Spherical

Represents a point in spherical coordinates.

Spherical stores a 3D position using (radius, phi, theta) where radius is the distance from the origin, phi is the azimuth angle around the Y-axis, and theta is the polar angle measured from the equatorial plane. This representation is commonly used for orbital camera rigs, direction sampling, and converting between angular and Cartesian representations.

Construction

Constructors

Spherical() constexpr

Constructs a spherical coordinate from radius, phi, and theta.

Spherical::Spherical(float radius, float phi, float theta);

Parameter	Description
radius	Radial distance from the origin.
phi	Azimuth angle in radians.
theta	Polar angle in radians.

Properties

phi float

Azimuth angle around the Y-axis in radians.

float phi {0.0f};

radius float

Radial distance from the origin.

float radius {1.0f};

theta float

Polar angle from the equator in radians.

float theta {0.0f};

Functions

MakeSafe() void

Clamps the polar angle to avoid degeneracy at the poles.

Ensures theta stays within a safe range so azimuth calculations remain well-defined. If phi drifts outside it is wrapped back into range.

void Spherical::MakeSafe();

ToVector3() Vector3

Converts this spherical coordinate to a Vector3.

In this convention, phi equals 0 along the +Z axis and increases toward +X. The polar angle theta is 0 on the equator, reaches at +Y, and at -Y.

Vector3 Spherical::ToVector3() const;