Re:Metaballs and Marching Squares
by CodeGlitch on Friday January 08, 2021 @03:41AM
(#25682820)
Wasn't the algorithm wrapped up in a software patent until about 10/15 years ago? I'm sure I looked into using this when I was in the games industry but couldn't due to the patent.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Yes, I think it's https://patents.google.com/patent/US4719585A/en.
It appears to be specifically the marching cubes (i.e. 3D) algorithm - this article just describes the marching squares (i.e. 2D) algorithm.
And people got around the patent by using the marching tetrahedra algorithm, which uses tetrahedrons instead of cubes.