The Story of the 3D Toolkit

20 years ago the options for affordable, professional quality 3D modeling/animation software were very limited. Blender was still early in its career (and wouldn't go open source until October of 2002) and was fiendishly difficult to use and lacked a number of professional features. Learning professional 3D was and is difficult, but in 2001 the barriers to entry were considerably higher than today, with professional 3D software packages retailing for thousands of dollars and good, systematic training being far harder to come by.

There was definitely a need in the indie and fanfilm market for a powerful 3D modeling/animation piece of software that was affordable, had top quality training taught by an industry veteran, and used the same software that the professionals used.

The 3D Toolkit from dvgarage attempted to fill this need, giving its users acess to an an almost full version of a slightly older version of the veteran 3D software Electric Image Universe for anywhere from 80-90% off full price, paired with hours of training taught by a veteran of ILM's "Rebel Mac" unit, Alex Lindsay.

In this video we look at the origins of the 3D Toolkit (basically Electric Image Universe 2.9), how it was received, its features, how an English Star Wars fanfilm made use of it to create stunning CGI that still holds up well today, and what eventually happened to it.

#eias #ElectricImage #documentary

Storm Ahead website:
https://www.stormahead.com/