3D Choreographer (found build of CGI animation software; 1992-2006)

The title screen for the 3D Choreographer demo.

Status: Lost

3D Choreographer was a 3D animation tool created in 1992 by Animated Communications, Inc, designed to be an animation program for non-artists. It is perhaps most notable for being the software used to animate the infamous Rapsittie Street Kids: Believe in Santa.

Features

3D Choreographer was sold as a tool for anyone of any skill level to easily create 3D animations. Users could pick from a library of actors (humans, animals, dinosaurs, objects and more) with an extensive library of actions and expressions. Users could customize these characters, either in appearance, size and shape, attaching a picture of a face on top of actors, or by manipulating their limbs to create custom poses. Users could also import pictures in the BMP file format for use as backgrounds or props. Animations created with 3D Choreographer could be exported for use in PowerPoint presentations, CD-ROM applications, or other uses.

History

3D Choreographer was created in 1992 by Jeffrey Freedman, focused on making a simple and easy to use program for 3D animation.

Initially, The program had two different versions available: The 3D Choreographer CD was a basic package that cost $199 and contained 90 actors, 50 AVI files and animation templates, and the 3D Choreographer Deluxe Version, which contained 330 actors, 60 AVI files and animation templates and cost $349.

In 2005, the Deluxe version was merged with the basic version and was made available for $109 and introduced two new versions of the program, one being 3D Chor Kids, which was intended for grades 2 and up and omitted some of the characters included with the $109 package and 3D Chor Video Effects Studio, a separate program that was more focused on importing images onto heads of characters or using video as a background for characters to interact with human actors.

Availability

Multiple versions of 3D Choreographer are known to exist, and were available to be purchased either through Animated Communications' website or from various licensed vendors. However, none of these versions have been backed up online. A non-interactive demo from 1994 was found on a cracked shareware CD-ROM. An installer for the program was included alongside the demo, however is most likely to be corrupt or incomplete, and thus cannot be run.

Gallery

Footage of the demo version.

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  PC Magazine ad

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  Interface

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  Head importing

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  Visual Effects Studio cover

External Links

• Archived website circa 2008.
• Information from Shareware Junkies.
• The shareware CD containing the demo.