--- title: A Recursive Algorithm to Render Signed Distance Fields description: Signed Distance Fields (SDFs) define 3D objects via mathematical functions and can be combined in powerful ways, but rendering them via raymarching is... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/a-recursive-algorithm-to-render-signed-distance-fields-nwfom4ttj twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: A Recursive Algorithm to Render Signed Distance Fields | daily.dev og:description: Signed Distance Fields (SDFs) define 3D objects via mathematical functions and can be combined in powerful ways, but rendering them via raymarching is... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/a-recursive-algorithm-to-render-signed-distance-fields-nwfom4ttj og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/nwfom4TTj.png og:image:alt: A Recursive Algorithm to Render Signed Distance Fields og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # A Recursive Algorithm to Render Signed Distance Fields **[Pointers Gone Wild](https://daily.dev/sources/pointersgonewild)** · 7 min read · 23 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Signed Distance Fields (SDFs) define 3D objects via mathematical functions and can be combined in powerful ways, but rendering them via raymarching is computationally expensive. A novel recursive divide-and-conquer algorithm is proposed and implemented in Rust that subdivides the view frustum into smaller quads, advancing all rays in a patch simultaneously and recursively splitting only when near a surface. This approach achieves 3–4x fewer rays per pixel and triples frame rate on a simple scene. An extension using linear interpolation for flat patches reduces samples to below one per pixel, reaching 100 FPS on a single M1 CPU core. The technique relates to the known but obscure GPU concept of 'cone marching' using multi-pass shaders. The results suggest CPU-based SDF rendering for real-time 3D games may be within reach with further optimization and multi-core usage. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Developing Game Engine Powered By Dynamic SDFs](https://daily.dev/posts/developing-game-engine-powered-by-dynamic-sdfs-xxsm48v1z) · 80 LEVEL · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#rust](https://daily.dev/tags/rust), [#graphics-programming](https://daily.dev/tags/graphics-programming) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/a-recursive-algorithm-to-render-signed-distance-fields-nwfom4ttj) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"A Recursive Algorithm to Render Signed Distance Fields","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/a-recursive-algorithm-to-render-signed-distance-fields-nwfom4ttj","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/a-recursive-algorithm-to-render-signed-distance-fields-nwfom4ttj"},"datePublished":"2026-03-06T23:00:46.608Z","dateModified":"2026-03-06T23:01:11.619Z","description":"Signed Distance Fields (SDFs) define 3D objects via mathematical functions and can be combined in powerful ways, but rendering them via raymarching is...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/0a61c3f5dbec7f497dd388d5d16a2e29?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/0a61c3f5dbec7f497dd388d5d16a2e29?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Pointers Gone Wild","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Pointers Gone Wild","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/ae0b966a89554ad5b6d54de550180ab0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/pointersgonewild"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/a-recursive-algorithm-to-render-signed-distance-fields-nwfom4ttj","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":23},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"rust,graphics-programming","timeRequired":"PT7M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Pointers Gone Wild","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/pointersgonewild"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"A Recursive Algorithm to Render Signed Distance Fields"}]} ```