3D Movie Maker: How to Improve Performance (141821)

SUMMARY

The minimum system requirements to run 3D Movie Maker are a 486/50Mhz computer with at least 8 MB of RAM and a double speed CD-ROM drive.

Due to the complexity of the animation in 3D Movie Maker, a machine with the minimum system requirements may appear to run slowly. Although nothing can take the place of a faster processor and additional RAM, this article contains several suggestions that you can use to optimize your computer for running 3D Movie Maker.

MORE INFORMATION

To improve the performance of 3D Movie Maker, try the following:

Use Options in Product Information Window

In 3D Movie Maker, press CTRL+SHIFT+I to access the Product Information screen. For improved performance, click Better Speed and/or Run In Window option(s). The Better Speed option reduces the quality of the animation. The Run In Window option disables full screen mode. If you want to use these settings as the default, click the Make These The Default Settings check box to select it before you click OK.

Close Other Programs

For improved performance, 3D Movie Maker should be the only program running on the system. To verify that all other programs are closed, press CTRL+ALT+DEL once to display the Close Program window (list of programs programs), and close everything except Systray and your Windows shell. In a standard configuration of Windows, the Windows shell is Windows Explorer.

Check if Your Video Driver Is Displaying More Than 256 Colors

If the video driver you are using is configured to display more than 256 colors, you may be able to improve the performance of 3D Movie Maker by setting the number of colors to 256. Use the following steps to change your display settings in Windows:

Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
Double-click Display, and then click the Settings tab.
In the Color Palette or Colors box, click 256 Color, and then click OK.
If you are prompted to restart the computer, click Yes.

After you follow the suggested steps in this article, you should see some performance improvement in 3D Movie Maker. Your results may vary depending on the type of computer you are using.