Optical viewfinder hardware for costume/character-head performers (Smithwick, granted).
A head for a walk-around costume is provided that is adapted for enhanced visibility. The costume head includes an outer shell defining an interior space for receiving a head of a human performer. The outer shell includes an aperture allowing incoming light from an exterior space to enter the interior space, and an eye location for the human performer is spaced apart from the aperture when the head is received in the interior space. To provide an enlarged field of view, the costume head includes an optical viewfinder assembly disposed within the interior space of the outer shell between the aperture and the eye location. The optical viewfinder assembly is adapted for receiving the incoming light and transmitting the incoming light to the eye location to move a viewpoint of the human performer to the aperture to provide a larger field of view of the exterior space.
BACKGROUND 1. Field of the Description (1) The present description relates, in general, to walk-around costumes used in entertainment settings such as theme and amusement parks, at sporting events, and so on. More particularly, the description relates to an optical viewfinder system or assembly for use in the head of a walk-around costume to enhance the view of the surrounding environment or space to a human (“actor” or “performer”) wearing the walk-around costume. 2. Relevant Background (2) Theme and amusement parks and other entertainment venues such as sports stadiums often entertain visitors by providing characters from movies and other media, fanciful animals and other creatures, and team mascots. These characters are provided by human actors or performers wearing full body or walk-around costumes that often include a head such that the performer's head is enclosed within the costume. Costumed characters in the physical real world need to be the appropriate height and proportions relative to their animated or movie counterparts in their story world. (3) Visibility for the human performer wearing the costume, e.g., a large head over their own head, is an ongoing challenge to successfully presenting characters through the use of walk around costumes. In many cases, the physical costume's eyes are not conveniently located at the same height or spacing as a human performer's eyes. This makes it difficult for costumed performers to see out of the costumes, which leads to prob
1. A costume head, comprising: an outer shell defining an interior space for receiving a head of a human performer, wherein the outer shell includes an aperture allowing incoming light from an exterior space outside the outer shell to enter the interior space and wherein an eye location for the human performer is spaced apart from the aperture when the head is received in the interior space; and an optical viewfinder assembly disposed within the interior space of the outer shell between the aperture and the eye location, wherein the eye location is coplanar with a center axis of the aperture, wherein the optical viewfinder assembly comprises a non-inverting optical relay, wherein the non-inverting optical relay comprises an objective lens positioned adjacent an outlet of the aperture into the interior space and further comprises a field lens spaced apart from the objective lens and adjacent the eye location providing a flip of an image output by the objective lens, and wherein the non-inverting optical relay receives the incoming light and transmits the incoming light to the eye location to move a viewpoint of the human performer to the aperture. ||
2. A costume head, comprising: an outer shell defining an interior space for receiving a head of a human performer, wherein the outer shell includes an aperture allowing incoming light from an exterior space outside the outer shell to enter the interior space and wherein an eye location for the human performer is spaced apart from the aperture when the head is received in the interior space; and an optical viewfinder assembly disposed within the interior space of the outer shell between the aperture and the eye location, wherein the eye location is coplanar with a center axis of the aperture, wherein the optical viewfinder assembly comprises a non-inverting optical relay, wherein the non-inverting optical relay comprises an inverting prism adjacent an outlet of the aperture into the interior space for receiving the incoming light and further comprises, between the eye location and the inverting prism, a pair of spaced apart lenses with a diffusing screen element positioned between the pair of spaced apart lenses for displaying a non-inverted image to the eye location, and wherein the non-inverting optical relay receives the incoming light and transmits the incoming light to the eye location to move a viewpoint of the human performer to the aperture. ||
5. A costume head, comprising: a shell with an interior space for receiving a head of a performer, wherein the outer shell includes a view portal defining a path for incoming light from an exterior space into the interior space; and an optical viewfinder disposed within the interior space of the outer shell receiving the incoming light and directing the incoming light to an eye of the performer when the head of the performer is positioned in the interior space, wherein the incoming light is optically transformed to cause the eye, spaced apart a distance of at least one inch away from the view portal, to have a viewpoint at or near the view portal, wherein the optical viewfinder comprises a non-inverting optical relay, and wherein the non-inverting optical relay comprises an inverting prism proximate to adjacent an outlet of the view portal into the interior space for receiving the incoming light and further comprises, between a location of the eye and the inverting prism, a pair of spaced apart lenses with a diffusing screen element positioned between the pair of spaced apart lenses for displaying a non-inverted image to the eye location.