Ray Dream 3D (circa 1999)

Sometime in 1999, I was in Comp USA computer store just browsing mainly for PC games with my pregnant wife. A software box caught my eye. It was Ray Dream 3D by the former MetaCreations corp. It look liked I found a better replacement to Animation Master even before the box was opened. Even better - it was $99 bucks! After 3D Express and Animation Master I had swore I won't spend more than $100 for a computer animation application and there were plenty of those around.

The package was so cool with its light green cover and a rendered image of a hip duck with a surfboard on a beach. When I tried out the software I remember liking it. My computer was over the minimum hardware requirements but the software did acted sluggish. The users manual was about an inch thick but I was patient in learning. I completed the sample tutorial of a fish moving around a seashell and sea plant underwater. It took a long time as I was learning make all the 3d models from scratch. Learning the software was my leisure time before my first child was about to be born.

And when my child was born, Ray Dream 3d just fell by the waste side. At the same time, I was going for my Master's degree and travelling a lot more at work. I kept the software on a shelf where I can always see it, hoping to someday continue learning it.

Years later, I found out that Meta Creations was absorbed by a company called Viewpoint which makes advertisement for all kinds of media. The great software that was once Ray Dream as a low cost computer animation tool for everyday Joes no longer exists. Viewpoint only offers digital media services.

Poser 7 - Design, Pose and Animate Figures in 3D