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The Env Sphere texture simulates an environment by mapping a texture or image file directly onto the inner surface of an infinite sphere. The best way to create a sphere environment is to use a ramp texture and paint objects onto it, being sure to avoid the poles and edges.

You can use the Env Sphere texture as a reflection map, by connecting its Out Color attribute to the Reflected Color attribute of an specular shader, such as Blinn or PhongE.

Aside from the attributes listed here, Env Sphere inherits additional attributes from TextureEnv.

In the table below, important attributes have their names listed in bold in the description column.

Node nameParentsClassificationMFn typeCompatible function sets
envSpheretextureEnvtexture/environment:drawdb/shader/environment/envSpherekEnvSpherekBase
kNamedObject
kDependencyNode
kTextureEnv
kEnvSphere

Related nodes

layeredTexture, envCube, envSky, envBall, envChrome, bump3d, uvChooser, bump2d, texture2d, ramp, file, cloth, water, stencil, checker, fractal, bulge, grid, mountain, texture3d, projection, cloud, granite, crater, leather, stucco, brownian, solidFractal, marble, wood, rock, snow, defaultTextureList, place2dTexture, place3dTexture

Attributes (17)

flip, image, imageB, imageG, imageR, infoBits, pointCamera, pointCameraX, pointCameraY, pointCameraZ, refPointCamera, refPointCameraX, refPointCameraY, refPointCameraZ, shearU, shearUV, shearV

Long name (short name)TypeDefaultFlags
flip (f) boolfalseoutputinputconnectablestorable
Flip allows you to flip your input texture so that U and V are switched; the texture at the poles is moves to the equator and vice-versa.
image (so) float30.5, 0.5, 0.5outputinputconnectablestorable
Image is the texture or image that will be mapped to the inside of the sphere.
imageR (sor) float0.0outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
The red component of Image
imageG (sog) float0.0outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
The green component of Image
imageB (sob) float0.0outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
The blue component of Image
infoBits (ib) integer0outputinputconnectablehidden
Information bits passing along information about type of shading
pointCamera (p) float30.0, 0.0, 0.0outputinputconnectablehidden
The current sample point that has to be shaded
pointCameraX (px) float0.0outputinputconnectablehidden
The x component of the current sample position
pointCameraY (py) float0.0outputinputconnectablehidden
The y component of the current sample position
pointCameraZ (pz) float0.0outputinputconnectablehidden
The z component of the current sample position
refPointCamera (rpc) float30.0, 0.0, 0.0outputinputconnectablehidden
The current reference sample point that has to be shaded
refPointCameraX (rcx) float0.0outputinputconnectablehidden
The x component of the current sample position
refPointCameraY (rcy) float0.0outputinputconnectablehidden
The y component of the current sample position
refPointCameraZ (rcz) float0.0outputinputconnectablehidden
The z component of the current sample position
shearUV (suv) float20.0, 0.0outputinputconnectablestorable
Shear UV allows you to shear the texture along the longitude or latitudes of the sphere.
shearU (su) float0.0outputinputconnectablestorable
Shear U. Adjusting this will shear longitudinal lines. For example, straight vertical lines could be warped into a barber-pole arrangment.
shearV (sv) float0.0outputinputconnectablestorable
Shear V. Adjusting this will shear latitudinal lines. For example, lines that ran concentrically around the poles would spiral inwards.