Are metaballs used very often?

[Avocado]

I haven’t really seen much discussion anywhere about metaballs have they fallen out of favor?

Thanks.

[NP5]

I believe they are very old, they still have uses but I can’t say I ever have myself.

[FedPete]

The technique is used in water animation effects.
It’s also handy, for sculpting techniques. Adding a clay blob. Creating organic shapes easily.

[Digitz]

I’ve seen some uses of metaballs for mesh to volume stylised clouds. I’ve also used them for a sci-fi type of looped animation.

MetaballGenerator

They can be used to block out characters for sculpting, but have to be converted to mesh before you can sculpt with them and the geometry is very poor to start.
Lastly, I’ve seen them used to make animated dripping ooze instead of a fluid simulation.