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Before you download our free Muvizu 3D beta software (v0.19b), make sure that your machine is capable of running it. Muvizu 3D is built around the PC version of Unreal Engine 3 and, as such, runs natively on only Windows operating systems - XP and later.

This is not to say, however, that it cannot run on Mac hardware - it will run as well, if not better, on a modern Mac with a Windows partition, which may be set up using Apple's Boot Camp utility bundled with the OS X operating system. Furthermore, Muvizu 3D will also run on/in virtualised/emulated environments such as Parallels or VMware Fusion; there may, however, be a performance hit in these.

GNU/Linux users: sadly, we have not yet succeeded in running Muvizu on your platforms. We'd love to know if anyone has tips and tricks to enable this.

To run the application properly, your hardware should be at least equal to these specs; but note that the better your graphics specs, the better the performance:

• 2.4GHz processor
• Shader model 3 graphics card (or equivalent APU)
• 2.3GB free drive space

Your operating system also needs the version of DirectX 9 that was released in August 2008 (it really doesn't matter if you have DirectX 10 or 11 installed - you still need DX 9) or later and Microsoft's .NET Framework version 2 or higher. Both of these components are included in the installer, but if you already have either or both, the individual component installers will either tell you or just skip any unnecessary process. You may then continue to the next step in the installation.

We would urge new users to watch the tutorials and let us walk you through the whole video-making process. Using Muvizu is easy, but watching the tutorials will save you a lot of time and you'll learn some great tips.

By pressing the download button below, you warrant that:

• You have a valid Windows operating system, whether running on PC, Mac or any other hardware
• You are not trying to install on Mac OS X, or 9 or earlier
• You are not trying to install on your grandfather's Amiga, Atari, ZX Spectrum or BBC Micro
• If you fall foul of any of the above, you won't come whingeing to us about it

If you encounter any difficulties after installing Muvizu 3D beta (v0.19b), have a look for tips in the forums and check our known issues list (which is to say bugs we know about but have yet to fix). If you draw a blank there, email us with details (and screengrabs of any error messages, if relevant) at bugs@muvizu.com or if you need to revert to a previous version of Muvizu, you should uninstall any other versions and download your preferred version from the choices below.

v0.18b 32-bit is here and v0.18b 64-bit is here.

v0.17b 32-bit is here and v0.17b 64-bit is here.

v0.16b 32-bit is here and v0.16b 64-bit is here.

Known issues

Saving sets

In some cases, saving a set will give the error, "It is with some regret that I must inform you of an unexpected error: Not enough info on the database." There is a small patch available, which fixes this and may be downloaded here.

Ground and sky flicker

The ground and the sky flicker black when the realistic shadow settings are being used and the shadow sharpness is adjusted. There is no work around, but it is only a cosmetic issue.

Camera preview window outlines

If you use the toon shader and turn on the outline for objects the outline will not be displayed in the camera preview windows. It will be drawn in the final output video, but is generally disabled for performance reasons.

Camera shake with draw outline

If you have camera shake and the toon shader "draw outline" option enabled then the outline of the character will not "shake" with the rest of the character. 

Camera properties window - focus tab

The focus tab, on the camera properties window, is deliberately hidden when the toon shader mode is activated as the feature does not work with that method of shading.

Blob character reactions

Blob character does not play reaction animations when attachments are added or removed.

Window focus

When using the keyboard to scroll through attachments, the window focus will go to the edit attachment window each time, meaning that you have to use the mouse to click back into the appearance tab.

Peek-a-boo

If you leave Muvizu running in the background, but not minimised, and are working in another application such as your web browser, then either the 3D scene part of Muvizu or the UI part may randomly pop up in front of other windows.

Grouping and multiple selection of assets

Creating a group freezes props into a single virtual object, such that its components stay in the same positions relative to each other when being moved. The group will remain coherent until you ungroup it. Characters may not be grouped.

Multiple selecting props and characters makes them behave as groups, but coherence is lost as soon as you release the mouse button.

The behaviour of a group is determined by its components. If any one can fall (i.e. any non-floating asset), the entire group will be dragged down with it. Once any component hits the ground or another object, the group will stop falling. If a group contains effects (or if a multiple selection contains characters), only horizontal rotation is possible, vertical rotation is not.

Creating groups of groups may crash the application, although we haven't seen this happen with the latest release.

Prop groups may stick to the floor. If this happens, try lifting them directly upwards.

Prop groups may collide with props that are near but not touching.

There is a "sticking point" when rotating groups. To overcome this, reverse your mouse direction.

Old sets

Old sets don't have thumbnails until you save them with the latest version of Muvizu.

Locking your computer

Locking your computer/workstation screen while Muvizu is generating video puts black frames into AVI.

Windows XP users may find that locking their computer and minimising Muvizu may cause windows to freeze. The windows will still be responsive. The work-around is to press CTRL-S to save your work (or CTRL-shift-S to save as) and restart Muvizu. Alternatively, minimise Muvizu again and lock your computer again. It may take a few attempts, but the windows should update again.

Image projection

Images, when projected through a spotlight and viewed from a substantial distance, move in relation to camera positions. (This is a problem in Unreal Engine 3 and we're still looking for a fix.)

Check the forums for help with any problems you encounter and, to flag up an unreported bug, email bugs@muvizu.com