Material on Geometry Sphere Maps Differently Than a Regular Sphere

Development Asset Creation
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When I apply a material to a sphere made with the geometry tools, it maps differently that it would with a regular sphere. I need to have a way to get the material to map the same way. How can I do this? And no, I cannot switch to a regular sphere, that will not work for what I need. And none of the “alignment” options in the details for the geometry sphere work either for what I need. I need a way to map the material exactly the same way as a regular sphere, but on a geometry sphere. Any help is appreciated.

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Hey @ShreddedDev — great question, and yes, this one trips up a lot of folks. You’re running into a UV mapping mismatch between regular Static Mesh spheres and Geometry Brush-based spheres (BSPs or modeling mode primitives).

:magnifying_glass_tilted_left: Why It Happens:

Regular sphere meshes (like from the Engine’s content or imported FBX) come with predefined spherical UVs, which are unwrapped properly to handle radial materials.

Geometry spheres from Unreal’s Modeling Tools (or older BSPs) often use procedural or planar UV projections — and those differ in how they unwrap the surface.

So even though it’s still “a sphere,” the underlying UVs are completely different — which causes your material to stretch, pinch, or misalign.

:white_check_mark: What You Can Do:

1. Use the Modeling Mode → UV Tools

  • Switch to Modeling Mode (top-left of viewport > Select “Modeling”)
  • Select your geometry sphere and look for the UV Projection tools
  • Try Sphere Projection with a custom axis — this gives you more control than the default alignment options

2. Bake Your Geometry Sphere to Static Mesh + Adjust UVs

  • Right-click the geometry sphere → Convert to Static Mesh
  • Then open it in the Static Mesh Editor
  • Use the built-in Auto-Generate UVs or export it to Blender/Maya for custom unwrapping

3. Modify the Material to Use World Aligned Textures (Optional Hack)

  • If you can’t get good UVs, consider using WorldAlignedTexture or Object Position node
  • This removes the dependency on UVs entirely — great for stylized or procedural effects

:brain: Bonus Tip: Keeping Material Adjustments Organized

In larger projects (or teams), we’ve often had different mapping needs for the same material on different object types — like one on a Nanite asset and another on a geometry brush.

That’s where Asset Optics comes in handy:

  • :pushpin: Leave notes like “Needs spherical UV remap on geometry sphere version”
  • :white_check_mark: Track UV workaround steps per mesh/material combo
  • :counterclockwise_arrows_button: Sync it all to a shared dashboard so everyone knows which asset was adjusted and why

It’s a sanity-saver when debugging stretched materials weeks later. :sweat_smile:

Let us know if you’d like a quick example of a material using WorldAlignedTexture on a geometry sphere — happy to mock one up!