Microsoft released the source code for 3D Movie Maker at the request of someone who asked to continue its development.

David Y. Naranjo

4 minutes

A few days ago, Scott Hanselman , Community Manager of Microsoft's Developer Division, announced that Microsoft had decided to release the source code for 3D Movie Maker and was launching it on Github in a read-only repository under an MIT license.

The source code was released not because Microsoft has big plans for 3D Movie Maker, but because someone requested it.

Foone Turing, a self-described "hardware and software necromancer," asked Microsoft to release the source code for 3D Movie Maker last April because they wanted to "extend and develop it." In response, Hanselman and Jeff Wilcox, director of Microsoft's open source software office, took action and worked with Microsoft's legal department to make it happen.

For those unfamiliar with 3D Movie Maker, it's a Microsoft product released in 1995 by Microsoft Kids. The same year the original Toy Story film demonstrated the feasibility of 3D computer animation, people were able to install software on their personal computers that could produce rough but creative 3D animated movies at 6 to 8 frames per second.

3D Movie Maker (commonly abbreviated as 3DMM) is a computer program for children developed by Microsoft Kids, a subsidiary of Microsoft Home, in 1995. With this program, users can make movies by placing 3D characters and props in pre-recorded environments and adding actions, sound effects, music, text, voice, and special effects.

The program features two helpful characters who guide users through its various functions: the character McZee (voiced by Michael Shapiro) provides assistance throughout the studio, while his assistant Melanie offers other miscellaneous tutorials. In Nickelodeon 3D Movie Maker, Stick Stickly guides the user.

Apart from releasing Doraemon and Nickelodeon specific versions of Movie Maker later on, Microsoft has never used this software again until now.

The 3D rendering engine used in 3D Movie Maker is called BRender and was used in Argonaut Software's mid-90s PC games, such as Carmageddon and FX Fighter. Turing also received permission to release the BRender code under the same MIT license as 3D Movie Maker in early April, after seeking permission from Jez San, former CEO of Argonaut Software.

3D Movie Maker is also based on BRender, a 3D graphics engine created by Argonaut Software . The models and backgrounds were created by Illumin8 Digital Pictures (a now-defunct graphics studio) using Softimage modeling software, while the cinematic introduction and assist sequences were produced by Productions Jarnigoine, a now-defunct production company founded by Jean-Jacques Tremblay. In 1998, a user named Space Goat created the website 3dmm.com, which allows users to download movies and mods for 3DMM. Many 3DMM enthusiasts still use 3dmm.com.

Microsoft released the program's source code under the MIT license , following a request from Twitter user Foone a month earlier. When asked why Microsoft was bothering to make the code for 3D Movie Maker available after all these years, Hanselman replied, "Because there's never been an application like this."

Even now, 25 years later, there's a community enthusiastic about this tool. 3D Movie Maker still has a small but active and enthusiastic user base that's still producing content. The application's open source code could lead to all sorts of experimental forked builds, but Turing has planned specific updates that they also plan to release under an open-source license.

These improvements will include updated versions of the BRender engine and 3D Movie Maker that run natively on modern systems, as well as 3D Movie Maker Plus, which removes the application's 256-color limit, improves audio support, adds native video export capabilities, and more. The goal is to expand the software's functionality while keeping it as simple and easy to use as the original.

You can view the source code at the following link.


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