Blender makes the decision an easy one to make; spheres are incredibly useful when 3D modeling. In Blender, you’ve even got two different types to choose from.
Deciding between a UV sphere and an icosphere in Blender may be one of the most difficult choices that a neophyte faces during his or her first session in the app. Sure, they’re both spheres, but does it make a difference which one you go with?
UV Sphere vs. Icosphere: The Different Types of Sphere Primitives in Blender
UV spheres and icospheres are both basic mesh primitives in Blender. You’ll find them under the Add dropdown in Object Mode under the Meshes pull-out.
Before we get ahead of ourselves, we may as well ask: what do UV spheres and icospheres have in common?
Well, they’re both primitives meant to emulate the appearance of a perfectly round object. They also both include a Radius attribute, but we probably didn’t need to tell you that. At high enough polygonal resolutions, their appearances don’t differ significantly—at least from afar. When they’re rendered smoothly especially, UVs and icospheres as primitives won’t look far apart from one another at all.
Their similarities end right around here, however. Working with these two types of meshes in Blender might be two completely different experiences, depending on what you’re trying to accomplish.
As a general rule, you should be thinking about the following goals when choosing a mesh primitive type:
You’ll need something geometrically capable of being translated into what you’re trying to model You’ll want something that will render out into your desired shape without creating weird artifacts You’ll want to choose something simple enough for your system will be able to handle efficiently
The best possible mesh to use will depend greatly on the nature of the subject. There’s always going to be one choice that makes more sense than the other.
What Is an Icosphere in Blender?
Icospheres in Blender are polyhedral spheres, Platonic solids composed completely of flat, straight, and congruent sides. On the ground level, a Blender icosphere is an icosahedron—that is, a solid shape with 20 sides.
Mathematically, polyhedrons include no curves by definition. icospheres are meant to mimic the appearance of a round object, all without breaking this simple rule. This results in a much less demanding mesh in terms of rendering and performance.
In many cases, however, you’ll need to subdivide an icosphere many times before you’ve got anything realistic-looking in front of you. Even after a few additional levels, its polygon count will balloon greatly. This won’t be a problem if your system can handle it; if not, however, a mesh that’s too complicated may cause you some performance issues.
The general rule of thumb in any 3D modeling program: wherever you can, you should keep things as simple as possible. If you like to make retro-feeling, low-poly 3D models, however, icospheres can work well—no matter what your system is.
What Is a UV Sphere in Blender?
A UV sphere consists of two attributes:
Segments, the number of vertical channels running between each pole Rings, the number of parallel channels running horizontally, parallel to the primitive’s equator
In order to have an ideal sphere with which to work, you’ll usually want to be working with square polygons. In order to achieve this, your UV sphere should have twice as many Segments as it has Rings.
This type of mesh works very well for things like extrusions—bodies, limbs, heads, and pretty much any other organic subject are all super easy to rough out using a UV sphere. Think intestines, fingers, and even botanicals like succulent plants.
Creating a skull from scratch is one of the best Blender projects for beginners. We sculpted our first skull in Blender with a UV sphere, and it worked out really well. However, when we tried it with the icosphere, it was a different experience.
What Is the Difference Between an Icosphere and a UV Sphere?
The icosphere looks kind of like a golf ball, while the UV sphere looks a little bit more like a globe. But why is this?
If you take a closer look, you’ll notice that the polygons making up the icosphere are all triangles, while the UV sphere is composed of mostly quads, except for around each of its poles. These two twin caps are called triangle fans; it would actually be impossible to close the mesh using quads alone.
What’s the difference between triangles and quads in Blender?
Tris, Quads, and N-Gons in Blender: Does Mesh Topology Matter?
Triangle polygons, sometimes called tris, are the simplest possible way to create a solid face in Blender.
Triangles are great because they’re simple, but they can sometimes be difficult to model naturally—they pull on each other oddly, especially at lower subdivision resolutions.
While it’s totally possible to use them in a number of contexts, many 3D artists prefer to use quadrilateral polygons. It’s much easier to sculpt with them because they behave more similarly to surfaces being deformed in reality. Think about the way that you can mold a lump of clay with relative ease and freedom.
You can create polygons that have more than four sides. If you simplify a big chunk of either of these primitives into a single face, for example, you’ll end up with one flat side with many more neighbors than usual.
But the more sides that a polygon has, the more complicated things like adding more subdivisions become. For the sake of mathematical purity and simplicity of approach, sticking to simple polygons will usually be your best bet.
The difference between working with a UV sphere and an icosphere, however, does serve as an excellent example as to why quads are necessary sometimes, even if they’re not the simplest polygon to work with. These advantages that they bring to the table speak for themselves.
What Are Some Other Differences Between Icospheres and UV Spheres?
Working with icospheres and UV spheres also differs in a couple of other key areas.
Icospheres Aren’t Symmetrical; They’re Isotropic
Icospheres are totally asymmetrical. If you’re creating something like a face or anything organic, you might be disappointed in how the icosphere ends up behaving.
Instead, they possess a property called isotropism—in essence, an isometric solid is symmetrical in 360 degrees all at once, just not from side to side when you look at it head-on.
We recommend icospheres for things like rocks, gemstones, and even things like meatballs.
Icospheres Don’t Have Edge Loops, Face Loops, or Poles
This is probably one of the least convenient aspects of an icosphere. There are no edge loops because icospheres lack latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates and channels. It’s just a bunch of triangles stuck together in a clump, Katamari Damacy-style. Icospheres also have no poles, which means you’ll never need to worry about dragging on them and creasing either.
Use Both UV Spheres and Icospheres in Blender
We love 3D sculpting and modeling because every project comes free with a bonus lesson in geometry. The more that we learn about meshes in Blender, the better we get a using them. Understanding these implicit concepts is key; you’ll notice the difference in your modeling experience and your final product.
If you’re ever stuck on which one to start out with, we advise trying both in the name of science. Which Blender sphere will you choose?
