service access geometry are all captured. Clearance conflicts, structural interference, and installation access problems are visible digitally — before anyone has spent fabrication budget on something that won't fit.
From $1,400
Est. — contact for quote
Animatronic Mechanism Documentation — Service & Shell Replacement
Mechanism geometry captured at rest and at key travel positions to establish the full motion envelope for shell clearance, plus component positions, cable routing, and structural member geometry for service documentation. Used when the original fabrication shop is unavailable, when a touring figure needs a replacement skin at a new venue, or when a mechanism has been repaired or modified and the shell no longer fits correctly. Direct production experience at Animax Designs on 17-axis touring figures.
From $1,800
Est. — contact for quote
Character Figure Geometry — Scale & Multi-Unit Production Scan
Sculpted character figures, masks, costumes, and themed elements scanned as the digital master for multi-unit production, scale modification, or simultaneous fabrication in multiple materials. A single hero scan produces the geometry needed to drive CNC foam carving, fiberglass layup plugs, 3D printing, and vacuum forming tooling simultaneously — removing the hero original from the critical path of a multi-unit production run.
From $750
Est. per figure
Replacement Component — Scan & Reproduce
Damaged or worn mechanical elements, structural components, themed hardware, and set pieces scanned for replacement fabrication when original drawings or CAD files no longer exist. Common for touring productions where components are damaged in transit, for permanent installations where a supplier has discontinued a part, and for refurbishment projects where the original build shop is no longer operating.
From $650
Est. per component
Pre-Shipping Condition Documentation Scan
Full geometry of a touring figure, mechanical element, or set piece captured before crating and shipping. Objective condition baseline for damage claims and return-to-service verification after transit. For touring productions that move between multiple venues over multiple years, systematic pre-ship and post-arrival scanning builds a complete condition history — the objective record that determines who is responsible when something changes between venues.
From $1,200
Est. — contact for quote
Living & Organic Reference Capture — Character Sculpture Source Geometry
Animals, living subjects, botanical forms, and natural textures scanned as dimensionally accurate source geometry for character sculpture and animatronic design. A specific animal at a specific pose — a bird with wings extended, a reptile head at a working angle, a primate facial configuration — captured at 0.025mm resolution as a mesh the sculptor works from in ZBrush or that drives CNC carving directly. Not a photograph that has to be interpreted back into three dimensions. Actual surface geometry, at the scale and configuration you need it, that holds dimension at any enlargement ratio. Used when the character design has to be grounded in real anatomy and texture at a level of accuracy that reference photography can't provide.
From $650
Est. per subject
Mechanism-to-Organic Form Integration — Simultaneous Envelope & Reference Scan
The animatronic figure problem stated as a design problem rather than a fabrication problem: the organic form and the mechanism need to be designed together, not sequentially. We scan the mechanism at all travel positions to establish the full motion envelope — the clearance zone the skin must never enter — and scan the organic reference simultaneously, delivering both datasets to the character designer at once. The skin is designed into the space that exists between the mechanism envelope and the natural form, from the first sketch. Not retrofitted around a mechanism the sculptor never saw moving. The figures that look alive are designed this way.
From $2,200
Est. — contact for quote
High-Resolution Organic Texture & Surface Detail Capture
Skin texture, scale pattern, feather structure, bark, coral, geological surface — organic materials scanned at full resolution as tileable or applied texture geometry for shell fabrication, mold tooling, or digital sculpting. When a character skin has to feel real from close range, the texture starts here. A section of actual reptile hide, a specific bark pattern, the exact surface of weathered stone — captured as geometry, not as a photograph, and applied to the character surface at the correct scale. Used by fabricators producing silicone skins, fiberglass shells, and foam latex characters where surface realism at close inspection distance is required.
From $470
Est. per sample
Deployment & Travel
We come to your venue, fabrication facility, or installation site. Equipment is battery-powered carry-in cases — no infrastructure required, no facility shutdown. We work inside attractions during off-hours, in fabrication shops during production, and at installation sites before elements go in. Within 50 miles of Nashville is included in all base prices. We travel nationally for themed entertainment projects — our equipment fits in checked luggage. All pricing is estimated — contact us with your project scope for a specific quote.
| Within 50 miles of Nashville 37206 | Included |
| 51–150 miles | +$180 |
| 151–300 miles | +$295 |
| 300+ miles / Multi-day | Quoted individually |
| National / International travel | Contact for quote |
When Production Teams Call Us
Scenario — Attraction expansion
A regional attraction is adding a new scene to an existing ride. Nobody has reliable drawings of the current space.
A dark ride adding a new show scene midway through an existing track. The original construction drawings don't reflect modifications made during the opening season, and the track geometry in that section has never been precisely documented. The new scene element has to clear the ride vehicle at all positions along the track curve. We scan the existing space — structural geometry, track positions, clearance envelope — and the design team verifies the new element fits before fabrication begins.
Scenario — Original shop closed
A touring production needs replacement components for a figure. The original fabrication shop is out of business and no files were preserved.
A touring animatronic figure has a damaged structural component. The shop that built it closed two years ago. No CAD files were transferred and no geometry documentation exists beyond photos from the original build. We scan the surviving components, reconstruct the missing geometry from the scan data and symmetry, and deliver a STEP model the replacement fabricator can work from. The tour continues on schedule.
Scenario — Multi-unit production
A themed retail environment needs 24 identical character figures. One hero sculpt exists. The production deadline is eight weeks.
A single hero sculpt needs to become 24 production units across three fabrication facilities simultaneously. The scan of the hero becomes the master geometry — driving CNC foam carving at one shop, fiberglass layup plug tooling at another, and vacuum forming tooling at a third. All three shops work from the same geometry simultaneously rather than sequentially from the physical hero, which stays in the studio. The production timeline compresses significantly.
Scenario — Shell replacement
An animatronic figure's outer skin is damaged beyond repair. The mechanism is fine. The original skin pattern is gone.
A touring figure that has run for four years. The exterior skin is damaged from repeated installation cycles. The mechanism is functional. The original skin patterns and geometry documentation are gone. We scan the mechanism at all key travel positions to establish the motion envelope, then work from that geometry and any surviving skin sections to design a new skin that clears the mechanism and matches the original visual intent. The figure returns to tour with a new exterior on a working mechanism.
Scenario — Venue transfer damage
A production element arrived damaged at the third venue on tour. The carrier and the venue are disputing responsibility.
A damaged set piece, a disputed insurance claim, and no objective baseline for what the element looked like before it shipped. The lesson for the next tour: scan before it goes in the crate. We document the element — structural geometry, surface condition, all component positions — before each venue transfer. If something changes between scan and delivery, the comparison is objective. Disputes are resolved with data, not competing accounts of what things looked like before the truck left.
Scenario — Space clearance verification
A new 12-foot figure needs to fit in an existing building bay. The structural drawings show 14 feet of clearance but the production team isn't confident in the as-built dimensions.
Structural drawings show 14 feet. Field measurements with a tape measure give various answers depending on where you measure. The figure is 11.5 feet tall with a working range of motion that extends to 13 feet at the peak of the travel. We scan the bay, capture the actual as-built structural geometry, and the design team verifies the clearance envelope in CAD. Two feet of clearance becomes confirmed — or doesn't, before the figure ships.
Scenario — Organic reference for character design
A creature character has to look like a specific animal species at close range. The art director wants anatomy, not approximation.
A large-scale animatronic predator for a permanent installation. The art director wants the head anatomy to hold up at arms length — correct skull geometry, correct skin fold structure, correct eye socket depth. We scan reference specimens — skull casts, taxidermy, and where access allows, living animals in controlled conditions — and deliver the geometry to the character sculptor. The design starts from accurate anatomy and departs from it intentionally, rather than approximating it from photographic reference and hoping it reads correctly at scale.
Scenario — Skin and mechanism designed together
The creature skin keeps binding on the mechanism at the extreme of the neck's range of motion. The problem started at the design stage.
A recurring problem in animatronic production: the skin is sculpted from the mechanism at rest, fits perfectly at neutral, and binds or wrinkles at travel extremes. The fix is always expensive. The prevention is scanning the mechanism at all travel positions before the skin is designed, and handing the sculptor a motion envelope alongside the organic reference. The skin is then designed to accommodate motion as a design parameter — not discovered to interfere with it during fit-up. We deliver both the mechanism envelope and the organic reference as simultaneous geometry for this reason.
Questions from Project Managers & Technical Directors
What is your direct experience in themed entertainment production?
Ryan Schimmel served as Mechanical Lead Engineer at Animax Designs, one of the leading animatronic and themed entertainment engineering firms in North America. He led mechanical design on a 35,000 lb, 17-axis electrically actuated animatronic dinosaur from concept through global touring installation — the largest single project in the company's history — and designed the mechanism and shells for an 8-foot, 5-axis animatronic Sasquatch shown at IAAPA 2024. We've coordinated across animation, electrical, mechanical, and controls teams on deadline-driven productions. We understand what the production manager is dealing with.
Can you scan inside an operating attraction during off-hours?
Yes. Our equipment is battery-powered, fits in carry-in cases, and the Class 1 lasers require no special safety precautions. We work in existing attractions during off-hours, maintenance windows, and dark days. Setup takes 10 minutes. We coordinate with your operations team on access, lighting, and any props or elements that need to be repositioned for scan access.
How do you handle the gap between what was designed and what was actually built?
This is the core problem scanning solves in themed entertainment. The as-built scan is the truth. It doesn't matter what the drawings say or what the original builder thought they built — the scan captures what's there. Design teams receive actual geometry to work from, and clearance verifications are done against reality rather than documents. The gap between design and as-built is closed at the start of the next phase of work, not discovered during installation.
Can you deliver geometry in formats our fabricators and sculptors can use?
Yes. We deliver full-resolution meshes in OBJ and STL — compatible with ZBrush, Rhino, Maya, SolidWorks, Fusion 360, Mastercam, and the full range of software used in themed entertainment fabrication and digital sculpting. For engineering components that need parametric CAD, we deliver SolidWorks STEP files. We discuss format requirements with your team during scope review.
Can you travel to a theme park or touring production venue?
Yes. Our equipment fits in checked luggage and operates without any fixed infrastructure. We have worked across the country and can mobilize to any venue or fabrication facility with reasonable advance notice. For international travel, we work out the logistics case by case — the equipment travels without issue in most international markets.
Can you help with pre-opening condition documentation for a new attraction?
Yes. A pre-opening baseline scan of a new attraction's key elements — figures, structural components, critical set pieces — provides the owner and operator with an objective record of the attraction's condition at opening. This is the reference against which future condition is compared for warranty claims, maintenance planning, and future modification work. It's also the documentation the next fabricator will want when the attraction is eventually expanded or modified.
Can you scan living animals or organic materials as character design reference?
Yes, with appropriate access and subject cooperation. Living animals in trained hold positions, taxidermy specimens, skull casts, botanical materials, and natural texture samples can all be scanned at 0.025mm resolution. The result is dimensionally accurate surface geometry the character sculptor works from directly — not photography that loses depth and requires reinterpretation. For animatronic character work where anatomy has to read correctly at close inspection range, geometric reference is a different starting point than photographic reference, and it shows in the result.
Why does scanning the mechanism at all travel positions change how the skin is designed?
A skin sculpted from a mechanism at rest fits perfectly at neutral and binds at travel extremes. It's one of the most consistent problems in animatronic production, and it happens because the sculptor never sees the mechanism move. When the sculptor has the full motion envelope — the geometry of the mechanism at every point in its range — alongside the organic reference, motion becomes a design parameter rather than a constraint discovered during fit-up. The skin is designed to accommodate the full range from the first sketch. The figures that move well and look right doing it are designed this way.
Ready to discuss your project?
Tell us what you're building, what exists today, and what you need geometry for. We'll respond within one business day.