Distribution of N Points on the Unit Sphere

Many problems throughout different domains can be linked to point distribution problems. The Tammes and Thomson problems are two examples of distribution problems on spherical surfaces. Although many exact and numerical results exist, they are rarely visualized. We implemented a force-directed algorithm to numerically solve these two problems and rendered solutions for smaller numbers of points N. Additionally, we added exclusion zone constraints on polar regions to investigate, how they influence the problems and their solutions. Our algorithm was able to find known solutions with comparable numerical values and works best for smaller N.