3D Movie Maker

3D Movie Maker
Developer(s)Microsoft Kids
Big Blue Dot (Nickelodeon 3D Movie Maker)
Initial release1995; 29 years ago (1995)
Final release
? / March 18, 1995; 29 years ago (1995-03-18)
Repositorygithub.com/microsoft/Microsoft-3D-Movie-Maker
Written inC++
Engine
  • BRender
Edit this at Wikidata
Operating systemMicrosoft Windows
Available inEnglish
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Russian
Spanish
Type3D computer graphics software
LicenseMIT License (formerly Proprietary)

3D Movie Maker (commonly shortened to 3DMM) is a children's computer program developed by Microsoft Home's Microsoft Kids subsidiary released in 1995. Using the program, users can make films by placing 3D characters and props into pre-rendered environments, as well as adding actions, sound effects, music, text, speech and special effects. Movies are then saved in the .3mm file format.

The program features two helper characters to guide users through the various features of the program: The character McZee (voiced by Michael Shapiro), shared from other Microsoft Kids products like Creative Writer, provides help throughout the studio while his assistant Melanie provides other various tutorials. In Nickelodeon 3D Movie Maker, the user is instead guided by Stick Stickly.

Developed in accordance with Microsoft's broader ambitions towards multimedia software in conjunction with the release of its then-new Windows 95 home computer operating system, 3D Movie Maker is built on BRender, a software rasterized 3D graphics engine created by Argonaut Software. The models and backgrounds were made by Illumin8 Digital Pictures (a now-defunct graphics studio) using Softimage modeling software, while the cinematic introduction and help sequences were made by Productions Jarnigoine, a now-inactive production company founded by Jean-Jacques Tremblay. In 1998, a user named Space Goat created the website 3dmm.com that allows users to upload movies and mods for 3DMM. 3dmm.com is still used today by many 3DMM enthusiasts.

Following the open-sourcing of the licensed BRender engine prior in similar fashion,[1][2] Microsoft released the source code of the program under the MIT License in May 2022,[3][4] following a request by Foone Turing on Twitter a month earlier.[5]

  1. ^ Turing, Foone (June 29, 2022), Argonaut Blazing Render (BRender), retrieved June 30, 2022
  2. ^ @foone (May 3, 2022). "So I have some really cool news: I just got approval from Jez San, former CEO of Argonaut Games, to open source the BRender engine. That's the engine used in Microsoft 3D Movie Maker, Argonaut's own Croc: Legend of the Gobbos, and the first two Carmageddon games" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  3. ^ "microsoft / Microsoft-3D-Movie-Maker". Github. Retrieved May 4, 2022.
  4. ^ Hanselman, Scott [@shanselman] (May 4, 2022). "Hey friends - we've open sourced the code to 1995's Microsoft 3D Movie Maker" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  5. ^ Carrasqueira, João (May 4, 2022). "Microsoft open-sources 3D Movie Maker, its animation program from the 90s". XDA Developers. Retrieved May 1, 2023.