Marble Run 3D Mode

Marble Run 3D turns a song into a course. The notes are laid out as platforms down a tall wall, placed so the marble lands on one at the exact moment each note plays. Nothing is pushed to stay in time: the course is built from the timing, so the sync holds at any frame rate and in every export.

Every platform is part of a real instrument: a piano key, a xylophone bar, a drum, an organ pipe, a string, a bell or a synth pad. The element the marble lands on lights up and sounds as it is struck, so the viewer sees where every note comes from.

The marble needs notes to build its course, so the mode plays a MIDI file or a built-in melody. An audio file has no notes, and the top of the panel says so. A short built-in tune repeats until it fills the clip, and a MIDI or library song plays once from start to finish.

Marble 3D settings is one panel on the Engine tab and needs Pro. Anyone can open Marble Run 3D, watch it and export it. Camera, lighting, shadows and grade are on the shared 3D tab, whose sections need Pro.

Basics, the first item on the Studio rail, shows a short list of the settings that change the video the most, under Mode settings. Engine on the rail shows every control the mode has, in its own collapsible sections, and the mode's own sounds are in the Audio section. Both edit the same settings, so a change in one shows up in the other.

Instrument picks what the platforms are. Auto (match my instrument) builds the family of the instrument you are hearing, so what you see is what you hear. Picking a family also switches the sound to an instrument of that family, so the screen never shows drums while you hear a piano. The line under the picker says what is playing and what it is built as.

Where the platforms sit and how the marble travels between them. The timing never changes: every path and bounce style lands on the same notes at the same moments. A control that does not apply to the current path or bounce style stays in place, greyed out, and its ⓘ says why.

Every path plays the same notes at the same moments. Only the left-to-right placement of the platforms changes. The random paths follow the seed, so the same seed always builds the same course and the export matches the preview.

A long rest in the song would leave the marble falling a long way or floating in the air. With Bridge long rests on, it rolls down a curved steel channel instead and comes off it on the next note.

Medley mode chains several songs into one descent. Each song is a section with its own instrument, and the marble rides the rail through the gap between two sections. Turn on Medley mode, then press Add section for each song. The arrows change the order, Duplicate copies a section (the quick way to play the next part of the same song on another instrument), and the bin removes it. Under each song the panel shows how many notes and seconds it has, or says when it is an audio-only track with no notes.

Loop mode makes the clip end exactly where it starts, so it loops with no visible cut. The run begins and ends on a short straight rail, and the clip is cut in the middle of it. Turning Loop mode on also turns off Auto rotate on the 3D tab, which would drift across the seam. While Loop mode is on, Clip length is greyed out: the loop sets the length, and a loop never ends.

3D text stands in the scene at a point along the course, so a title or a channel name is part of the world rather than a layer on top of it. Press Add 3D text for each one, and the bin removes it.

How the instrument lights up, and the wall it is mounted on. With the default Ignite, every element rests as dark metal, lights up when the marble strikes it and then fades, so the trail of lit elements traces the melody.

A marble run is as long as its song. Limit video length ends the run at a set time instead, and the marble is destroyed on camera, so the video has a real ending. The panel shows how the run adds up, for example "This run: 28.8s of music + 1.2s ending = 30.0s". The ending sound is on the Audio tab, under Mode sounds.

Camera, lighting, materials, background, shadows, grade and preview performance are on the shared 3D tab, which every 3D mode uses. Marble Run 3D adds one control there, Camera life, in Camera Moves: how much the camera drifts on its own, from 0 to 1, default 0.55. The camera always follows the marble down the course.

The strongest Marble Run 3D clips use a melody the viewer knows, so every strike is a note they recognise.

What to check when Marble Run 3D misbehaves.