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# Sphere

VTKEx/Cxx/GeometricObjects/Sphere

### Description

vtkSphereSource object creates a sphere (represented by polygons) of specified radius centered at the origin.

The resolution (polygonal discretization) in both the latitude (phi) and longitude (theta) directions can be specified.

It also is possible to create partial spheres by specifying maximum phi and theta angles. By default, the surface tessellation of the sphere uses triangles; however you can set LatLongTessellation to produce a tessellation using quadrilaterals.

Other languages

See (Python), (CSharp)

Question

If you have a simple question about this example contact us at VTKExProject If your question is more complex and may require extended discussion, please use the VTK Discourse Forum

### Code

Sphere.cxx

    #include <vtkSphereSource.h>
    #include <vtkPolyData.h>
    #include <vtkSmartPointer.h>
    #include <vtkPolyDataMapper.h>
    #include <vtkActor.h>
    #include <vtkRenderWindow.h>
    #include <vtkRenderer.h>
    #include <vtkRenderWindowInteractor.h>
    #include <vtkNamedColors.h>
    #include <vtkProperty.h>

    int main(int, char *[])
    {
      vtkSmartPointer<vtkNamedColors> colors =
        vtkSmartPointer<vtkNamedColors>::New();

      // Create a sphere
      vtkSmartPointer<vtkSphereSource> sphereSource =
        vtkSmartPointer<vtkSphereSource>::New();
      sphereSource->SetCenter(0.0, 0.0, 0.0);
      sphereSource->SetRadius(5.0);
      // Make the surface smooth.
      sphereSource->SetPhiResolution(100);
      sphereSource->SetThetaResolution(100);

      vtkSmartPointer<vtkPolyDataMapper> mapper =
        vtkSmartPointer<vtkPolyDataMapper>::New();
      mapper->SetInputConnection(sphereSource->GetOutputPort());

      vtkSmartPointer<vtkActor> actor =
        vtkSmartPointer<vtkActor>::New();
      actor->SetMapper(mapper);
      actor->GetProperty()->SetColor(colors->GetColor3d("Cornsilk").GetData());

      vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderer> renderer =
        vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderer>::New();
      vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderWindow> renderWindow =
        vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderWindow>::New();
      renderWindow->SetWindowName("Sphere");
      renderWindow->AddRenderer(renderer);
      vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderWindowInteractor> renderWindowInteractor =
        vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderWindowInteractor>::New();
      renderWindowInteractor->SetRenderWindow(renderWindow);

      renderer->AddActor(actor);
      renderer->SetBackground(colors->GetColor3d("DarkGreen").GetData());

      renderWindow->Render();
      renderWindowInteractor->Start();

      return EXIT_SUCCESS;
    }

### CMakeLists.txt

    cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.3 FATAL_ERROR)

    project(Sphere)

    find_package(VTK COMPONENTS
      vtkCommonColor
      vtkCommonCore
      vtkCommonDataModel
      vtkFiltersSources
      vtkInteractionStyle
      vtkRenderingContextOpenGL2
      vtkRenderingCore
      vtkRenderingFreeType
      vtkRenderingGL2PSOpenGL2
      vtkRenderingOpenGL2 QUIET)
    if (NOT VTK_FOUND)
      message("Skipping Sphere: ${VTK_NOT_FOUND_MESSAGE}")
      return ()
    endif()
    message (STATUS "VTK_VERSION: ${VTK_VERSION}")
    if (VTK_VERSION VERSION_LESS "8.90.0")
      # old system
      include(${VTK_USE_FILE})
      add_executable(Sphere MACOSX_BUNDLE Sphere.cxx )
      target_link_libraries(Sphere PRIVATE ${VTK_LIBRARIES})
    else ()
      # include all components
      add_executable(Sphere MACOSX_BUNDLE Sphere.cxx )
      target_link_libraries(Sphere PRIVATE ${VTK_LIBRARIES})
      # vtk_module_autoinit is needed
      vtk_module_autoinit(
        TARGETS Sphere
        MODULES ${VTK_LIBRARIES}
        )
    endif ()

### Download and Build Sphere

Click here to download Sphere and its CMakeLists.txt file. Once the tarball Sphere.tar has been downloaded and extracted,

    cd Sphere/build

If VTK is installed:

    cmake ..

If VTK is not installed but compiled on your system, you will need to specify the path to your VTK build:

    cmake -DVTK_DIR:PATH=/home/me/vtk_build ..

Build the project:

    make

and run it:

    ./Sphere

WINDOWS USERS

Be sure to add the VTK bin directory to your path. This will resolve the VTK dll's at run time.