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I am trying to recreate the effect in the image attached where there are lines swirling around a sphere. I have problems recreating the dotted lines. In the image they appear to be evenly distributed but when recreating dotted lines with a wave or checker texture on a sphere I get distortions from the sphere mapping where the gaps are not evenly distributed everywhere on the sphere. I also tried to map a texture of dotted lines on a sphere but this texture also gets distorted in a way where the gaps of the line are not evenly distributed. Is there a way in Blender to achieve this effect on the sphere of the image? Much appreciation in advance! A stock image from shutter stock from artist DamienArt with a curly line effect swirling around a hollow sphere

Trying to recreating the dotted line effect of the original image

Update:

I was able to recreate the dotted line effect thanks to @vklidu. However I have a problem with the gradient on the emission material shader. Although I used exactly the same node setup as provided in the marked answer, there is no gradient effect. It looks like evee only renders two colors without any smoothness at all. I also tried to use cycles, but no luck. I am not sure what I am missing?

Current render with the broken emission gradient material Current material node setup

Update 2: Here is the final result. Because this was mainly an exercise on recreating the effect I am pleased with the result. Result image

Sten
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  • Related to curvy lines https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/94991/trace-visualisation-in-3d-how-to-wrap-curves-onto-a-3d-mesh – vklidu Dec 04 '21 at 08:25
  • I tried changing the dimension and making the spiral bigger but that didn't help, unfortunately. I uploaded the blend file to blend exchange. https://blend-exchange.com/b/O293ROmz/ – Sten Dec 04 '21 at 22:34
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    Main issue – you have to Apply Scale (Ctrl+A) to mesh object and set X Location 0.5 (for object 2m dimension) ... additionally add Solidify to see better dots, Change Array to Fit Curve so you don't have to care about a number of arrays ... https://imgur.com/7mFv2pQ ... for this screen I deleted also all other mesh objects and kept only one named "dotted" to see what is going on. – vklidu Dec 05 '21 at 09:38
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    Also I noticed you rotated Spiral in edit mode (local) to keep arrays follow the spiral. That is not practical if you want rotate in some specific angle or reset rotation. To keep arrays follow spiral when rotated in object mode (global coord) you can add Constraint > Copy Rotation to mesh object or simply parent to spiral (in rot zero position and than rotate). just like that you would have to change Texture Coordinates for alpha from Generated to Object as well and adjust setup (it would be practical anyway than my Generated Coo). – vklidu Dec 05 '21 at 09:57
  • Thank you @vklidu for your advice. I am very new to Blender and your insights are worth a tone! With your help I fixed the gradient error. Will post results when its done ;) Again, thank you very much for your time and effort you put into this. – Sten Dec 05 '21 at 11:01
  • Welcome on your journey :) – vklidu Dec 05 '21 at 14:44
  • I added the result image of my exercise. Thanks again @vklidu for the help. Without you this image wouldn't exist ;) – Sten Dec 05 '21 at 20:18

1 Answers1

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version Curve

enter image description here

  • enable addon Extra Curve, add Spiral > Spheric (here 20 Turns 10 Steps, type NURBS)

enter image description here

  • create segment of dashed line (here I created all types in several rows as one mesh object, but for more variations would be better make them probably separately

enter image description here

  • modifiers - Array, Curve (Spiral), Cast > Sphere, Solidify
  • a bit of randomness between lines is done by Curve > random selected points and under side panel Item > >Transform > Mean Radious increase/decrease value
  • some simple material

enter image description here

To make it more wavy - select Spiral curve and in edit mode select some random points (2-3) and with Proportional editing (O) enabled and Transform Pivot Point > Cursor placed in object origin rotate them in some direction.

enter image description here

For an illusion of lines motion you can animate Z Location value of Noise texture in Mapping node ... or X Loc ... Click into the field and type #frame*0.2 ...

enter image description here

vklidu
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    Beautiful, and practical. :) – Robin Betts Dec 04 '21 at 05:34
  • @RobinBetts ... I'm sure you would be able to math shader that OP asked for :) – vklidu Dec 04 '21 at 08:24
  • Hence.. 'practical'. Any shader written would only work on a sphere? I think? Not very useful.. unless @Sten really insists.... Although, I suppose, you could use the U of your swirly-curve, rather than constructing your dots-and-dashes in geometry. – Robin Betts Dec 04 '21 at 11:39
  • You are truly amazing @vklidu! I really appreciate the time you put into your answer. You even created a freaking animation! I never would have expected such a thorough and practical answer. This is exactly what I was looking for. I was close at some point creating the curve with the particle system and vortex force field but wasn't able to get the mesh on the curve. – Sten Dec 04 '21 at 17:36
  • Does anyone know why the ColorRamp isn't working on my emission shader? I don't get a smooth gradient to white but a "constant" gradient to white. I did everything like in the screenshot @vklidu provided. – Sten Dec 04 '21 at 17:38
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    What do you mean constant gradient, please share your screen. Animation is just animated Z Location value of Noise texture in Mapping node ... or X Loc ... Click into the field and type #frame*0.2 ... Usually I share my blend, but versions 3.x are not recognized as blend file for some reason to be shared ... Hm (•‿•) ...ad to particles - yes they can follow a curve it is just not good idea to use force field, also there was an issue with ignoring Tilt value so you would have to use curve per single dashed line. – vklidu Dec 04 '21 at 19:48
  • Appreciate your help! I edited my original post for clarity. – Sten Dec 04 '21 at 21:28