Low Poly PicturesGuide · Updated October 15, 2026
Make your first movie: a 3D Movie Maker tutorial
Remember dragging an actor across the screen and watching the frame counter tick up? It works exactly the same way here. This guide walks you through a first short movie in about fifteen minutes: one scene, one actor who walks and talks, some music and a title. It's also a good way to make a movie together with your kids.
Before you start: use a computer with a mouse or trackpad. The first visit downloads about 30 MB; after that the studio starts quickly. Your movies are saved in your browser on your own computer, and nothing is uploaded.
1. Get to the studio
Open the studio and press Start. After the intro you arrive at the 3D Theater's ticket booth, just like in 1995. Choose "Make a movie?", then backstage choose "Create your own movie?". On later visits you're asked what you want to do today: pick "Create a new movie?".
In the studio, the four tabs along the top are Scenes, Actors & Props, Sounds and Words. The big picture in the middle is the stage, and the controls at the bottom move between frames and scenes and play your movie.
2. Pick a scene
Click the Scenes tab, then Scene Choices, and click a set. There are 12 sets (11 places and a plain black stage), from a city street to a haunted house. Each set has several camera angles (188 in all): use Camera Angles to pick the view you like. You can switch angles later in the movie, which is how you cut between shots.
3. Cast an actor
Open Actors & Props, click Actors, choose one of the 45 actors and click on the stage where they should stand. To place someone higher or lower (on a balcony, say), hold the Up or Down arrow key before you click.
4. Make them walk
Click the Actions tool, then click your actor. Pick Walk from the list (you can preview every action) and press OK. Now press the mouse button on the actor and drag slowly where you want them to go, then let go.
Every step the actor takes adds one frame to your movie. The action sets the speed, not your mouse: drag faster and the actor just walks behind your pointer. To go higher or lower while you drag, hold the Up or Down arrow key.
5. Wave, talk, dance
Actions that happen in one spot, like Wave or Talk, are recorded by holding still. Go to the frame where the walk ended, choose Actions, click the actor, pick Talk, then press and hold the mouse button on the actor without moving. Frames are added while you hold (about six per second). Let go when it's long enough.
6. Give them a voice
Go back to the frame where the talking starts. Open the Sounds tab and click Speech. Click the microphone button to record a short line (your browser asks for permission first), press OK, then click the actor. The line now plays from that frame. Recordings stay inside your movie, on your computer.
Prefer the classic sounds? Sound Effects has nearly 400 of them, attached the same way.
7. Add music
Go to the first frame of the scene. In the Sounds tab click Music, choose a piece (there are 300 clips), press OK, pick the Loop tool and click the background, not an actor. In this program music always belongs to the scene's background.
8. Add a title
Open the Words tab, click Word Box, choose Story (text that stays put) or Credits (text that scrolls up), click the stage and type. For a big spinning title, use 3D Words in Actors & Props instead: type your text, choose a font, shape and colour, place it like a prop and give it an action such as Spin.
9. Add a second scene
Choose Scene Choices again and pick another set: the new scene is added after the last frame of the current one. To change how one scene turns into the next (a cut, a dissolve, or a fade through black or white), open the Scenes tab's More Tools and use the Scene Organizer.
10. Play it back
Use the scene and frame controls at the bottom to go to the very beginning, then press Play. Movies run at six frames per second, the same as in 1995, which is a big part of that famous look.
11. Save, download and export
- Save: open the Portfolio at the bottom of the studio and choose Save. Your movie is saved in this browser.
- Keep a copy: press Download movie in the bar below the studio to get a
.3mmfile. You can open it here again any time, and it uses the same file format as the 1995 program. - Share it as a video: press Export and choose a video (MP4 or WebM, depending on your browser, with sound) or an animated GIF, in sizes from 544 × 306 up to 2176 × 1224. Your movie plays once while it's recorded, so keep the tab open until it's done.
Tips the manual buried
| Do this | To |
|---|---|
| Drag with Reposition | Move an actor and their path from this frame on |
| Hold Ctrl while repositioning | Nudge the actor in this frame only |
| Hold Shift while repositioning | Move the whole path at once |
| Hold Ctrl while using a Rotate tool | Keep the turn from here on (without Ctrl it lasts one frame) |
| Hold Shift while recording an action | Slide or float without animating |
| Ctrl-click the frame Next button on the last frame | Add an empty frame for a dramatic pause (six frames make one second) |
| F9 | Switch Up & Down mode: the mouse moves actors up and down instead of near and far |
| Ctrl+Z | Undo. There's one level of undo, as in 1995, so save often |
One difference from the 1995 program: browsers keep Ctrl+N for themselves, so start a new movie from the Portfolio instead.
Want lessons?
Melanie's Projects Room is still backstage: choose "Make a movie with Melanie?" for short step-by-step lessons on conversations, races, things that move together and spooky music. Stuck for an idea? "Get an idea for a movie?" takes you to the Ideas Room.
More help: questions and answers · making movies with your kids · the story of the 1995 program