3 ms·

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

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.

maffydub 6y ago
Yes, I think it's https://patents.google.com/patent/US4719585A/en 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.
- expliced 6y ago
  And people got around the patent by using the marching tetrahedra algorithm, which uses tetrahedrons instead of cubes.
- rzzzt 6y ago
  It did expire in 2005, according to the page.