Jim Lammers knows 3D like no other. Since 1994 his company, Trinity3D, has been vending 3D content and software (including V-Ray). At the same time his studio, Trinity Animation, has created content for technical and medical projects as well as visual effects for the movie Starship Troopers and backdrops for animated sitcom Archer.

In this podcast, Jim joins Chris and Lon to reminisce about SIGGRAPHs past and long-lost data storage media, as well as the shifts that have taken place in the 3D industry since the mid-90s — and how new technology is throwing up familiar problems. Jim also talks about how his team creates and delivers Archer’s painterly backdrops while giving the show’s designers creative control, the issues that make legal animations so challenging — and the inner workings of industrial flour-sifting machines.