Room 3D User Guide

The 3D room editor for GameMaker

Room 3D is a desktop 3D room editor that builds rooms, characters and effects and saves them straight into GameMaker projects, which have no 3D room editor of their own. This guide takes you from your first room to the code that runs it.

Start here 📖 The full manual About Room 3D

Room 3D: a town square painted from the Town library, with walking characters, a campfire and torches; the Outliner, Pieces and Inspector around the view

1What Room 3D is

Room 3D lets you build a 3D room by placing models, characters, painted level pieces and particle effects, then saves the whole thing into a GameMaker project with one button. GameMaker opens it as an ordinary room, and a small code kit that Room 3D writes draws it in 3D, plays the animations and handles 3D collision.

A town square in Room 3D's view — The town square as you build it in Room 3D…

The same town square running in a GameMaker game — …and the same room, saved and running in GameMaker.

Who it's forGameMaker developers who want 3D levels, characters or scenes without writing a 3D editor themselves.
PlatformsmacOS (signed and notarized by Apple). Windows and Linux versions are in final testing.
GameMakerGameMaker LTS 2026 and later.
TrialEverything works for 7 days of use (only days you open it count).
After the trialFree mode: you can still open, edit and save projects. Only the three exports (Save to GameMaker, Save Model to GameMaker, Save Model as GLB) need a licence.
LicenceOne-time purchase, $29.99 at launch, for 2 computers, including every 1.x update. Sold on guidrygames.com.
Files it opensGLB/glTF (best), FBX (binary and text), OBJ, and Collada (.dae) and .3ds when the free Assimp converter is installed.

2Abilities at a glance

Area	What you can do
Models	Open GLB, glTF, FBX and OBJ files; split multi-object files into separate objects; select, move or hide individual parts; save any model as GLB
Placing	Move, turn and scale with handles or exact numbers; snapping; front, side, top and perspective views; undo for everything (200 steps)
Collision	Give each object a 3D shape (box, sphere, capsule, convex, mesh) that GameMaker uses for walls, floors, ramps, stairs and hits
Premade characters	11 ready-rigged low-poly characters (mannequin, commando, zombie, knight, robot, teens, townspeople) sharing one skeleton
Animation library	Your own folders of FBX, GLB and glTF animations (Mixamo, Meshy or your own), previewed as moving thumbnails and fitted to any humanoid skeleton
Rig Character	Give a still humanoid model a skeleton by placing markers; takes a second or two, free and offline
Mixamo Assistant	Download characters and animations from Mixamo in your browser; Room 3D brings them in automatically
Meshy connection	Use your own Meshy account to make models from text or pictures, remesh, retexture, rig and animate them
Animation tools	Loop or play once, mark events on frames (footsteps, hits), attach things to bones (a sword in a hand), combine and trim clips
Particle effects	11 presets (fire, smoke, sparks, explosion, rain, snow and more) and a full effect editor; they look the same in GameMaker
Mesh libraries	Paint levels on a 3D grid from piece sets; 4 starter libraries (Dungeon, Sci-fi base, Town, Nature) and 5 templates
Import Pieces	Turn a kit file into a library, with collision chosen automatically for each piece and the reason shown
Re-theming	Switch a painted level between libraries that share a template in one click
Rooms	Keep several rooms in one project, copy and paste between them, save one or all to GameMaker
Round trip	Open Room 3D rooms back from a GameMaker project, and reload changes made in GameMaker's room editor
GameMaker kit	Code for 3D drawing, animation blending, events, bone attachment, collision, lights, fog, particles and grids
Safety	Every save is checked before it replaces the old file; a failed save never damages your project
Updates	Checks for updates, downloads and verifies them, installs and restarts, and rolls back if anything fails

3Getting started

Your first 3D room in GameMaker takes about five minutes:

Open Room 3D. The Welcome window offers New Project, Open Project, Open Model, recent projects and a row of premade characters.
Add something to the room. Press C and pick a premade character, or choose Add › Model from File… (Cmd/Ctrl+I) for your own GLB, FBX or OBJ. Models land in the Library (bottom left); double-click one to put a copy in the room.
Arrange it. Click a thing to select it. Press W to move, E to turn, R to scale, or type exact numbers in the Inspector (right).
Give it an animation. With a character selected, press Cmd/Ctrl+L for the Animation library, click an animation to try it, then Add to model. Pick it in the Inspector's Clip box.
Paint some floor. Open the Library's Pieces tab, choose the Town or Dungeon library, click a floor piece and drag in the view.
Add an effect. Press X and pick Campfire or Torch.
Save the project. Cmd/Ctrl+S keeps your work in a .r3d file.
Save to GameMaker. Press the gold Save to GameMaker button (Cmd/Ctrl+E), choose your project's .yyp and a room name. Open the project in GameMaker and run it: the room is there in 3D.

The Welcome to Room 3D window with New Project, Open Project, Open Model and Help, an empty recent projects list and five premade characters — The Welcome window. Click a premade character to start a room with it.

The premade characters menu open over a town square, listing Commando, Knight, Mannequin, Robot, Teen Adventurer, Teen Adventurer B, Townsperson A to D and Zombie — Press `C` for the premade characters.

Everything you do can be undone with Cmd/Ctrl+Z, and F1 opens the full help with a search box.

4The window

The Room 3D window with a town square in the view, a townsperson selected; the Outliner and Library on the left, the Inspector on the right, the timeline and status bar at the bottom — The toolbar along the top, the Rooms, Outliner and Library on the left, the view and timeline in the middle, the Inspector on the right and the status bar at the bottom.

Area	Where	What it's for
Menu bar	Top (on a Mac, the system menu bar)	Every command with its shortcut: File, Edit, View, Room, Add, Animation, Export, Window, Help
Toolbar	Under the menus	Open, save, undo, the tools, snap, grid, collision view, add buttons, and the gold Save to GameMaker on the right
Rooms	Top left	The project's rooms with pictures; click one to open it
Outliner	Left, under Rooms	Everything in the open room; rename, select parts, drag to attach to a bone
Library	Bottom left	Three tabs: Models, Effects and Pieces (mesh libraries for painting)
View	Middle	The room in 3D. Right-drag turns, middle-drag slides, the wheel zooms
Timeline	Under the view	Play, pause, loop and scrub the selected thing's animation; gold marks are events
Inspector	Right	The selected thing's position, turn, scale, animation, collision, effect, grid, bone and GameMaker name
Status bar	Bottom	What the tool does, what just happened, snap state, saved or unsaved, trial or licence

Drag the gaps between panels to resize them, hide panels with Cmd/Ctrl+1 to 4, and reset the layout with Window › Reset Panel Layout.

5Building a room

Adding models

Add › Model from File… opens GLB, glTF, FBX and OBJ. Models made in centimetres or other units are shown at a person's height without changing the file. A file holding several objects (a kit, a scene) asks whether to add it as one object, as separate objects, or as a mesh library; tick Remember my choice to stop being asked.

The 'A file with several objects' question over the view, with Make a Mesh Library, Add as Separate Objects and Add as One Object buttons and a Remember my choice box — Opening a file with several objects in it.

Selecting

Click a thing in the view or the Outliner. A click selects a whole thing. To work on one mesh inside it, double-click it (or click its row in the Outliner); H hides that part and Alt+H resets the parts. Alt+S splits a model into separate things.

A kit model in the view with one of its parts selected and the turn rings on it; the Outliner on the left lists the model's parts — One part of a model selected; the Outliner lists every part.

Moving, turning, scaling

Q Select, W Move (drag an arrow for one axis, a square for a plane), E Turn (drag a ring), R Scale (drag up or down).
S turns snapping on (0.25 m, 15°, 0.1 steps, set in Preferences); or hold Cmd/Ctrl while dragging.
Type exact values in the Inspector's Transform section. Distances are metres; y is up.
Cmd/Ctrl+D duplicates, Delete removes, F2 renames.

Views

1 front, 3 side, 7 top, 5 perspective, F frames the selection, Shift+F frames everything, G the floor grid, Shift+L lighting.

The Preferences window's General tab: starting, opening models, snapping steps, the view, panels and tools — Preferences (`Cmd/Ctrl+,`): snapping steps and more.

Collision

Each thing gets a 3D collision shape for GameMaker, shown with K:

Box, Sphere, Capsule (upright, for characters), Convex (a wrapped shape, for barrels and statues) or Mesh (the model's own triangles, for ramps, stairs and rocks).
Fit (Shift+K) fits the shape to the model; Alt+K tries the next shape.
Solid means level geometry (walls, floors, crates) that movers can't pass. Not solid means an actor (player, enemy, pickup) that collision checks still find.
Group is a word (enemy, pickup) your GameMaker code can look for.

Characters start with an upright capsule, other models with a solid box.

6Characters and animation

Use thousands of free Mixamo animations, your own animation files, or Meshy's library, on any humanoid: the premade characters, Mixamo characters, Character Creator 3, 4 and 5 and iClone, Unreal's Mannequin, Unity Humanoid and VRM, DAZ Genesis, Blender Rigify, VRoid, and models you rig yourself. Room 3D fits each animation to the skeleton it goes on.

Premade characters

Press C: Mannequin, Commando, Zombie, Teen Adventurer (two colour sets), Knight, Robot and Townsperson A to D. They share one skeleton and arrive playing Idle.

Animation library (`Cmd/Ctrl+L`)

Select a character in the room.
Search (every word must match a file or folder name: "jump", "crouch walk").
Click an animation: the character plays it at once. Rest the mouse on a picture for a bigger preview.
Add to model (or double-click) keeps it. Every copy of that model gets it.

The library reads your own folders of FBX, GLB and glTF animations: Mixamo downloads, animations from Meshy, or files you made or bought. Press Choose… to pick a folder; with none chosen yet, the window offers Choose a Folder…, Get from Mixamo… and Meshy…. In place takes the travel out of a walk or run.

The Animation library window over the editor, reading a folder of animation files, showing them as a grid of moving thumbnails — The Animation library, reading a folder of animations.

A premade teen character walking across the town square — A premade character walking: any humanoid animation fits it.

Rig Character (`Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+R`)

Gives a still humanoid model a skeleton:

Select the model and choose Rig Character….
Check the markers on chin, shoulders, elbows, wrists, groin, knees and ankles in the front and side views; drag any that are off. Symmetry mirrors your changes.
Press Rig. The rigged model replaces the original (Undo puts it back) and the Animation library opens.

A T-pose or A-pose works best. Rigging is always free, even after the trial.

The Rig Character window: front and side views of a character with markers on the chin, shoulders, elbows, wrists, groin, knees and ankles — Markers in the front and side views.

The same character coloured by the left forearm's skin weights after rigging — After rigging: one bone's skin weights.

Mixamo Assistant (`Alt+Cmd/Ctrl+L`)

Opens mixamo.com in your browser and watches your Downloads folder. Download a character (FBX Binary, T-pose, With Skin) and it joins the Library; download animations (FBX Binary, Without Skin, 30 fps) and they go onto your character. Mixamo content is free to use in your games but can't be resold as assets; Room 3D includes none of it.

Meshy (`Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+M`)

Connects your own Meshy account (paste its API key in Preferences › Meshy). Make models from text or pictures, remesh, retexture, rig and animate them. Each action shows its credit cost first, and imports are kept inside your project. Meshy deletes its results after 3 days, so import them promptly.

The Meshy window's Text to 3D tab: a description box, faces and pose, Make Preview, then Refine with textures — The Meshy window. Every task shows its cost in credits before it starts.

More animation tools

Timeline: Space play or pause, Home go to start, L loop on or off (off plays once and holds the last frame).
Events (M): mark named moments on frames (step, hit). GameMaker runs them as the animation passes.
Attach to Bone (P): a sword in a hand, a hat on a head. It follows the bone through every animation, in Room 3D and in GameMaker. Shift+P detaches.
Combine Animations (Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+L) merges separate animation files into one model (needs Blender).

The Animation events window for a walking character listing step_left at frame 4 and step_right at frame 19; the timeline below shows them as gold marks — Events on a walk (`M`), shown as gold marks on the timeline.

The Attach to bone window: attach a torch to a townsperson, with a searchable list of bones and RightHand chosen — Attach to Bone (`P`): pick the character and the bone.

The mannequin holding a burning torch in its right hand next to a campfire — A torch effect attached to the mannequin's right hand. It stays attached in GameMaker.

7Painting levels

A mesh library is a set of pieces (floors, walls, corners, stairs, props) that you paint onto a 3D grid, like Godot's GridMap. Four starter libraries come with Room 3D: Dungeon, Sci-fi base, Town and Nature.

Painting (`B` for the Grid Paint tool)

In the Library's Pieces tab, pick a library and click a piece.
Click or drag in the view to paint. Each stroke is one undo step.
Q / E turn the piece, T mirrors it, Y gives random variants (good for rocks and trees).
N draws a line, U (or holding Shift) fills a box.
Right-click (or Cmd/Ctrl-drag) erases; Alt-click picks up a cell's piece.
PgUp / PgDn change the level; floors below show as a ghost.

A box fill being painted with Dungeon floor pieces, the box outlined in gold on the grid — A box fill in the middle of a stroke.

The Library's Pieces tab showing the Town starter library's pieces — The Pieces tab: the Town library.

Painting a house: a box of cobbles, a line of walls, corners, windows, a door and the roof, cell by cell — A house painted cell by cell: a box of cobbles, a line of walls, corners, windows, a door and the roof.

Moving painted pieces

Double-click a piece (or press V in the Grid tool) to select it; Shift-click or drag a box for more. Drag to move them a whole cell at a time (red means the spot is taken). Alt-drag copies, arrows nudge, Delete removes. Alt+D detaches pieces to place them freely; Alt+G snaps one back; Shift+O places a library piece as a free object.

A top view of a painted dungeon with a block of floor pieces selected — Painted pieces selected with a box, in the top view.

Templates and re-theming

Templates are standard sets of slots with grey placeholder blocks: Building, Dungeon / Cave, Platformer blocks, Terrain / Nature, or an Empty one you define. Painted cells remember the slot, so choosing another library of the same template in the Inspector re-themes the whole level in one click. All four starter libraries fill the Building template, so one building can be a town house, a sci-fi base, a dungeon or a nature ruin. Export Template as GLB gives artists the placeholder blocks to model over.

The house in the Sci-fi base library — Sci-fi base

The house in the Dungeon library — Dungeon

The house in the Nature library — Nature

The Mesh Library Editor for the Town library, the Template slots tab open and the wall piece's settings on the right — The Mesh Library Editor: the Town library's slots in the Building template.

The Mesh Library Editor for a new Platformer library, its template slots shown as grey placeholder blocks — A new library from the Platformer blocks template: grey blocks until you fill them.

Making your own library

New Library from File… (Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+B) opens Import Pieces, which splits a kit file into pieces and chooses each piece's collision, showing why:

Collision objects in the file (UCX_, UBX_, -col, -nocol and similar, as Unreal, Unity and Godot name them).
Custom properties set in Blender (collision = box).
Name keywords: grass and rope get none; wall and floor get a box; ramp, stairs and rock get exact mesh; barrel and statue get convex.
The shape itself when nothing else applies.

You can override any piece. Reimport updates the library after you change the file, keeping your choices. Room 3D also opens Godot MeshLibrary files and GridMap scenes directly.

The Import Pieces window: each piece of a model file with its triangles, size in cells, category and collision, and the reason for each — Import Pieces: the collision for each piece, and why.

8Particle effects

Room 3D makes 3D particle effects for GameMaker, which only has flat particles, and what you see in the editor is what plays in the game.

Adding one

Press X and pick a preset: fire, smoke, sparks, dust puff, explosion, magic sparkle, rain, snow, waterfall mist, muzzle flash or torch. It appears in the view with a gold star; move, turn and size it like any thing, or Attach to Bone (P) to put a torch in a hand.

A campfire with smoke and embers burning in the town square at night — A campfire: flames, smoke and embers.

Eleven effect presets in Room 3D's preview — The eleven presets in Room 3D…

The same eleven effects at the same moment in GameMaker — …and in GameMaker, at the same moment.

Editing (`Shift+X` for the Effect Editor)

An effect has up to six emitters (a campfire: glow, flames, embers, smoke). For each emitter you set:

Spawning: rate, maximum alive, duration, delay, loop or once, prewarm, bursts.
Shape: point, sphere, box, cone or ring; local space (moves with the effect) or world space (leaves a trail).
Motion: life, speed, direction and spread, gravity, drag, wind, swirl, wobble.
Look: texture (soft dot, smoke puff, spark, flame flipbook, snowflake, raindrop, ring, or your own PNG), additive or alpha blending, facing the camera or stretched along the motion, spin.
Over life: a size curve and a colour-and-alpha gradient.

Changes show live on every copy in the room. Shift+Space plays or pauses effects, Shift+Home restarts them.

The Effect Editor open on a campfire in the town square, showing the emitter's spawning and shape settings — The Effect Editor on a campfire.

The Effect Editor's Size over life curve and Colour over life gradient for the flames emitter — Size and colour over life.

In GameMaker

Effects are computed on the graphics card, so many of them cost little. Ones placed in the room play by themselves (if ticked); in code, r3d_fx_play("fire", x, y, z) starts one and r3d_fx_burst("explosion", x, y, z) plays one once.

9Rooms and projects

A project (.r3d) holds one or more rooms (levels, a menu scene, a boss arena) that share the same models, animations, effects and mesh libraries.

Rooms panel (top left)

Click a room to open it and the Outliner shows its objects. Double-click to rename, drag to reorder, right-click for more.

New Room (Alt+Cmd/Ctrl+N), Duplicate Room (Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+D), Delete Room (undoable).
Next / Previous Room: Alt+Cmd/Ctrl+PgDn / PgUp.
Room Settings (Alt+Cmd/Ctrl+,): its GameMaker room name, backdrop colour and size.
Copy and paste things between rooms with Cmd/Ctrl+C / V; attached items come along.
One undo history covers all rooms; undoing a change from another room opens that room first.

The Rooms panel listing Courtyard, Crypt and Boss Arena with pictures; the Courtyard is open with a mannequin, a knight and a torch — Three rooms in one project; the Outliner shows the open room.

Saving projects

Cmd/Ctrl+S saves, Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+S saves as. Save As and Collect Model Files copies your model files beside the project so the folder can move to another computer. Rigged, Meshy and Mixamo models are kept inside the project file. Every save is written beside the old file and checked first; if it fails (a full disk, say) the old file stays exactly as it was.

Opening rooms back from GameMaker

File › Open GameMaker Project… (Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+O) lists a project's rooms; tick the Room 3D ones to bring them in with their models, animations, collision, effects and grids. Reload Room from GameMaker (Alt+Cmd/Ctrl+R) picks up objects you moved in GameMaker's room editor. The GameMaker project is only read, never changed.

10Saving to GameMaker and using it in code

Save Room to GameMaker (Cmd/Ctrl+E, the gold button) asks for your project's .yyp and a room name, then adds to the project without removing anything of yours:

the models, baked with all their animations and events, in datafiles/room3d/;
the Room 3D kit: the script scr_r3d, its shaders and the objects o_r3d_thing and o_r3d_scene (rewritten on each save, so don't edit them; make your own objects children of o_r3d_thing);
an object for each thing type the project doesn't have yet;
the room itself, with each thing's model, animation, position, turn, size, collision and attachments, and a camera where your view is;
painted grids, baked into fast chunks, and particle effects.

Layers you add to the room in GameMaker (a HUD, a controller) and the room's creation code are kept on later saves. Save All Rooms saves every room; Save Model to GameMaker (Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+E) adds just one model for use in your own rooms. Units: 64 GameMaker units per metre, z is up.

A painted dungeon room and corridors running in GameMaker, lit by torches — A painted dungeon, saved from Room 3D and running in GameMaker.

The most useful kit functions

Function	What it does
`r3d_play(anim, loop, blend)`	Play an animation, blending from the current pose
`on_anim_event = function(name)`	Runs at each event you marked (step, hit)
`on_anim_end = function(anim)`	Runs when a play-once animation finishes
`r3d_move(inst, dx, dy, dz)`	Move with 3D collision: slides along walls, climbs steps and slopes, falls off edges
`r3d_on_ground(inst)`	Whether it stands on something walkable
`r3d_collide(inst, group)`	Everything its shape touches now
`r3d_raycast(x, y, z, dx, dy, dz, dist)`	The first shape along a ray
`r3d_attach(child, parent, bone)`	Make something follow a bone
`r3d_create(x, y, z, model, anim)`	Make a 3D thing in code
`r3d_lighting(true)`, `r3d_sun(...)`, `r3d_light_add(...)`, `r3d_fog(...)`	Night scenes, torches, fog
`r3d_fx_play(name, x, y, z)`	Start a particle effect
`r3d_grid_get(grid, cx, cy, cz)`, `r3d_grid_set(...)`	Read or change a painted level at runtime

A minimal player

An object that's a child of o_r3d_thing:

// Create
event_inherited(); vz = 0;

// Step
event_inherited();
vz -= 9.8 * 64 * dt;
if (on_ground && keyboard_check_pressed(vk_space)) vz = 256;
r3d_move(id, mx, my, vz * dt);
r3d_play(moving ? "Walk" : "Idle");

o_r3d_scene.follow = id; makes the room's camera follow it.

11Licence, trial and updates

Trial and free mode

Everything works for 7 days of use; the status bar shows "Trial: 3 of 7 days used". Afterwards Room 3D stays usable in free mode: only the three exports need a licence, and nothing you made is ever locked away.

Licence

Buy Room 3D once on guidrygames.com (Help › Buy Room 3D…): a one-time purchase, $29.99 at launch. Then sign in to Room 3D with the same Guidry Games account (Help › Sign In…) and the licence arrives by itself. A licence covers two computers; free one under Manage Computers on the website. Licence keys (R3D-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX) go in Help › Enter Licence Key…. Room 3D checks the licence every few days and works offline for 30 days.

Updates

Room 3D checks guidrygames.com at most once a day (or Help › Check for Updates…). When a new version is out:

Download and Install fetches the right file for your computer with a progress bar.
Room 3D verifies it: its size and fingerprint must match update information signed by Guidry Games, and on a Mac Apple's signature and notarization are checked too.
Install and Restart asks to save your work, swaps in the new version and reopens your project.
If the new version doesn't start properly, the old one is put back automatically.

Skip This Version and Remind Me Tomorrow are always offered; important updates are marked but never forced.

Help

F1 opens the searchable help, Shift+F1 the web manual, Cmd/Ctrl+/ every shortcut, and Help › Report a Problem… starts an email to hello@guidrygames.com with your version details filled in.

12Keyboard shortcuts

Cmd on a Mac, Ctrl on Windows and Linux. Cmd/Ctrl+/ in the app lists every one.

Task	Keys
Undo / redo	Cmd/Ctrl+Z / Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+Z
Save project / Save to GameMaker	Cmd/Ctrl+S / Cmd/Ctrl+E
Add model from file / premade character	Cmd/Ctrl+I / C
Select, Move, Turn, Scale tools	Q, W, E, R
Snap on or off	S
Duplicate / delete / rename	Cmd/Ctrl+D / Delete / F2
Front, side, top, perspective view	1, 3, 7, 5
Frame selection / frame all	F / Shift+F
Grid / collision shapes / lighting	G / K / Shift+L
Fit collision / next collision shape	Shift+K / Alt+K
Animation library / Mixamo Assistant	Cmd/Ctrl+L / Alt+Cmd/Ctrl+L
Rig Character	Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+R
Play or pause / go to start / loop	Space / Home / L
Events / attach to bone / detach	M / P / Shift+P
Particle effect / effect editor	X / Shift+X
Grid Paint tool / Select Pieces	B / V
Line brush / box fill / random variants	N / U / Y
Turn piece / mirror piece	Q, E / T
Level up / level down	PgUp / PgDn
Detach pieces / snap back / place as object	Alt+D / Alt+G / Shift+O
New room / next room / previous room	Alt+Cmd/Ctrl+N / Alt+Cmd/Ctrl+PgDn / Alt+Cmd/Ctrl+PgUp
Open GameMaker project / reload room	Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+O / Alt+Cmd/Ctrl+R
Meshy window	Shift+Cmd/Ctrl+M
Preferences	Cmd/Ctrl+,
Help / web manual	F1 / Shift+F1

The Room 3D Help window open at the Keyboard shortcuts topic, the topic list and search box on the left — Room 3D Help at Keyboard shortcuts (`Cmd/Ctrl+/`).

This guide covers the essentials. The full manual has every window, tool, setting and shortcut, the same as Room 3D's own Help.

📖 The full manual About Room 3D Release notes Support