Sphere
A 3D sphere mesh.
What it does
Sphere generates a 3D sphere from a radius and a ring and segment count. By default it draws as an analytic shape: a mathematically exact sphere that stays round and crisp at any zoom, computed on demand rather than built from fixed geometry. Turn Analytical off to tessellate it into an ordinary vertex mesh (a UV sphere) for work that needs real geometry, such as simulation, sculpting, or per-vertex deformation.
Rings sets how many horizontal bands run from pole to pole, Segments how many vertical slices run around the equator. Together they set how smooth the sphere looks once tessellated, at a cost in vertices.
When to use it
A ball, planet, bubble, or any round 3D volume
A silhouette that stays smooth regardless of camera distance: leave Analytical on
Real mesh vertices to simulate, sculpt, or deform: turn Analytical off and raise Rings and Segments for a smoother result
Combining with other shapes through distance-field booleans: keep it analytic and feed it into a boolean or combine node
| Parameter | Type | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
fill | Color or Color Field or Color[] or Field or Material or Material[] or Frame Sequence | — | — |
radius | Number | 50 | Sphere radius |
rings | Number | 16 | Number of horizontal rings |
segments | Number | 32 | Number of vertical segments |
analytical | Boolean | false | Emit an analytical Field::Record(geometry_surface) instead of a tessellated mesh. The whole object transform still applies — position, rotation, scale and anchor place the analytical shape through the same transform that places the mesh, so flipping this switch never moves, turns or resizes it. Cross-primitive SDF booleans and lazy-resolution rendering work natively; mesh consumers get the tessellation spliced transparently via the geometry_field_to_collection adapter. |
position | Vec3 | (0, 0, 0) | Translation (X, Y, Z) |
rotation | Vec3 | (0, 0, 0) | Rotation in degrees (X, Y, Z) |
scale | Vec3 | (1, 1, 1) | Scale (X, Y, Z) |
anchor | Vec3 | (0, 0, 0) | Pivot offset (X, Y, Z) — rotation/scale orbit this point |
opacity | Number | 1 | Layer opacity (0 = transparent, 1 = opaque). Editable, wirable, keyframable. |
Gotchas
Rings has a lower ceiling (3–64) than Segments (3–128). Pushing Rings to its max does not buy the same smoothness gain as raising Segments, since the two control different axes of the sphere's grid.
Keep Analytical on for as long as possible in a graph, since it composites and combines with other shapes losslessly. Switch it off at the point mesh vertices are needed: simulation, export, sculpting.
Rings and Segments only affect visible smoothness once Analytical is off. While Analytical is on, the sphere is drawn as an analytic shape and those values apply only to the mesh generated if something downstream forces a tessellation.
Worked example
Add a Sphere and set Radius.
Wire a Color, Image, or Material into Fill to drive its surface.
Adjust Rings and Segments if the silhouette needs to look rounder once tessellated.
Use Position, Rotation, Scale, and Anchor to place it in the scene.
Turn Analytical off only when you need an actual mesh, for simulation, sculpting, or export.