# Any point on a sphere

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Hi, could somone point me in the right direction to calculating any point on a sphere, given the radius of the sphere. Im wanting to "plot" a sphere by looping through each point on the sphere. Regards Asheh

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Do you mean: random point on a sphere?

Or do you want to generate a sequence of points of a sphere in some uniform manner?

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P=C+D*r where P is a point on the sphere, D is a random direction (normalized), r is the radius of the sphere and C is the center of your sphere.

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Quote:
 could somone point me in the right direction to calculating any point on a sphere, given the radius of the sphere.Im wanting to "plot" a sphere by looping through each point on the sphere.

Some clarity please, a sphere has <insert very very large number here> of points which lie on its surface. It sounds like you are asking how to find all the points and then plot them.

A point lies on the surface of a sphere if the magnitude of the vector between the point and the center of the sphere is equal to the spheres radius.

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Quote:
 Original post by defferDo you mean: random point on a sphere?Or do you want to generate a sequence of points of a sphere in some uniform manner?

the latter, yes

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Quote:
Original post by Asheh
Quote:
 Original post by defferDo you mean: random point on a sphere?Or do you want to generate a sequence of points of a sphere in some uniform manner?

the latter, yes

As I can see, you don't seek for plotting points, but to build a sphere from triangles. From then, you can plot only points of the triangles, or draw full-blown sphere.
A search for "sphere triangulation" gives this thread, for example.

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hmm not really, im plotting a set of objects, in the shape of a sphere, they arent to be joined

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Let's first look at approximating a circle with some points: (In C++, though you could probably figure out any other language from this)

for(int i = 0; i < MAX_POINTS; i++){    float angle = i/MAX_POINTS * 2 * PI;    //Calculates the point's position    float x = cos(angle)*RADIUS;    float y = sin(angle)*RADIUS;    AddPoint(x,y);//Adds the point to your list, or plots it, or does whatever you want to do with the point}

Okay, that's pretty simple. It just loops through MAX_POINTS number of angles in a circle and plots point RADIUS away from the origin.

Now, for a sphere, we'll start with the same code as before. However, now we have to make a new circle every loop instead of a circle. We'll achieve this with two nested loops:

for(int i = 0; i < MAX_POINTS; i++){    //The angle around the equator:    float xAngle = i/MAX_POINTS * PI;//Note: No longer multiply by 2    //Now create a circle that intersects     for(int j = 0; j <  MAX_POINTS; j++)    {        float zAngle = j/MAX_POINTS * 2 * PI;        //Calculates the point's position        float x = cos(xAngle)*RADIUS*cos(yAngle);        float y = sin(xAngle)*RADIUS*cos(yAngle);        float z = cos(xAngle)*RADIUS*sin(yAngle);        AddPoint(x,y,z);    }}

Notice how the first loop only loops to PI, not to 2 PI. This is because a circle also covers the part of the circle opposite from the first point, hence we only have to go half-way around. Also, I haven't tested this, and actually just 'guessed' the last half.

Hope that helps (and works)!

[Edit: changed ints to floats.]

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Quote:

float z = RADIUS*sin(yAngle);

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note that the method suggest is NOT uniform. You need to find any (rectangular) equal area projection of the sphere and generate coordinates on the map.

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Ezbez's algorithm was good, but I think this one should do the trick perfectly, because I'm using the exact parametric equations given on Wikipedia.

void PlotObjectsAsSphere( ObjectArray* objects, Vector3 center, Scalar radius ){        int n = (int)sqrt(objects->size()); // Assuming this size is a perfect square if you want it to look uniform    int i = 0;     // Array iterator    int u, v;      // Paramaters        float x, y, z; // Co-ordinates        // Loop for u    for( u = 0; u < n; u++ ){        float theta = (u/n-1) * PI; // 0 <= theta <= PI        // Loop for v        for( v = 0; v < n; v++ ){            float phi = (v/n-1) * PI * 2; // 0 <= phi <= 2PI                        // Get Co-ordinates            x = center.x + radius * sin(theta) * cos(phi);            y = center.y + radius * sin(theta) * sin(phi);            z = center.z + radius * cos(theta);            // Plot            objects[i]->plot( x, y, z );            i++; // Next object        }    }    }

The only glitch in this algorithm I see is if the size of your ObjectArray is not a perfect square, then the distribution of objects about the sphere will be uneven.

[Edited by - Verminox on October 21, 2006 1:06:54 PM]

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Quote:
 Original post by VerminoxEzbez's algorithm was good, but I think this one should do the trick perfectly, because I'm using the exact parametric equations given on Wikipedia.void PlotObjectsAsSphere( ObjectArray* objects, Vector3 center, Scalar radius ){ int n = (int)sqrt(objects->size()); // Assuming this size is a perfect square if you want it to look uniform int i = 0; // Array iterator int u, v; // Paramaters float x, y, z; // Co-ordinates // Loop for u for( u = 0; u < n; u++ ){ float theta = (u/n-1) * PI; // 0 <= theta <= PI // Loop for v for( v = 0; v < n; v++ ){ float phi = (v/n-1) * PI * 2; // 0 <= phi <= 2PI // Get Co-ordinates x = center.x + radius * sin(theta) * cos(phi); y = center.y + radius * sin(theta) * sin(phi); z = center.z + radius * cos(theta); // Plot objects[i]->plot( x, y, z ); i++; // Next object } } }The only glitch in this algorithm I see is if the size of your ObjectArray is not a perfect square, then the distribution of objects about the sphere will be uneven.
It's been noted a number of times that the OP is looking for a uniform distribution, so spherical coordinates are not the correct solution.

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The best method I have come up with for generating a uniform distribution of points on a sphere is to create a diamond like shape( by placing points at (Cx,Cy,Cz+r),(Cx,Cy,Cz-r),(Cx,Cy+r,Cz),(Cx,Cy-r,Cz),(Cx+r,Cy,Cz),(Cx-r,Cy,Cz) ) and then subdivide each triangle into 4 triangles(formed by using the midpoints of the triangle edges) and then scaling all the points so they are the crrect "radius" from the center.Then repreat until you have the desired number of points. The primary disadvantages being that it is a little slow, potentially uses alot of memory(you have to hold all he previous points in memory to keep subdividing), and you can only get points in amounts of 6*2^n . However, it does give a very even distribution. I'm pretty sure this is the method used in unreal tournament since I got the idea while playing with the unreal editor.

http://alrecenk.cjb.net:81/Java/show/mesh/
(rotates using arrow keys)

edit: The link deffer gave talks more about the method I was trying to decribe....maybe I should start reading all the linked material before I post?...nah...

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A diamond like distribution is not uniform, and neither are the spherical coordinate distributions, nor the "normalize a random vector" distribution.

The simplest uniform distribution is to parameterize the unit sphere over Z (height) from -1 to 1 using equal linear distance, and Phi (circumference) from -Pi to Pi using equal angular distance. This will give a uniform distribution (check the integral if you don't believe me!). Then plot the center of each discrete wedge.

For example:

for (float Z = -1; Z < 1; Z += 0.125f) {  // find the center of the slice  float Zb = Z + (0.125f / 2);  for (float Phi = -Pi; Phi < Pi; Phi += 0.25f) {    // find the center of the arc    float Pb = Phi + (0.25f / 2);    // create a point at the center of the wedge    Point = Point(sin(Pb) * sqrt(1 - Zb*Zb), cos(Pb) * sqrt(1 - Zb*Zb), Zb);  }}

Or, to create a uniformly distributed random scattering of points on the sphere, generate random Z and Phi (each using linear distribution), and calculate the point. For that, you don't need to find the center of the "bands" because the bands are, effectively, infinitely thin.

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hello,

how do u incorporate the number of points into the given code?

when i used it, it generated half a circle.

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Quote:
 Original post by hplus0603The simplest uniform distribution is to parameterize the unit sphere over Z (height) from -1 to 1 using equal linear distance, and Phi (circumference) from -Pi to Pi using equal angular distance. This will give a uniform distribution (check the integral if you don't believe me!). Then plot the center of each discrete wedge.
It may be uniform in the one sense, but it doesn't give spherical symmetry, and will give greater variance of the distance between points than say a geodesically expanded icosahedron.

I certainly prefer starting with an icosahedron.

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Quote:
 Original post by Ezbezfloat angle = i/MAX_POINTS * 2 * PI;

angle will always be zero, because i is smaller than MAX_POINTS and you are doing integer division.

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