Up next in 10
Accelerating World Building & Theme Park Design with New Creative Tools | D23 Fan Event 4K
Aug 20, 2026
Go inside the Imagineering Pavilion at D23 as Kyle Laughlin (Senior Vice President for R&D, Technology & Engineering at Walt Disney Imagineering) and Hannah Eller (Adobe New Ventures) take the stage to reveal an unprecedented partnership between Disney Imagineering and Adobe!
In this fascinating panel, discover how Imagineers are building a responsibly trained, internal AI co-pilot powered by 70+ years of Disney Imagineering data, drawings, and models. Learn how this cutting-edge tool allows creators to take hand-drawn sketches directly into 2D and 3D renders in mere minutes rather than months—accelerating the ideation phase while capturing iconic Disney design quirks like "crookedness" (as seen in Toontown), optimizing ride sightlines through simulation, and freeing Imagineers to explore hundreds of creative concepts for future theme park attractions! Plus, hear a fun behind-the-scenes story about testing an animatronic Olaf on a rocking boat for Disneyland Paris!
Documenting these groundbreaking technology presentations, Imagineering insights, and fan community gatherings is a core piece of our "Disney and positive stuff" mission. Bringing you front-row, pristine coverage of these creative behind-the-scenes moments is exactly the kind of optimistic reporting we love to share with our community!
How do you feel about Imagineers using new digital tools and AI co-pilots to design future theme park attractions? Let us know in the comments below! 👇🔮
Panel Highlights 🕒
0:00 – Welcome to the Imagineering Pavilion: Kyle Laughlin & Hannah Eller
2:01 – Announcing the Walt Disney Imagineering & Adobe Tech Partnership
4:08 – Leveraging 70+ Years of Imagineering Data for Responsible AI Design
4:50 – Programming "Crookedness" & Unique Disney Aesthetic Rules into Models
6:43 – Democratizing 3D Modeling: Turning Hand Sketches into 2D & 3D Renders Fast
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:05
I'll see you later.
0:10
>> Hey all you D23ers, if you can hear me,
0:13
you're in the right place. Gather around
0:15
the center stage because our next
0:17
Imagineering presentation is starting
0:20
right now. Wow, look how I call them all
0:24
over. I love having this kind of power.
0:28
[music]
0:33
Hello. Hello and welcome to the
0:36
Imagineering Pavilion.
0:40
>> This chair.
0:43
Um, if I fall down, will somebody grab
0:46
me? Um, welcome to the Imagineering
0:49
Panel. My name is Kyle Laughlin and I am
0:52
the senior vice president for R&D and
0:55
technology and engineering uh here at
0:57
Imagineering. Um I look after the team
1:00
that built all of that incredible stuff
1:03
uh in the back there um with our food
1:06
truck, our and felons and uh the great
1:09
work that we've done on Smugglers Run.
1:11
And I'm joined here by Hannah. Hannah,
1:13
you tell the group uh who you are and
1:15
what you do at Adobe. Well, I'm a big
1:17
Disney fan, first of all. But, uh, I'm
1:19
Hannah Eler. I'm from Adobe, so
1:22
hopefully there are a couple of
1:23
Photoshop. Woo. All right. Premier
1:26
Illustrator users here. Um, I run um new
1:29
ventures on new products for Adobe. So,
1:32
I was really delighted to be invited uh
1:34
to my very first D23.
1:37
>> And what have your impressions been so
1:38
far?
1:39
>> I mean, Phantom runs deep
1:42
and it's incredible. I will say, is this
1:45
not the best pavilion? That the buildout
1:48
is incredible. All the experiences has
1:50
been incredible. Um, and so it's been
1:52
fun.
1:52
>> It's the best one we've done. And uh,
1:54
tremendous work by the team here to put
1:56
this all together. Um, we talk a lot
1:59
about creativity obviously with
2:01
Imagineering. It's core to what we do
2:03
every day. And we recently announced a
2:06
partnership between the Walt Disney
2:08
Imagineering and Adobe to do something
2:10
that we've never done before. then I'd
2:12
love for you to talk a little bit about
2:14
what um the new products that you're
2:16
working on and the one that we've
2:18
started to build together.
2:20
>> So, you know what I'm really what I
2:23
think we found a lot of uh commonality
2:25
in between our companies between Walt
2:27
Disney and Adobe is really putting the
2:30
creative and the creator at the center
2:32
of the process. Right? creativity is
2:35
innately human and the idea of using
2:38
technology to really boost that has been
2:40
a mission fit for both of us and so um
2:43
not to date us but uh Photoshop came out
2:46
in the 1990s and that was really the
2:48
first tool that democratized how all of
2:51
us could start working in a digital
2:53
format. Maybe we were in a physical
2:55
format but we wanted to work in a
2:56
digital format. Of course, After Effects
2:58
with VFX started bringing us into that
3:01
um era. And so the next generation um
3:04
you know Kyle and I started talking
3:06
about it um he and his leadership team
3:08
are all about putting more value in
3:11
front of the guests, right? Bringing
3:13
bringing the attractions sooner,
3:14
refurbishing them sooner, imagining them
3:16
sooner. And so one of the new products
3:18
that we worked together was really about
3:20
how could you ideulate faster? you
3:23
talked to me about a process of
3:25
sketching and then turning it into 2D
3:28
and 3D renders which just took a lot of
3:30
time. And so the partnership you and I
3:34
have and I'd love for you to talk about
3:35
it and give me feedback if you'd like is
3:38
um to speed that along, right? Because
3:39
we're all craving new experiences and
3:41
really fresh experiences and we don't
3:44
want to wait, right? We're really
3:45
impatient. So that's kind of the work
3:46
that we're doing together.
3:47
>> Well, I think that's really important.
3:49
Speed does matter. As you can all see,
3:52
uh, at this pavilion, we have an
3:54
incredible amount of work in front of
3:56
us, and this is just the beginning.
3:58
There's so much more that we could do.
4:00
Um, but as you can imagine, there's a
4:02
tremendous amount of back and forth that
4:04
happens in order to get to the creative
4:07
output that we're all looking for. And
4:08
so, I think, you know, with such a rich
4:10
legacy that we have within Imagineering,
4:13
we have over 70 years worth of data. We
4:16
have every single drawing, every single
4:18
model, every single Mckette we've ever
4:20
created and um you know those uh are
4:24
kind of spread all over the world.
4:25
They're in people's heads. All of that
4:27
information kind of lies somewhere else.
4:29
And um our partnership now gives us the
4:33
opportunity to create a responsibly
4:35
trained artificial intelligence model
4:38
that allows us to make outputs that are
4:41
on brand and also deals with some of the
4:44
interesting aspects of the way we design
4:46
theme arts here. You want to tell the
4:48
team a little bit about what you learned
4:49
about crookedies?
4:50
>> Yeah. So you know new vocabulary uh for
4:53
me when we started working and I think
4:55
this is really important that there's 70
4:58
years I'll call it a knowledge graph
4:59
within imagineering now these imagineers
5:02
have technical drawings park photos
5:04
sketches ideation around that um and
5:07
they wanted us to work together in a um
5:10
completely IP protected IP driven by you
5:14
guys um and only for your use to drive
5:17
towards technically accurate drawings.
5:20
And one thing the models kept doing
5:22
because in the world we live in, we like
5:24
rectangles, right? We like our walls to
5:26
be 90°. Uh, but Kyle was like, "Hannah,
5:29
we need crooked." I'm like, "What's
5:31
that?" He's like, "Go back to Toontown.
5:34
Go visit Toontown and see what we're
5:35
building." So everything looks a little
5:37
off, right? I think Olaf was here
5:39
before. Olaf's coming later. These are
5:41
things where like the head and the body
5:43
maybe proportionally looks a little
5:45
little different. So that's what we had
5:46
to actually adjust for as we work
5:48
together. to account for that really
5:51
magical creativity and eye.
5:54
>> Absolutely. And so what this model has
5:56
done and what we're really excited about
5:57
is that uh an Imagineer can use their
6:00
existing workflow. They can go into
6:02
Photoshop uh they can go into After
6:04
Effects, they can go into Premiere and
6:06
they can uh begin to use this model to
6:09
accelerate their workflow. they can go
6:11
from sketch, snap that picture, uh uh
6:15
train that model, and then begin to go
6:16
to 2D um as fast as possibly can using
6:21
all of the understanding of uh Radiator
6:24
Springs, all of the understanding that
6:25
we might have in the world of Frozen to
6:28
quickly build new facades, new
6:31
characters, new designs, um as we think
6:34
about laying out these brand new worlds.
6:36
And that saves us a tremendous amount of
6:39
time. Um, allowing us to bring it to
6:41
fans faster than ever.
6:43
>> Maybe just one geek out point if that's
6:44
okay. I'm trained as a mathematician so
6:46
forgive me for a second. But when you
6:48
know when Kyle's talking about how these
6:50
imagineers and if you're meeting them on
6:52
the floor, I mean these people are
6:53
incredible. They're engineers. They're
6:55
3D modelers. They're um 3D modeling
6:58
takes a lot of mathematics. And so if
7:00
you're just right an artist who hasn't
7:03
studied deep math, maybe that's a skill
7:05
that you're just not able to enter into
7:08
and you're thinking about vectors and
7:09
angles and how do I model these things
7:11
and what's the volume of the cube that
7:13
I'm drawing. This actually in this
7:15
process I think the imagineers turn into
7:18
superheroes in a way because it really
7:20
flattened that process where you could
7:22
take a sketch, turn it into 2D, not have
7:25
to think too much about the math of it
7:27
and volumes and then end up with 3D
7:30
render. And what you were telling me was
7:32
sometimes in the regular process you get
7:35
to an engineering block too late, right?
7:37
We're down to remaking the ride
7:40
>> and engineers like well that's not how
7:42
what I thought it was going to be. If
7:44
you can bring that upstream, it feels
7:46
like you'll actually avoid costly
7:49
mistakes um that come later.
7:51
>> That's exactly right. I think we
7:52
increasingly are using simulation tools
7:55
to be able to ensure that we have great
7:58
sight lines that we are ensuring that
8:00
that we've got the right scale and
8:01
scope. And as you or any of you know
8:03
who've seen Olaf in the past, we you
8:05
know take Olaf before we even uh you
8:08
know assemble a symbol a a symbol
8:11
actuator a single actuator. We uh are
8:14
into simulation using reinforcement
8:16
learning. Now we're able to go from
8:18
sketch to a ride vehicle in mere minutes
8:22
and being able to then move that into
8:24
simulation and start actually looking at
8:27
some of the big time effects that come
8:29
much later when you get out into the
8:30
field. So before we pour a single uh
8:34
piece of concrete um we are able to move
8:36
so quickly and understand the
8:38
implications of our designs uh so much
8:40
faster.
8:41
>> Will you tell them the story about Olaf
8:42
and the boat that you told me?
8:44
>> Well, of course I will.
8:47
So I not necessarily as a part of this
8:50
particular conversation.
8:51
>> Just a good story.
8:52
>> Hannah and I spent a lot of time
8:53
together. Um the uh as you know when we
8:56
launched uh Olaf in uh in Paris for
9:00
Adventure World um a few months before
9:02
we launched the live entertainment team
9:05
came to us and said we got this great
9:06
idea. Nobody can see Olaf right now when
9:09
he's on the floor um walking around the
9:11
area. So we want to put him on a boat to
9:15
ensure that people can see it and then
9:17
fire fireworks behind him in order to be
9:19
able to do that. So the team as in as um
9:22
you know brilliant people as they are,
9:24
we assembled a boat inside of uh our our
9:28
R&D facility and they rocked the Olaf
9:31
back and forth to ensure that he would
9:33
stay on the boat as a part of that
9:34
piece. I think it took a lot of
9:36
carpenters and trips to Home Depot in
9:38
order for us to make that
9:40
>> your your expense report from Home Depot
9:41
you told me was very high,
9:43
>> very high. But um again just I think
9:46
what we all do as Imagineers um is we
9:49
use the best tools that we have at our
9:51
fingertips and some of those things are
9:53
foam and clay um and some of those
9:56
things are some of the most advanced AI
9:57
models in the world. Um and so what do
10:01
you think about you know you're
10:02
obviously talking to other people other
10:04
creative teams around the world that are
10:07
starting to use products like this. What
10:09
are you hearing from some of those teams
10:11
as um you know that could apply to the
10:13
work that we do kind of into the future?
10:15
What are some of the themes that you're
10:16
hearing from others in the space?
10:18
>> I work with um artists in the space as
10:21
well. Uh and just to tell you a story
10:23
from our history, you know, um we use
10:26
Photoshop like a verb now with with no
10:29
friction in our language. But when we
10:31
launched Photoshop in the '9s, um, you
10:34
know, at that point, the transition from
10:36
like physical craft to digital was very
10:38
new. The idea of digital art. Um, and so
10:42
we actually brought in David Hawkney,
10:44
who who just passed away this past
10:45
summer, but um, he he was well known in
10:49
the physical space, but he had not been
10:51
well renown yet, right, in the digital
10:53
space. So, we had him in for a creative
10:55
jam and and I feel like his art form
10:58
really legitimized the idea of digital
11:00
art as a high art form. And so, I feel
11:04
like we're in those transitions again.
11:06
Um, I work with this really incredible
11:08
artist, um, Norman Teague. He's a
11:10
furniture designer. Uh, he showed up at
11:12
MoMA and he's doing Obama's presidential
11:15
library furniture. He's a physical
11:16
artist, right? He's going to build foam
11:18
locks. He's going to end up building the
11:19
furniture. But what he told me was, I
11:22
have so many ideas and normally he and
11:24
his team can only unlock four things
11:27
that he might sketch in ideation. And so
11:29
this feels like a very similar problem
11:31
that that we talked about which is
11:34
people who are creative have thousands
11:36
of ideas in their sketchbook and we are
11:38
limited by time and space. And so
11:40
sometimes we overly constrain our
11:43
imagination because we don't have time.
11:46
And I think what we're finding when you
11:48
said you can sketch and turn something
11:50
into a 3D render in minutes or hours,
11:53
not months, means that what when I say
11:57
more value in front of your guest, let
11:59
the imagineers explore hundreds of
12:02
ideas, not four ideas. Right? Norman's
12:04
now for furniture able to do hundreds of
12:06
ideas. He actually says he likes the
12:08
hallucinations of models because it puts
12:11
things together for him that he might
12:12
not have considered. But I think that's
12:14
that's what we're celebrating here,
12:16
right? Which is how can we unlock
12:18
creativity, maybe democratize it more,
12:21
and by doing that, we get to we get the
12:24
great experience at the end of the day.
12:25
>> Absolutely. I I think that's a really
12:27
important point. I sometimes as a part
12:29
of the creative process, understanding
12:31
what you don't want is as important as
12:34
what you do. And so seeing things that
12:37
may have been in the back of your head,
12:38
you're like, "Oh man, I wish I just
12:40
would have had some more time to try
12:41
that." um to say it was a bad idea um
12:45
and then to move on to the right one is
12:47
incredibly powerful and the
12:49
hallucinations actually do really work
12:52
when it comes to physical products. So
12:54
when we were looking at Jafar's staff
12:56
and trying to look at headdresses from
12:59
some of our um you know most popular
13:01
films um that kind of hallucination
13:05
really brings some texture and life to
13:08
what you can see and and see those
13:10
things in in 3D and physical products.
13:12
It's pretty powerful which normally
13:14
would have taken again months to try and
13:16
see it in that form um all the way uh
13:19
down the line. So
13:20
>> and again always governed by a artistic
13:23
vision, right? You're not setting it and
13:24
forgetting it and in any process that
13:26
just ends up in kind of mediocre output
13:28
in creative.
13:29
>> Absolutely. So when you think about uh
13:33
where the future is is headed um you
13:36
know where do you see creativity going
13:38
and you know what could we continue to
13:41
what if you had a dream what could we
13:42
continue to go do together?
13:44
>> Oh wow. Okay this is a very wide
13:47
question. Um, so I mean the way I think
13:49
of it, um, every kind of big tectonic
13:52
shift in creativity opens up more
13:55
things, right? I talked about digital
13:57
and, um, from physical. CGI is a great
14:01
point, right? Like, you know, there were
14:02
map paintings before in in effects and
14:05
then CGI and green screens really
14:07
brought us to a whole another level of
14:09
quality of what we're going to see in
14:10
pixels and frames. And I think here
14:13
we're we're probably on the verge of
14:14
another I'll call it a creative
14:16
renaissance. And the difference here is
14:19
um in almost every tectonic shift before
14:23
we each had to specialize like you know
14:25
I'm a vector artist and what I really
14:27
understand is vector or 3D or something.
14:30
I actually think what the
14:31
democratization that brings forward in
14:33
tools lets someone who might work in one
14:36
form
14:38
um stills actually be able to work
14:40
across and maybe do a little motion.
14:42
They won't become an expert in motion
14:44
but be able to to go across I think is
14:47
what we call omni modality. Really
14:49
really exciting. That's one. The second
14:51
thing I mean look at fandom here right?
14:54
Wouldn't we like a method um and I've
14:57
done this with some brands um where we
15:00
can we can put the IP in the hands of
15:02
fandom because what a lot of fans have
15:05
said to me is I want to drive the
15:07
narrative of the next you know we we did
15:09
something called un unfinished film
15:11
where we worked with the film director
15:13
and he left kind of just a minute open
15:16
of the film and he had everyone kind of
15:20
give their vision of what that me one
15:22
minute fill was And that's the idea of
15:24
letting fandom with permission drive IP
15:29
and stories. I think that's actually
15:31
going to be super exciting for all of
15:33
us. Like I want in on that first.
15:35
>> I love it. I love it. And I think really
15:37
where um we're so excited about where
15:40
this partnership is heading is that as
15:42
you said, we aren't replacing any of the
15:46
tools that over the last 70 plus years
15:48
that we've used to build the experiences
15:50
that all you all have a chance to visit.
15:53
The real opportunity here is to continue
15:56
to put another tool in the toolkit to
15:58
create uh a Jarvis, if you will, for our
16:02
Imagineers to be able to use as a as a
16:05
co-pilot or as a artificially
16:07
intelligent agent um working on behalf
16:09
of them, which is really exciting. Um
16:12
but, uh I think the there's so much uh
16:15
more that our guests are going to see as
16:17
a result of some of the things that
16:18
we're working on. But as we think about
16:20
wrapping up, I think uh one of the
16:22
things that I'd just love for you to
16:24
share and we'll kind of tie this up in a
16:26
bow at your first D23 was just to share
16:29
what your first Disney experience was is
16:32
um and what you're looking forward to as
16:34
you walk out of the pavilion today. What
16:36
are you going to go see?
16:38
>> Okay. So, my first Disney experience um
16:41
I'm a I'm a kid born in the 70s. Again,
16:44
don't judge me for age, but um my father
16:46
was an immigrant. My parents were
16:47
immigrants to this country and um you
16:50
know he worked three jobs, four kids in
16:52
the family. We lived in New York and I
16:54
remember the first vacation we could
16:56
really take. I was probably about 6
16:58
years old. My dad put us all in the
17:01
Chevy Malibu brown really ugly brown
17:04
back, you know, uh station wagon. And he
17:06
was like, I'm taking you back to
17:08
Orlando. Because to him that was really
17:11
kind of we made it. like this is the
17:14
American dream and we're going to go and
17:16
we're going to ride all the rides and
17:18
we're going to have my mom says we drank
17:20
a little bit too much soda there so we
17:21
were a little bit loopy but to me that
17:24
was my first family experience so I
17:26
think bringing bringing it full circle
17:28
my family is here with me where will I
17:30
go next I'll walk around here but really
17:33
they want to be back at the park in the
17:36
park right but isn't that the the beauty
17:39
of it so we always come back and it's
17:41
just it's like a happy family memory
17:43
that that we that we have.
17:44
>> Yeah. Well, I want to thank you for
17:46
being here today. I want to thank you
17:48
for helping me tell the story about how
17:50
we're working together and, you know,
17:51
really truly what we think we're going
17:53
to do in terms of innovating for the
17:54
next generation of uh themed experiences
17:57
that we're about to go create. Um, and
18:00
um, I'm excited for all of you to see
18:02
what some of that work is um, that no
18:04
one will let me talk about right now,
18:06
but we will share with you shortly in a
18:08
couple hours um, at the Honda Center.
18:10
So, thank you very much for joining us
18:12
here today. Really appreciate it. And uh
18:15
have a great rest of your day 23. Good
18:17
night.
#Travel & Transportation