I started Animating when I was around 18-19
on the BBC Micro, They were simple monochrome animations that served no real purpose but it fascinated me.
Then my 3D world exploded with the introduction of 3D packages on "Powerful" Computers.
It was back on the old Amiga, using "Imagine3D", It was a clumsy pacakage but it served its purpose for a while, After that I sort of Cheated, I entered a competition to win a copy of the new version of Lightwave3D and won, I was cheating because I used Imagine3D to do the animation tee hee.
3D Animation to me is a way of getting out of the everyday hustle and bustle of this world and creating my own.