Editing QuickDraw 3D (section)

{{Short description|3D graphics API developed by Apple Inc.}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
[[Image:Scrapbook Quickraw 3D model.png|330px|thumb|right|[[Scrapbook (Mac OS)|Mac OS Scrapbook]] version [[System 7.5|7.5]].2 (1996), showing a QuickDraw-3D-based [[3D model]]]]

'''QuickDraw 3D''', or '''QD3D''' for short, is a [[3D graphics]] [[API]] developed by [[Apple Inc.]] (then Apple Computer, Inc.) starting in 1995, originally for their [[Apple Macintosh|Macintosh]] computers, but delivered as a cross-platform system.<ref>{{cite web
 | title       = 3 D: What Happened To Apple? |website= Bloomberg
 | url         = https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/1995-09-24/3-d-what-happened-to-apple
 | date        = September 25, 1995
 | archiveurl  = https://archive.today/20230604211511/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/1995-09-24/3-d-what-happened-to-apple
 | archivedate = 2023-06-04 }}</ref>

QD3D was separated into two layers. A lower level system known as '''RAVE''' (Rendering Acceleration Virtual Engine) provided a [[hardware abstraction layer]] with functionality similar to [[Direct3D]] or cut-down versions of [[OpenGL]] like [[MiniGL]]. On top of this was an object-oriented [[scene graph]] system, QD3D proper, which handled model loading and manipulation at a level similar to [[OpenGL++]].<ref>{{cite web
 | title       = The Covert Gaming Corner - Interview: Brian Greenstone, Part 2
 | url         = http://legacy.macnn.com/thereview/features/covert/covert10.2.shtml
 | date        = 25 June 1999
 | archiveurl  = https://archive.today/20130216100415/http://legacy.macnn.com/thereview/features/covert/covert10.2.shtml
 | archivedate = 2013-02-16 }}</ref> The system also supplied a number of high-level utilities for file format conversion, and a standard viewer application for the Mac OS.

QD3D had little impact in the computer market, both as a result of Apple's beleaguered position in the mid-1990s, as well as several fateful decisions made by the design team about future changes in the 3D hardware market that did not come true. Apple abandoned work on QD3D after [[Steve Jobs]] took over in 1998, and announced that future 3D support on Mac OS would be based on [[OpenGL]].