The 3D animated baby that became a late-1990s viral meme was called the Dancing Baby. It was also known as Baby Cha-Cha or the Oogachacka Baby, but “Dancing Baby” is the standard name for the meme.
The animation originated as a computer-graphics demonstration created for Character Studio, a plug-in for Autodesk 3ds Max. The baby model was combined with a cha-cha dance animation and circulated as the file “sk_baby.max.” The sample was demonstrated at the 1995 SIGGRAPH conference and Character Studio was released in 1996.
Ron Lussier helped spread the animation by posting it to a CompuServe forum and sharing it by email. Developer John Woodell later converted it into an animated GIF, making it much easier to circulate across the early web.
Its popularity surged in 1997 and 1998, especially after versions paired it with Blue Swede's recording of “Hooked on a Feeling.” The Dancing Baby also appeared repeatedly on Ally McBeal, helping turn an early web novelty into a mainstream pop-culture reference.