Using distance fields to represent and render shape

Distance fields have advantages over classic graphical shape representations such as meshes and point clouds for pervasive graphics problems such as shape construction, collision detection, and anti-aliasing. I will describe distance field-based applications that we built over the years for 3D sculpting, font rendering, digital drawing, CNC milling simulation, and more recent work in medical image processing. I will focus on innovations that were required to address size, speed, and accuracy in these systems, share some stories about commercialization, and describe new research directions.