Drawing a Sphere

Draw a sphere, a 3D circle, by selecting a center point and a radius. Spheres are drawn as true surfaces in the modeler. Before you draw a sphere, you can specify the coordinate system, and you can set the drawing plane as Z, Y, or Z, or you can edit the plane in the properties.

  1. From the menu bar, click Draw> Sphere icon. Sphere or, on the Draw ribbon tab, click the Draw sphere icon:

    Draw sphere icon selected in Draw ribbon.

  2. Select the center point of the sphere in one of the following ways:
    • Click the point. The Measure Data dialog shows the coordinates and other information.
      Modeler window. Measure Data dialog.
    • Type the point's coordinates in the text boxes in the status bar. The Status bar also includes options to specify the Coordinate System as Absolute or Relative, and drop down menu options to specify the sphere in Cartesian, Cylindrical, or Spherical coordinates.
      Status bar. Coordinate drop-down menu. Spherical option highlighted.
  3. Specify the radius by selecting a point on the sphere's circumference in one of the following ways:
    • Click the point
      Modeler window. Mouse pointer on a point in the circumference.
    • Type the coordinates of the point relative to the center point in the dX, dY, and dZ boxes, where d is the distance from the previously selected point.

    If the Modeler option for editing properties of new primitives is checked, the Properties dialog box appears, enabling you to modify the object's properties. You can also use the docked Properties window.

    Modeler window showing a sphere.

  4. Click OK.
Note:

The 3D Modeler permits drawing true curved objects. However, the solution is obtained using a tetrahedral mesh, which conforms to the true surface only within the limits identified by certain mesh settings. The modeler has default settings for this conformance, which is a reasonable trade-off between solution speed and solution quality for most objects but may not be ideal for all such objects. High-aspect ratio curves structures (such as helices with narrow and curved cross-sections) may benefit from user control of the faceting values. For details about these commands see:

Surface Approximation and related sections:

Rectilinear Elements and Curvilinear Elements and Guidelines for Modifying Surface Approximations.

Related Topics 

Modifying Objects