The precursor to the C3D file format was AMASS, a binary file containing a header block plus interleaved 3D coordinate and analog data that was used by the SELSPOT system in the early 1980’s.  An important goal in the design of AMASS was to have a single file format which would meet all needs for both parameter input/exchange, and data output.  This goal was achieved by including a readily accessible parameter section in every file, which not only passes parameter values but may also describe any data included in the file.  Such a file may contain parameters only, or parameters and data as in the case of C3D files.

In the late 1980's Oxford Metrics Ltd., obtained distribution rights for the AMASS software from ADTech (a company owned by Dr. Andrew Dainis).  At this time the AMASS software suite ran on the RSX11-M and VAX/VMS based systems (DIGITAL Equipment Corporation), used C3D as its output data format, and was the first software application to offer completely automatic 3D trajectory calculations for complex moving targets.  As such, it was a huge improvement on other commercial photogrammetry software applications available at that time which all required that the operator identify the target trajectories manually.  AMASS, unlike other photogrammetry programs at that time, used a single file format to store all of the parameter and data that it generated in one uniform, flexible binary file format – this is the C3D file.

Initially, Oxford Metrics (Oxford, England) offered the AMASS software as an option on its RSX-11M based hardware systems in the USA.  Only a few AMASS systems were sold for this operating system before the introduction of the Oxford Metrics Vicon-VX, “Etherbox” systems under the VAX/VMS operating system.  The Vicon-VX systems offered AMASS as the sole 3D trajectory reconstruction application and C3D as the sole output format, replacing the multitude of file formats previously required by the RSX11-M based software.  The Vicon-VX software package integrated the AMASS software within a simple text based menu system and was considerably more successful than its command-line driven predecessors, eventually selling more than a hundred copies worldwide.

The first substantial “freeware” application supporting the C3D file format emerged in 1991 with the release of ANZ, a motion analysis package written by Dwight Meglan at Ohio State University as part of his doctoral thesis.  Command line driven, and running under MS-DOS, this package offered substantial modeling and kinematic features that performed gait analysis, together with output graphs and animations suitable for clinical use.

In the early 1990’s AMASS was adapted to processing raw video data files from several other system vendors, e.g. Bioengineering Technology & Systems (Milan, Italy), Motion Analysis Corporation (Santa Clara, USA), Peak Performance Technologies (Englewood, USA), and was supplied as third party software to a number of motion capture laboratories.

The introduction, in 1992, of the Vicon Clinical Manager application, running under Microsoft Windows 3.1, generated a considerable interest in the C3D format, and its popularity produced a large number of sales for Oxford Metrics Ltd.  This application enabled users to quickly generate clinical output graphs from motion capture data and its popularity placed the C3D file format in the position that it occupies today - in wide use throughout the world and probably the most common data file format for clinical biomechanical 3D data.

With the success of the Vicon-VX product, due in large part to the sales generated by Vicon Clinical Manager, Oxford Metrics developed a new data collection platform for the Windows operating system (the Vicon 370) together with their own proprietary photogrammetry software.  This graphical package replaced the command-line driven AMASS software and became the first professional Windows based photogrammetry package on the market.  Significantly, it also used the ADTech C3D file format as its standard format for storing analog data and calculated 3D marker positions.

At about the same time, ADTech ported the AMASS software from DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation) computers to the Intel PC computer platform and extended the C3D format to allow data from these different computer systems to be handled transparently. 

This period also saw the release of MOVE3D, a sophisticated 3D analysis program developed by Tom Kepple at NIH, which further broadened the use of C3D files as input for other applications.  The simultaneous availability of MOVE3D for biomechanics researchers, and Vicon Clinical Manager for the clinical gait market, were major factors in the creation of a significant user base for the C3D file format in the early 1990’s.

Outside the software offered by Oxford Metrics and ADTech, the first major commercial C3D application was the C3Deditor (Motion Lab Systems, 1997), which enabled users to easily edit, and manipulate, C3D files in the graphical Windows environment for the first time.  Prior to the C3Deditor the only tools available for C3D development were a limited set of MS-DOS applications (PRM etc) released with the AMASS software - these, together with the C3Deditor, have become the standard against which C3D applications are evaluated.

The release of the C3Deditor made third-party C3D development easier, and by 1998, a growing number of requests from potential customers encouraged Motion Analysis Corporation (Santa Rosa, California) to offer C3D support for its users.  There were now a total of five independent C3D application sources available (ADTech, Oxford Metrics, Motion Analysis Corporation, Motion Lab Systems and ANZ), all of who offered well-documented C3D support at some level.  By the close of 2001, announcements of C3D support had come from Bioengineering Technology & Systems, Charnwood Dynamics (Rothley, England), C-Motion (Bethesda, USA), Kaydara (Montréal, Canada), Lambsoft (St. Paul, USA), Peak Performance, PhoeniX Technologies Incorporated, Qualisys, and Run Technologies (Mission Viejo, USA).

Although the C3D format probably has its widest use within clinical gait and biomechanics laboratories, the format is in wide use in other areas.  Estimating the use of the C3D format in other fields, such as the entertainment and animation industry, is difficult, but it is likely to be substantial as it is supported by several leading animation packages.