***Viewpoint Announces Free-Form Deformation Patent Licensing
by Rob Glidden

If Viewpoint Datalabs has its way, patent issues may soon effect many
corners of the 3D field, from the next generation of 3D clip art and 3D
standards to avatars, character animation and hardware acceleration.

In case you didn't know, free form deformation (FFD), used by virtually
every sophisticated modeling and animation package on the market, is a
patented technology. Viewpoint Datalabs owns the patent (No. 4,821,214,
filed April 17, 1986, issued 4/11/89, to expire April 2006) which it
acquired in 1994 from Dr. Thomas W. Sederberg and Brigham Young
University. FFD and GE's Marching Cubes patent are potentially
significant patents that have been lurking in the 3D software background
for some time.

At SIGGRAPH, Viewpoint announced the first FFD licensee (Kinetix, see
below), a licensing structure ($.25 to $40 per unit), and hints at
Viewpoint's ultimate vision for FFD ("a critical link in creating "smart
models" and 3D geometry standards").

Free-form deformation, in Viewpoint's patent terms, is a lattice (think
3D jungle-gym) of points around an object. The lattice points influence
the points of the object--move the lattice points and the object changes
shape.

You may think of FFD as the "car-through-a-keyhole" or "dancing-credit-
cards" technique, but its potential could go deeper.

Viewpoint notes that FFD can be used to enhance "the realism of computer
generated character animations such as the folding and bulging of skin".

And even more, according to Martin Plaehn, Viewpoint press: "Free-Form
Deformation technology is a critically important method for bringing
realism to computer modeling and animation--such as lifelike moving
characters and avatars in new design, interactive education and
entertainment applications. . . . Additionally, this patented method can
be meaningful when incorporated into underlying hardware chip sets
needed to accelerate computer graphics performance."

What are the limits on the FFD patent? It may depend on how astutely
Viewpoint manages its patent base.

So far, it has been cautious, waiting over two years to announce a
licensing strategy, and then only when it already had a credible
licensee (Kinetix) in tow. And word is that Viewpoint does not intend to
be heavy-handed, sticking to bargaining chip negotiations and claiming
only "outside-in" lattices (bulging muscles with internal lattices may
not be covered).

But Viewpoint may hit resistance on the viewer and standards fronts.
Patented technologies sometimes hit resistance in standards processes,
and there are alternative contenders for a potential next-gen smart
model standard (function curves, IK, solid model/surface engines).

Also, in a realtime environment the value of FFD would be as much on the
playback side as the editing side. Also, note that in the Internet-era
viewers tend to be free (from browsers to data-playback engines) and
increasingly do both editing and playback (nobody just wants to view
data, they want to interact with it, ala VRML 2.0). So to launch a FFD-
based standard, Viewpoint may have to bow to the winds of free viewers.

Contact: 801-229-3000.


Wave Issue 9606 8/16/96 Article 7-01