wat is metaballs?

nu-be, thats right, its just not everything, the large box around them is their area of effect sort of, and thats generally the area where they'll effect, and tho it doesn't show it, this area(as well as the metaball itself) gets bigger if you put another metaball directly inside it, also, everything merges, not just the shape, but everything about the materials as well, which means you can make some very confusing animations with them .) also something you need to know about is negative metaballs, they're almost just like them except instead of being a shape, they're just the negative version of the force that makes the metaballs merge like they do, if you think of them like some sort of(reversed) magnetic syrup and thier pull is directly in the middle, and the box is the extent of thier pull. Or, maybe that doesn't make any sense, either way, I want magnetic syrup now.

Lots of folks are confused about metaballs because you can't see the effect in wireframe, you can't see the effect all that well in the preview pic, and have to render with at least 2 metaballs in close proximity before you can really see what they can do.

This is not my "second childhood". I'm not finished with the first one yet.

Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.

"I'd like to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather....not screaming in terror like the passengers on his bus." - Jack Handy

Here is a simple example of metaballs in action. The rubber duck here was built using metaballs. The eye sockets were made using negative metaballs.

This is not my "second childhood". I'm not finished with the first one yet.

Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.

"I'd like to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather....not screaming in terror like the passengers on his bus." - Jack Handy

thanx ppl that sure cleared up...good help

Attached Link: http://www1.sphere.ne.jp/mizno/main_e.html

And, if you're on a PC and want to really play with metaballs, Metasequoi lets you use any of the primitives as a metaball object. You can boolean there too, convert to mesh, and export to Bryce. The freeware version is the one that exports. Unfortunately that program is undocumented and it takes a bit to figure out. I have some tuts up and plan on doing more at www.annsartgallery.com/eric.htm