Dragon Films - Utilities


		Utilities

3D Movie Maker can be used by itself to make great movies. But to turn great movies into masterful pieces of art, directors need a good arsenal of external software programs. Below you will find a list of programs I frequently use in conjunction with 3D Movie Maker to create my movies and Dragon Films.

3D Movie Maker

3D Movie Maker is the program used to create all of the movies available for download on this site, and is, in my opinion, one of the best software titles produced by Microsoft. It gives you almost limitless control over how you can turn your story ideas into fabulous, low-filesize digital movies. This is a very rare and wonderful program, but unfortunately it is rather difficult to find these days. Most links to the limited-capability demo version no longer function, and the chance of finding an online vendor that sells the program dwindles by the day. However, your favorite search engine may be able to turn up a link to download the demo, and online auctions such as ones on Amazon.com may still have CDs up for sale.

3DMM Animation Pro 2.6

This utility, written by Travis Wells, lets you control 3DMM using the keyboard at the same time as the mouse, allowing you to do a lot more work much faster. It's especially useful to make moving scenes in which every element must be moved a tiny bit every frame. You can even create your own key bindings to suit your personal needs. Download version 2.6 here (49.2 KB RAR).

3DMM Config 1.0

This utility, written by Travis Wells, allows for quick and easy manipulation of three 3DMM settings: the screen size, where movies are stored, and the rendering quality. Useful for those who don't feel like using the CTRL+SHIFT+I keystrokes or digging through the Registry to change 3DMM's settings. Download version 1.0 here (218 KB RAR).

3DMM DVD 1.8

3DMM DVD, a very useful utility written by Frankie Weindel, allows you to compile 3DMM movies, graphics, fonts, and so on into a single, distribution-ready 3DMM DVD file. In addition, it automatically installs and invokes 3DMM FPS to let you control just how fast your 3DMM movies will play. This is a very cool tool to make a "professional" release of your movie. Download version 1.8 here (188 KB RAR).

3DMM Expansion Pack 1 0.10

This is the 3DMM Expansion Pack released by Frankie Weindel. In this pack you get many new textures, fonts, characters, sounds, and scenes to use in your movie. This project has a lot of potential; be sure to check back here every now and then to see if there is a newer version of the pack available for download! Download version 0.10 (7.46 MB RAR).

3DMM FPS 0.12

This utility, written by Travis Wells, lets you modify the rate at which 3DMM operates. By default, it sets it to run 4x faster than normal. You can use this utility to create very smooth animations, or even to emulate Win98/XP framerates. Download version 0.12 here (30.5 KB RAR).

3DMM Picture 0.9

This utility, written by Travis Wells, allows you to import an image as the thumbnail of the first scene of your movie. This can be used to "finalize" a movie, so when the user clicks on it to open they will see the picture you imported. The program comes complete with detailed instructions on how to use it with both Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro. Download version 0.9 here (99.1 KB RAR).

Doraemon Expansion Pack

This expansion pack, originally released in Japan many years ago, is now available to download and use. Put together for download by Frankie Weindel and Kim Turley, the expansion pack includes several new scenes, characters, props, sound effects, voices, and songs you can use in your 3DMM movies. Everything you need is here in a very easy to use executable file. You will need this to watch movies on Dragon Films and other 3DMM websites made using the Doraemon Expansion Pack. Also included is the Doraemon Installation Fixer, which will let you fix Doraemon movies made using the older, error-prone method. Download the pack here (16.7 MB RAR).

Doraemon Installation Fixer

Some movies made using the "old Doraemon installation process" have a problem loading if the director did not install the Doraemon Expansion Pack properly. This tool, written by Frankie Weindel, fixes that problem and provides a way of fixing 3DMM movies through a right-click menu option. Download the installation file here (64 KB RAR).

HighQ 0.2

This utility, written by Travis Wells, allows you to import any type of .wav file into a 3DMM movie, even uncompressed CD-quality music (if you so desire). Use this tool to prevent 3DMM from automatically compressing your audio files when using 3DMM's importing feature. Note that files compressed using an algorithm such as MPEG-Layer 3 or GSM 6.10 are not compressed by 3DMM, and thus HighQ is not required to import them without quality loss. Download version 0.2 here (10.4 KB RAR).

Sound Extractor 5

This utility, written by Travis Wells, allows you to open 3DMM movies and databases and extract the sounds stored within as .wav files. It is a very useful tool to quickly rip sounds from 3DMM or 3DMM files to use in other projects, Download version 5 here (182 KB RAR).

WinRAR

WinRAR is file compression utility that boasts several special algorithms, such as solid archiving and multimedia compression, which makes it superior to other archiving programs most of the time. It can read most archive formats, write to both .zip and .rar, create multi-volume archives, and even package an archive into a self-extracting .exe file. Most movies on Dragon Films are archived using WinRAR. I recommend this compression program for managing compressed files on Dragon Films and on your computer.

WinZip

WinZip is the "standard" when it comes to file compression. Reading and writing archives with the .zip extention, WinZip is fast, easy to use, and is quite effective. WinZip gives you a huge list of features to include in your archives, supports multi-disk spanning, and allows you to create self-extracting .exe files. Some movies on this site are stored in the .zip format. If you run Windows XP, you do not need an external program to open or write to .zip files, since it is a feature built right into the operating system.

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