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I borrowed Circle3D from here How to draw a Circle in 3D on a sphere and wrote the code below. Maybe you can guess: The red and green arcs are rotating as I want them to - about the z-axis.

But I want one end of the red and green arcs to be always on the z-axis at the point where the other arcs hit the z-axis. And, I want the other end of the red and green arcs to be always on the arc connecting the y-axis to the x-axis.

Figure 3 here is close to what I want in the end.

I can see that I need calculate the {start,stop} values for 'angle' arg to Circle3D depending on the positions of the red and green arcs; i.e. depending on phi.

Can you tell me how? Or, maybe there's an alternative to Circle3D?

Can you describe how Circle3D works? I have no idea. For some values of 'angle', Circle3D seems to try to draw a closed curve. What is up with that?

circle3D[centre_ : {0, 0, 0}, radius_ : 1, normal_ : {0, 0, 1}, angle_ : {0, 2 Pi}] := 
  Composition[
   Line, 
   Map[RotationTransform[{{0, 0, 1}, normal}, centre], #] &, 
   Map[Append[#, Last@centre] &, #] &, 
   Append[DeleteDuplicates[Most@#], Last@#] &, Level[#, {-2}] &, 
   MeshPrimitives[#, 1] &, DiscretizeRegion, If][
      First@Differences@angle >= 2 Pi, 
      Circle[Most@centre, radius], 
      Circle[Most@centre, radius, angle
   ]
  ]

theta = 60 Degree;
phi = -45 Degree;
Pic[theta_, phi_] := (
  dTheta = dPhi = 5 Degree;
  r = 1;
  ax = Arrow[{{0, 0, 0}, {1.3, 0, 0}}];
  ay = Arrow[{{0, 0, 0}, {0, 1.2, 0}}];
  az = Arrow[{{0, 0, 0}, {0, 0, 1.2}}];
  tx = Text[Style["X", FontSize -> 8], {1.35, .1, -.01}];
  ty = Text[Style["Y", FontSize -> 8], {0, 1.25, 0}];
  tz = Text[Style["Z", FontSize -> 8], {0, 0, 1.25}];
  cx = circle3D[{0, 0, 0}, 1, {1, 0, 0}, {Pi/2, Pi}];
  cy = circle3D[{0, 0, 0}, 1, {0, 1, 0}, {-90 Degree, 0 Degree}];
  cz = circle3D[{0, 0, 0}, 1, {0, 0, 1}, {0, 90 Degree}];
  cb = circle3D[{0, 0, r*Cos[theta]}, r*Sin[theta], {0, 0, 1}, {0, 90 Degree}];
  ct = circle3D[{0, 0, r*Cos[theta + dTheta]}, r*Sin[theta + dTheta], {0, 0, 1}, {0, 90 Degree}];
  cl = circle3D[{0, 0, 0}, r, {r*Sin[phi],        r*Cos[phi], 0},        {-Pi/4, .254*Pi}];
  cr = circle3D[{0, 0, 0}, r, {r*Sin[phi + dPhi], r*Cos[phi + dPhi], 0}, {-Pi/4, .254*Pi}];
  Graphics3D[
    {Arrowheads[.015], 
    Gray, cx, cy, cz, ax, ay, az, tx, ty, tz, cb, ct, Red, cl, Green, cr}, 
    Boxed -> False, ViewPoint -> {3, 1, 1}, 
    PlotRange -> {{-1.5, 1.5}, {-1.5, 1.5}, {-1.5, 1.5}}]
  )

Animate[Pic[theta, phi], {theta, 30 Degree, 80 Degree}, {phi, -15 Degree, -75 Degree}]
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    – bbgodfrey
    Oct 4, 2021 at 22:03

1 Answer 1

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Maybe this result?

Show[Graphics3D[{Opacity[.8], Sphere[], 
   Arrow[Tube[{{0, 0, 0}, {0, 0, 1.3}}]]}], 
 ParametricPlot3D[
  FromSphericalCoordinates[{r, θ, φ}] /. {{r -> 
       1, φ -> π/3}, {r -> 1, φ -> π/4}} //
    Evaluate, {θ, 0, π/2}, PlotStyle -> {Red, Green}], 
 Boxed -> False, ViewPoint -> {3.06, 0.77, 1.19}]

enter image description here

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  • $\begingroup$ Checking but I think this will be a starting point I can use. I added a link in the question to show roughly what I want in the end. $\endgroup$
    – Ron
    Oct 5, 2021 at 15:58

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