Darkeagle, metaballs are used to represent a liquid/blobby surface like water (duh, I just said "liquid") or organic flesh. The idea is that a mesh surface is created by "melting" together a whole bunch of metaballs. Specifically, the closer together two metaballs are the more the resulting surface blends the two together. Compare metaballs to water droplets; when distant the droplets are distinct and separate but when moved close together they merge into a single blobby shape. If the balls move around the surface is updated, resulting in an undulating liquid.
People used to be interested in metaballs as a technique for organic modeling but eventually the extremely dense and unweildy meshes which result forced metaballs out of favor. Now metaballs are mostly used for representing water with a particle system (with metaballs for particles.)
People used to be interested in metaballs as a technique for organic modeling but eventually the extremely dense and unweildy meshes which result forced metaballs out of favor. Now metaballs are mostly used for representing water with a particle system (with metaballs for particles.)