Shape
A full ball, as wide as it is tall.
Size
Walls
A shell, which is what almost every build wants.
Block
Stone. Shown on the 3D model and written into the schematic and the commands. Blocks that fall or are not a full cube are left out, so nothing here can drop out of your wall.
The model, layer by layer
1,082 blocks - 21 x 21 x 21The faint blocks are the layer below, so you can see where the shape steps in as it curves.
The layer you are on is picked out in yellow on the model. Build it, press Up, build the next. Drag the model to turn it, scroll to zoom.
Materials
Build it with commands
WorldEdit / FAWE
//hsphere stone 10
The WorldEdit line builds it around where you stand. The vanilla fills are relative too, one per run of blocks, so they drop into a datapack function or a command block chain.
Every layer
A sphere is a stack of circles that grow and then shrink again. Nothing in the game draws one for you, so the job is knowing which blocks belong on each layer. This generator slices the shape into those layers, shows the one below in outline so the curve is obvious, and counts the blocks for you.
The usual approach is to build the widest layer first, at the height where it belongs, and work outwards from it in both directions. That way any drift is caught early instead of showing up as a lopsided top. Scaffolding under the widest ring saves a lot of falling.
Blocks are placed when the centre of the block falls inside the shape, the same rule the circle generator uses. It is what makes the surface look smooth rather than stepped, and it is why two builders following the same diameter end up with the same sphere.
A dome is the top half of a sphere with its own height, so a wide shallow one roofs a base and a tall one becomes a cathedral. An ellipsoid takes three measurements instead of one, which is how you get eggs, airship hulls and flattened planets. A cylinder repeats one circle the whole way up, for silos, towers and wells.
All four come with the same layer plans and block counts, and the download gives you every layer on one sheet, numbered, to keep open on a second screen while you build.
One layer at a time, from the bottom up. Each layer is a circle, and the circles grow towards the middle of the ball and shrink again towards the top. This generator gives you every layer as a flat grid with the layer below shown faintly underneath, so you can see exactly where the shape steps in as it curves. Build the widest layer first if you want a guide to work from, then go up and down from there.
Hollow gives a shell one block thick, which is what nearly every build wants: a dome over a base, a planet, a lamp, a hot air balloon. Filled places every block inside as well, which you only need when you are carving the shape out again or counting materials for a solid ball. A hollow sphere of 21 blocks across takes about a fifth of the blocks a filled one does.
A hollow sphere is roughly the surface of a ball, about 4 x pi x r squared, and a filled one is its volume, 4/3 x pi x r cubed. A 21 block sphere works out at about 1,000 blocks hollow or 4,900 filled. The tool counts the real placed blocks rather than the formula, so the number matches what you will actually run out of, and shows it in stacks.
Yes, the 3D view is what the tool opens on. Drag to turn the model, scroll to zoom, and leave it spinning or hold it still. Only the blocks with a face open to the air are drawn, so even a 256 block shape stays smooth to move. Switch to Layers when you are ready to build and want the flat plans instead.
Three ways. Schematic (.schem) is the Sponge v3 format that WorldEdit and FAWE paste straight into a world. Structure (.nbt) is the vanilla structure file a structure block loads with no mods at all. Coordinates (.json) is every block position as plain data, for your own scripts and command generators. All three use the block you picked.
Up to six blocks. One block is the usual shell, and it is what the block counts assume unless you change it. Thicker walls matter when you are filling the shape with something structural, building a bunker, or leaving room to hollow out rooms inside.
Domes, ellipsoids (eggs and squashed balls), cylinders, capsules with a rounded cap at each end, a torus for rings and doughnuts, cones, and square pyramids. The torus has its own ring thickness control, and everything except the sphere takes a separate height.
Yes, pick Dome. A dome is the top half of a sphere sitting on the ground, and its height is separate from its width, so you can make a shallow saucer or a tall cathedral roof from the same footprint. The base layer is the widest one and the layers shrink as they climb.
Eggs, blimps, squashed planets and anything that is round but not a perfect ball. It takes a separate width, height and depth, so 31 by 11 by 15 gives you a long flat shape and 15 by 31 by 15 gives you a tall thin one. The same block-centre rule applies, so the surface stays smooth.
An odd diameter has a single centre block and a single centre layer, so the shape is symmetrical around one point and easy to build out from. Even diameters have a two block centre instead, which is perfectly fine but slightly harder to line up by eye. Most builders reach for 11, 15, 21, 25 and 31 for that reason.
Only when you choose Filled. On Hollow the count is the shell alone, including the flat base ring of the dome, which is the number you need when you are gathering materials.
Building something flat instead, or browse more Minecraft tools:
